Was this not the most Orwellian thing we have seen in the modern history of the United States? The Bush administration used the 'advisory system' to keep a nation of millions under the constant fear of a potential new terrorist attack. We were never hit by another terrorist attack on U.S. soil after September 11th...and it was not because of this system. The real reason is that Cheney and black ops felt that 9/11 was a large enough attack to keep people in a constant state of fear, thus allowing them to govern as they pleased. 'Homeland Security Advisory System'...what a joke.
Background:
The system was created by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3 six months after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, to provide a "comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people." It was unveiled March 12, 2002, by Tom Ridge, then the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, but responsibility for developing, implementing and managing the system was given to the U.S. Attorney General.
In January 2003, the new Department of Homeland Security began administering the system. The decision to publicly announce threat conditions is made by the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, according to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5.
Threat Level Changes:
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. 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.
Severe (Red)
The Homeland Security Advisory System has been raised to Severe only once, which applied only to flights coming from the United Kingdom: August 10, 2006 - August 14, 2006, in response to British law enforcement announcing it had disrupted a major terror plot to blow up aircraft, the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level for commercial flights from the United Kingdom to the United States to Severe.
High (Orange)
On a nationwide level, it has been raised to High five times:
September 10 - September 24, 2002, the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
February 7 - February 27, 2003, near the end of the Muslim religious holiday Hajj. Intelligence reports suggested the possibility of terrorist attacks against "apartment buildings, hotels, and other soft or lightly secured targets."
March 17 - April 16, 2003, around the beginning of U.S. and Coalition military action in Iraq.
May 20 - May 30, 2003, after the Riyadh compound bombings and the Casablanca bombings. According to Tom Ridge: "The U.S. Intelligence Community believes that Al Qaeda has entered an operational period worldwide, and this may include terrorist attacks in the United States."
December 21, 2003 - January 9, 2004, citing intelligence information suggesting large-scale attacks around the holiday season.
In addition, the alert has been raised to High on a select or partial basis three times:
August 1 - November 10, 2004, for specific financial institutions in northern New Jersey, New York, and Washington, D.C., citing intelligence pointing to the possibility of a car or truck bomb attack, naming specific buildings as possible targets.
July 7, 2005 - August 12, 2005, for mass transit systems only. The DHS secretary announced the level after the 7 July 2005 London bombings despite the absence of "specific, credible information suggesting imminent attack" in the United States.
August 10, 2006 - Present, for all domestic airline flights and all international flights to or from the United States, with the exception of flights from the United Kingdom to the United States. Flights from the United Kingdom to the United States had been under a severe alert, but were downgraded to a high alert on August 14, 2006.
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