Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS)

According to the textbook, the Homeland Security Advisory System or HSAS was created to help inform United States, (U.S.) citizens from prospective terrorists attacks (Gaines & Kappeler, 2012, p. 17). The HSAS have five, color coded, divergent levels of risks for terrorist attacks against the United States. These colors consist of red, which stands for a severe risk; orange, which stands for a high risk; yellow, which stands for a significant risk; blue, which stands a general risk; and finally, green, which stands for a low risk of terrorists attacking (Gaines & Kappeler, 2012, p. 16). Although the HSAS was an effective tool for U.S. citizens to stay informed of the current risk level of a terrorist threat, it only provides a general analysis of the posted threat. Therefore, many people might have viewed the HSAS as not very informative. Instead, most might have seen the HSAS as …show more content…
Thankfully, in April 2011, upgrades were made and the National Terrorism Advisory System was born (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2011). In addition, the National Terrorism Advisory System, or NTAS, works different than the old HSAS in regards to the information being provided to the public. To better elaborate, unlike the HSAS, the NTAS provides elements such as the reveling of “timely” information, which is available to all members of the public, including “government agencies, first responders, public sector organizations, airports and other transportation hubs” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, n.d.). In addition, in contrast to the five risk levels associated with HSAS, the NTAS only has two alert levels, “imminent” and “elevated” (U.S. General Services Administration, 2016). All in all, although the new system, NTAS, does provide more information the public on the threat at hand, than the HSAS, there is still much room for