US to roll out new terror alert system

Johnson described the change as a new alert system, which he said would better inform the public about threats to the United States, but he did not provide specific details.

This will be the third change to how the Homeland Security Department warns the public about security concerns since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The much maligned colour-coded system was replaced in 2011 by the National Threat Advisory System, which has never been used.

Johnson announced the new alert system during a forum with Defence One magazine. He said the National Threat Advisory System hasn’t been used because it requires a “specific, credible threat” to the U.S. in order to be activated. The new effort will include an “intermediate” step, he said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said later Monday that the alert system wasn’t being replaced, but rather tweaked to be more effective. He said a review of the system had been doing on for “quite some time.”

The plan to change the alert system was announced in the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, which the FBI has declared a terrorism investigation. The FBI is investigating the possibility that shooting suspects Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were inspired by the Islamic State group to carry out the attacks that killed 14 people attending a holiday luncheon at a social services facility.

Johnson said while a specific motive has not been determined in the California case the threat from home-grown radicals or those inspired by foreign groups is a growing concern in part because such attacks may not be discovered in advance. The new terror alert system, he said, better “reflects the current environment and current realities.”

“We need a system that adequately informs the public at large … about what we are seeing, what we are doing and what we are asking the public to do about it,” Johnson said.