As I was reading the local newspaper, The Intelligencer, this morning, I came across the weekly edition of Parade magazine. There was an interesting article in Parade on the color-coded terror alert systems and their effectiveness. The Homeland Security Advisory System, which President Obama once referred to as “the color-coded politics of fear,” was instituted six months after 9/11 and uses a range of five color codes to indicate the threat of terrorist attacks. The system has been widely criticized for making threat assessments that have more to do with political expediency and not with national security. Within the first twenty-four months of its inception, the colors changed ten times, but it has since been used sparingly. The national threat level has not changed from yellow (elevated) since 2004, except for specific advisories for financial and transportation institutions. Since the 2006 arrest of terrorist suspects, the threat level for the aviation sector has been at orange (high). Janet Napolitano, the new Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has launched a review of the program to determine what and if changes need to be made. President Obama would like the system to “focus on keeping us safe when information specific to a particular sector or geographic region is received” and he “will not tolerate polarization of such a system.” Parade is asking readers if the current threat-advisory system makes them feel safer. You can vote online here. Tell us what you think of the system by commenting below. Do you agree with Obama? Do you even notice the threat level when traveling in airports? -Kimberly Krol, eFlyer editor and circulation and public relations executive