When did the color coded TERROR ALERTS go away?

[dixiegrrrrl]

How will I know when to be afraid
or to be very afraid
or to be very very afraid
or to be EEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!

without the coded alerts?

I feel so helpless now.

[NeedleCast]

1. When they stopped being an effective fear mechanism

[SalmonChantedEvening]

8. Bingo. n/t

[blm]

21. 2004....right after BushInc used the last one for the cover of another stolen election.

And corpmedia ate it up with relish.

[Hepburn]

2. When they went away for good?

Jan. 20, 2009....:hi:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. When BushCo became lame ducks.

[yellowdogintexas]

4. 1/21/09 nt

[Patsy Stone]

5. Amazing, isn't it?

I always wondered why they even had a green "Low" level; they were never going to use it anyway.

[Duer 157099]

6. When the economy collapsed and colors became too expensive

I think

[The Straight Story]

7. They still have them

http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm

Current Threat Level

May 8, 2009

* The United States government's national threat level is Elevated, or Yellow.
* For all domestic and international flights, the U.S. threat level is High, or Orange. See the Transportation Security Administration for up-to-date information on items permitted and prohibited on airlines.

Recommended Activities

* All Americans should continue to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately.
*
Everyone should establish an emergency preparedness kit and emergency plan for themselves and their family, and stay informed about what to do during an emergency.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

9. Yup, right after you check on weather.com

you can look to see how skeered you should be today.:scared:

[onehandle]

13. Yep. The media stopped talking about it a couple of years ago, but the program is still in place. nt

[pnwmom]

10. It's not been raised since Bush was reelected in 2004. Here's something from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_Security_Advisory_System

The alert level was raised once in 2004, an election year, leading some critics to speculate that the Bush Administration used them for political rather than strictly security reasons.<11><12> Columbia University academic Brigitte L. Nacos has published a study identifying a correlation between increases in terrorism alert levels and Bush's popularity.<13>

In December 2004, the Homeland Security Advisory Council voted to review the color-coded system. One panel member suggested that it had outlived its usefulness.<14> In a public forum, Ridge conceded the system had invited "questions and even occasional derision."<15> Ridge also said that he had not always agreed when others pushed to raise the threat level. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment," Ridge said. "Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on . ... There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?'"<16>

On its terror alert page, the United States Department of Homeland Security makes clear that "Raising the threat condition has economic, physical, and psychological effects on the nation."<17>
A study published in the January 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health found that the mentally ill, the disabled, African Americans, Latinos, Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, and non-U.S. citizens were likelier to think that the HSAS alert level was higher than it was, and to worry more and change their behavior due to those fears.<18>

SNIP

Although the system consists of five levels, the threat level has never been lowered on a nationwide basis to Guarded (Blue) or Low (Green), although the state of Hawaii lowered it to Guarded for several months in 2003.<19> The threat level has stood at Elevated (Yellow) for most of its existence. In New York City it has stayed at High (Orange) since the start of the system.

[rucky]

11. Ridge washed them too many times, and they faded.

[kentuck]

12. As I recall, after the 2004 election...

They were no longer needed.

[NanceGreggs]

14. When Georgie broke all his crayons. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

15. What!? The terror alerts are gone!? RED ALERT! RED ALERT! n/t

[Lint Head]

16. They wilted on the vine because they were bull shit.

:dem:

[skepticscott]

17. They didn't

If you fly, they still announce that the current threat level is Orange. That will never, ever change. No one wants to be the poor bastard who lowered the threat level a week before a terrorist attack, and from a practical standpoint, everyone at the TSA knows that nobody pays any attention to the Traffic Light of Doom, anyway, so changing it really wouldn't matter.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. The Traffic Light of Doom....love that phrase.

[madrchsod]

18. when the fbi told them to knock it off....

everytime an alert was issued the fbi had to stop ALL investigations and go into TERROR mode. the fbi agent i talked to was pissed off about this alert crap

[krispos42]

20. The 2004 Presidential election

Totally unrelated, of course, to politics. Bin Laden went on a spa sabbatical right about then.

:D