Homeland Security Advisory System
a system of fear tactics to keep the uninformed, ignorant, and resistant masses under the government's control. The System is divided into 5 risk levels; Severe, High, elevated, guarded, and low. its rarely Low because there is WMDs and "insurgents" in Iraq. It is really convenient to raise the alert before a political event where there may be protestors-I mean terrorists.
The Homeland Security Advisory System was raised to orange August 1, 2004 weeks before the GOP convention.