Operating in Orange: What Do You Do?

The official terrorism alert level went up today-yellow to orange. What does that mean for you?

Tomorrow it could go down again. What will you do differently?

The Department of Homeland Security's official color-coded threat barometer developed in the wake of 9/11-officially the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS)-has become familiar to most Americans. But even today, almost two years after its debut, most aren't sure exactly what each color means. Even in the emergency services, there seems no clear consensus on what to do differently on an orange day than on a yellow day.

"There's no real sense of what you should do to prepare to respond to any of those levels," says Will Chapleau, chief of the Chicago Heights (IL) Fire Department. "It seems like the response to all of them is to have a 'heightened awareness.' "

Guidance from the feds is limited. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3 says each threat condition "shall prompt the implementation of an appropriate set of protective measures," and offers some steps for federal agencies to take (see sidebar above), but the DHS does not outline direct steps for states or local emergency responders.

In the absence of such instruction, some states have moved to fill in the blanks. Iowa, among others, has formally recommended steps for its local governments, businesses and citizens to take at each level.

"When the system first came out, we felt we needed to develop something," says Ellen Gordon, head of the state's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division. "We had key state agencies pull together and develop protocols and procedures they would implement at each level. At the same time, we looked at what other states and organizations were doing. We were almost put in a position where we had to address it-we owed it to our citizens."

In Ohio, the state Emergency Management Agency tells its cities and counties what it's doing, but gives them latitude to make their own decisions.

"We'll share our activities at the state level, with things like law enforcement and inspections and monitoring, etc.," says Executive Director Dale Shipley. "We'll suggest they look at their likely targets and at what the feds and state are doing, then take actions relative to that and what makes sense to them."

At the local level, it generally boils down to assessing your vulnerabilities and mitigating them as best you can. This may or may not directly involve frontline emergency responders.

"As far as the fire service, it doesn't have much effect on us," says Chapleau. "When specific threats come through-say, about powdered substances or attacks on certain types of installations-we'll bone up and prepare to respond to those types of events. We try to make sure we're prepared for the types of things they're anticipating, and that everyone understands their roles."

For smaller or poorer jurisdictions, finances can be an impediment. Extra patrols, inspections, etc., cost money. The U.S. Conference of Mayors calculated that American cities spent more than $2.6 billion in additional security costs between 9/11 and the end of 2002.

Cost was one problem with the HSAS outlined in an August report by the Congressional Research Service. Others included vagueness of warnings, how threat information is disseminated to state and local governments, coordination of warnings, and lack of recommended protective measures.

Cognizant of such issues, the DHS (which declined requests to comment for this story) is weighing modifications to the system, including giving states and cities greater specificity about threats. Feedback from state and local partners will surely be a key component of any changes.

"We need to be prudent and take protective actions," says Gordon. "Should I expect the federal government to tell me what protective actions to take? I think we need to answer that question collectively, as a group of states, as well as with DHS. It's a work in progress, and we need to be sensitive to that."

Says Shipley: "Secretary Ridge and his team have been very responsive to our comments. They knew this system wasn't perfect when they started, it's not perfect yet, and they'll work on it until everybody's satisfied."