Homeland Security chairman questions value of color-coded threat system

House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has reopened a debate about whether the nation's color-coded threat advisory system should be overhauled or scrapped. The system, which uses five colors to reflect probability of a terrorist attack, was created in March 2002 before the Homeland Security Department came into existence.

"With minor exceptions, the system has remained virtually unaltered since its inception," Thompson wrote in a letter last week to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "While the system may have been sufficient initially, with the formation of the department and the many developments in the area of domestic homeland security that occurred since 2002, it may be prudent to re-examine the current sufficiency of this color-coded advisory system."

The national threat level is now at yellow, an "elevated" condition due to a "significant" risk of attack. But the threat level for all domestic and international airline flights is at orange, or high, according to the department's Web site.

"While there continues to be no credible information at this time warning of an imminent threat to the homeland, the department's strategic threat perspective is that we are in a period of increased risk," the Web site states.

Thompson noted problems he sees with the system. "First, the system assigns a threat condition representing the apparent risk of a terrorist act, but provides no information on actions that should be taken by the public in response to the risk," Thompson wrote.

He added that the lowest threat conditions -- green and blue -- have never been used. State and local officials have also criticized the department for using the system as a blunt instrument and for not providing clear guidelines about what should be done when alert levels are raised. But since 2004, the department has not raised the national threat level. Instead, the department has raised threat levels for small periods of time for specific sectors, such as aviation, mass transit and certain financial institutions.

Thompson stopped short of calling for the system to be scrapped. "While some may question whether the system has outlived its usefulness, I believe that the current system can be improved to provide the American people with the kind of information they need to effectively respond to the level of risk that the color codes are intended to relay," he wrote.

Thompson asked Chertoff to explain the rationale for keeping the system and what circumstances would have to be met for threat levels to be lowered to green or blue. Thompson also asked Chertoff to list actions the department recommended the public take when the alert system was raised to red, or severe, for commercial flights coming from the United Kingdom in 2006.