Compare And Contrast A Homeland Security Advisory System

Homeland Security Advisory System Vs National Terrorism Advisory System

In an effort to maintain the security of our nation, the Department of Homeland Security has developed a system called the National Terrorism Advisory System that releases security threat updates that can be easily accessible to other departments, private organizations, and even the public. However, before the National Terrorism Advisory System, or NTAS, there was the Homeland Security Advisory System, or HSAS, which was a color-coded advisory system that correlated the threat level to that of green, blue, yellow, orange, and red. In this paper, the author will further explain the two systems as well as explain the differences in the systems and why there was a change. The author will begin with discussing the Homeland Security Advisory System. The Homeland Security Advisory System was established in 2002 shortly after the attacks on September 11th 2001. Its intended use was to notify the appropriate organizations and departments, and citizens who
followed nation’s security of the possible and imminent threats to the United States. As mentioned before, the HSAS was a color-coded alert system that released threats based on the “color level.” Threat level green was associated with a low risk of terrorist attacks while red was associated with a severe risk of terrorist attacks. These colors were used as an identifier for the different threat levels. (Townsend, 2011) A big problem with this “color-coded” threat system is that whenever the public heard that the threat level was raised to a different color, they would panic instead of focusing on the actual reason for the threat level, or color change.
Instead of finding out the reason for the change, they would freak out and think that there was something wrong verses just reading up on it and determining the details of the threat level. Merely hearing a certain color may send someone over the edge because they automatically assume the worst. Homeland Security senior representative Bennie Thompson further explained that whenever the public heard of a threat level change, they rarely knew the reason, how to react, or the duration of said threat level change. Some critics went as far as accusing the Bush Administration for intentionally putting people in fear at times that would benefit him, such as right before an election. (Townsend,
2011) “The goal is to replace a system that communicates nothing,” the agency said, “with a partnership approach with law enforcement, the private sector and the American public that provides specific, actionable information based on the latest intelligence.” (Schwartz, 2010) So in other words, the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, got rid of HSAS because it was not specific enough in terms of information given to private sectors, law enforcement agencies, and the public. It left a lot to the imagination and did not provide any usable information as far as what to do now goes. For the most part, it left many in fear and clueless in terms of what was going on. So for that reason, it was time to establish a new means of distributing possible threats to different outlooks. The author will now discuss the National Terrorism Advisory System. The HSAS was replaced with the NTAS in May of 2011 to compensate for what was missing from the HSAS. The new and improved threat advisory system would now give information such as details that are not sensitive to national security, the duration of the threat level, the affected areas, and ways to stay informed. He intention behind the National Terrorism Advisory System was to establish a publication-like alert with more detailed information for agencies and the public alike. Since the American people were so use to hearing the threat level was yellow, and sometimes orange, the HSAS in a way, lost its credibility. (Zuckerman, 2012) In other words, even though there may have been different threats being released, the American people had grown null to orange and green that they didn’t take the proper procedures in looking into the details of the new threats. The two systems are different in a way that the HSAS gave information about the threat, but no information about what people should do with the information, while the NTAS gave a lot of detail and information about what actions one should take, where the threat is located, and more importantly, if it is something one should be directly concerned with. Another big difference between the two systems is that the HSAS provided a color-coded system that allowed the people to know the exact threat level in terms of a five level threat chart. This was also the downfall of the HSAS because not only were two of the threat levels never used, but also one was only used once, and it always remained within the other two. The author has discussed the pros and cons of the Homeland Security Advisory System, compared the HSAS to the National Terrorism Advisory System, and even explained the differences between the two. It is important that the United States not only takes advantage of the NTAS, but also establishes other ways to make the country a full-proof system against national terrorism. The more people that are aware of threats, the more safe people will be.

References

Schwartz, J. (2010, November 24). U.S. to Drop Color-Coded Terror Alerts. Retrieved
August 24, 2014.
Townsend, C. (2011, January 26). Color-coded threat system to be replaced in April. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
Zuckerman, J. (2012, September 26). National Terrorism Threat Level: Color-Coded
System Not Missed. Retrieved August 24, 2014.