CISAC fellows suggest reforms for color-coded alert system

In a fall 2007 International Security article, CISAC fellow Jacob N. Shapiro and former fellow Dara K. Cohen offer ideas for reforming the Homeland Security Alert System (HSAS). The color-coded system does not encourage local officials to take precautions in times of increased terrorism risk, in part because people don't trust the system, the authors write. The Department of Homeland Security should work with state and local governments to develop a "playbook of possible actions for each alert level," Shapiro and Cohen suggest, to build confidence in the system and to encourage people to act on risk levels.