No U.S. Terrorism Threat Alerts Issued in Six Months

The U.S. Homeland Security Department has gone nearly six months without raising the terrorism threat alert level, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Sept. 15).

In the first eight months of the color-coded system’s existence, the department issued four terrorism threat alerts, according to USA Today. Currently, the threat level stands at yellow, representing an “elevated risk” of attack.

Department officials said they have improved at examining and dealing with information related to possible threats against specific regions or industries, thus reducing the need to raise the national alert level. Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said that increases in police overtime and other costs have also caused a need for more focused alerts.

“We are not doing away with the system,” Roehrkasse said. “The process has become more refined, and information is being passed on more efficiently to the people who need it, in the places where it is needed,” he added (Kevin Johnson, USA Today, Nov. 7).

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