On March 12, 2002, Governor Tom Ridge—then Director of the White House Office of Homeland Security (OHS), and formerly Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—announced the establishment of the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). The HSAS is designed to measure and evaluate terrorist threats and communicate these threats to federal, state, and local governments, the public, and the private sector in a timely manner. Although HSAS is a nationwide system, it can also be used at a smaller scale to warn of threats against a state, city, critical infrastructure, or industry. From inception to August 2004, the HSAS has been raised from "elevated" to "high" seven times, and raised to severe once. (see Table 2 ). The HSAS was developed by OHS using information collected from state and local first responders, business leaders, and the public. Following the March 12 announcement, the general public and the private sector were asked to provide comments on the system, with a deadline for comments on April 26, 2002. Within DHS, the Undersecretary for Information Assurance and Infrastructure Protection—as head of the Information Assurance and Infrastructure Protection directorate (IAIP)—is responsible for administering the HSAS. Specifically, IAIP is responsible for providing, in coordination with other agencies of the federal government, specific warning information and advice about appropriate protective measures and countermeasures to state and local government agencies and authorities, the private sector, other entities, and the public. The advisory system is based on five threat levels: low, guarded, elevated, high, and severe. Each level, with its corresponding identification color, indicates protective measures mandatory for federal departments and agencies. DHS receives threat information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), and other agencies. DHS uses this information to determine what terrorist threat level to set. Assigning a threat condition involves a variety of considerations, among which are the following: To what degree is the threat information credible? To what degree is the threat information corroborated? To what degree is the threat specific and imminent? How grave are the potential consequences of the threat? The DHS Secretary decides to raise or lower the threat level in consultation with the Homeland Security Council. When the decision to change the threat level is made, DHS sends an electronic notification to state homeland security centers and to federal, state, and local agencies via the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS). If circumstances and time permit, the DHS Secretary or his representative makes an advance conference call to alert governors, state homeland security advisors, and mayors of selected cities that the terrorism threat level has been changed and that electronic notification is about to be sent. Following the first conference call and electronic notification via NLETS, DHS makes a second conference call to as many state and local law enforcement associations as can be reached. Following the second conference call, DHS initiates a secure call using the Business Roundtable's Critical Emergency Operations Communications Link (CEO COM LINK) to notify chief executive officers of the nation's top businesses and industries. They are asked to dial into a secure conference call, and after each CEO goes through a multi-step authentication process to ensure security, DHS or other federal officials brief them on developments and threats. Following the conference call via CEO COM LINK, DHS makes a public announcement through a press conference. Finally, critical infrastructure associations and other business groups are notified. Several bills were introduced in the 109 th Congress that addressed administration of the HSAS or alert notification of federal, state, and local entities; the private sector; and the public. Some of these included H.R. 2101 , S. 1753 , and H.R. 5001 . H.R. 2101 proposed to require DHS to establish a telephone alert network to warn the public of imminent or current emergencies caused by terrorist incidents and disasters. The warning would have provided information on appropriate protective measures. S. 1753 proposed to establish a National Alert System administered by a National Alert Office. The National Alert Office would have been established within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Alert System would have provided a public alert on national, regional, and local emergencies requiring a public response. H.R. 5001 would have required the DHS Undersecretary for Information and Analysis to implement changes to HSAS. The proposed changes included the requirement for every HSAS alert to be accompanied by information on the threat and appropriate protective measures. The HSAS warning would have been limited in scope for every warning to a specific region, locality, or economic sector believed to be at risk. Finally, H.R. 5001 would have required DHS to use some means of warning the nation without the use of color designations. Since the creation of the HSAS, a number of issues have arisen, among which are: the vagueness of warnings disseminated by the system; the system's lack of protective measures recommended for state and local governments, and the public; the perceived inadequacy of disseminating threats to state and local governments, the public, and the private sector; and how best to coordinate HSAS with other existing warning systems. In the 109 th Congress, the House of Representative's Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations held a hearing on the HSAS, its threat codes, and public response to it. This hearing focused on the information DHS issued the public the seven times the HSAS threat level was raised from "yellow" to "orange." These issues and pertinent oversight options available to Congress are discussed below. The HSAS threat level has been raised seven times from "yellow" to "orange" since its activation on March 12, 2002, and once to "red" on August 10, 2006. With each change, the Attorney General or DHS Secretary cited intelligence information but offered little specificity, except on August 1, 2004, when former DHS Secretary Ridge identified financial institutions in New York, Washington, DC, and New Jersey as being targeted by Al Qaeda. The only other time any specifics were given on possible terrorist attack targets was on February 7, 2003, when former DHS Secretary Ridge cited intelligence reports suggesting Al Qaeda attacks on apartment buildings, hotels, and other soft skin targets. But in this case, no region, state, or city was identified as possible locations of attacks. Moreover, DHS has never explained the sources and quality of intelligence upon which the threat levels were based. Some observers have asserted that when federal government officials announce a new warning about terrorist attacks, the threats are too vague. The vagueness that characterized the eight increases in the threat condition in the past two years has raised concerns that the public may begin to question the authenticity of the HSAS threat level. Former Secretary Ridge told reporters on June 6, 2003, that DHS is worried about the credibility of the system. He said that the system needs to be further refined. Questions about the credibility of the threat, say other observers, might cause the public to wonder how to act or whether to take any special action at all. Some observers maintain that, without specific terrorist threat information, there is no basis for formulating a clear, easily understood public announcement of what appropriate protective measures to take. Others assert that the continued lack of specific information arguably can lead to complacency. DHS officials cite the lack of specificity in intelligence as the reason for a lack of detailed information when the threat level is changed. Former Secretary Ridge has been quoted saying that the intelligence gathered so far has been generic; but he maintained that DHS, and the federal intelligence community that provides information about terrorist threats will improve. Option 1: Status Quo . Congress may view the evolution of the process, and decisions relating to it are best left to the Department. The lack of specificity may be due to the need to protect intelligence sources or a desire by DHS to issue warnings when threat information is generic, but nonetheless credible. Maintaining the status quo places the burden of responding to complaints about the vagueness of HSAS warnings and the critiques of DHS's perceived inability to give adequate terrorist attack warnings on the Department. Option 2: Provide General Warnings . Due to the reported misunderstanding of HSAS threat levels, and the system's lack of recommended protective measures for state and local agencies, the public, and private-sector entities, Congress could consider directing DHS to issue general warnings concerning the threat of terrorist attacks without using the HSAS to notify state and local governments, the public, and the private sector. General warnings via public statements, in coordination with HSAS warnings to the federal government, would ensure that notices of terrorist threats are issued to state and local governments, the public, and the private sector. DHS chose to provide general warnings on September 4, 2003, and November 21, 2003. On September 4, 2003, DHS cited recent federal interagency reviews of information that raised concerns about possible Al Qaeda plans to attack the U.S. and U.S. interests overseas. This general warning listed aviation, critical infrastructure, WMD, and soft target threats, however, no specifics were given on possible location or type of attacks. Another general warning was issued on November 21, 2003, when DHS cited a high volume of reports concerning the possible threats against U.S. interests during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. These reports suggested Al Qaeda remained interested in using commercial aircraft as weapons against critical infrastructure; however, no location of possible attacks was specified. This approach would address the concerns of some who have asserted that the HSAS causes misunderstanding at the state and local level, but it would not address the issue raised by those who say DHS does not give enough specificity in its terrorist attack warnings. Option 3: Increase Specificity of Warnings .