More evidence (from the GAO) that shrub's administration would rather play politics and window-dress than do something useful:
The federal government's color-coded threat system is too vague and confusing to help many local and state law enforcement officials prepare for possible terrorist attacks, congressional investigators found Monday in a report that prompted leading members of Congress to call for an overhaul.
The report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, cited widespread concern among federal, state and local officials about the quality and timing of threat information they received from the Homeland Security Department. A survey sent to 84 agencies, states and U.S. territories as part of the study found that vague and inadequate warnings had "hindered their ability to determine whether they were at risk" and what protective measures to take in response, the report said.
But other than hindering "their ability to determine whether they were at risk" and being "an impediment to responding" it's apparently a really great system.
"Thirteen of the 15 federal agencies responding to our estionnaire reported receiving notification of the threat evel change from DHS during the most recent elevation to code-orange. Six of the 13 agencies reported receiving region- or sector-specific threat information;
5 reported receiving information on threat time frames;
and 5 reported receiving site- or eventspecific information.
Two of the 15 federal agencies responding to the questionnaire reported that they did not receive notification from DHS. In addition, for each codeorange alert period,
12 of the 15 federal agencies identified insufficient information on the threat as an impediment to responding to the heightened alert."
Some federal agencies, as well as state and local officials we interviewed, reported hearing about notification of national threat level changes from other entities, such as the FBI and media sources, before being notified by DHS. For example, 3 federal agencies and five state and local entities noted learning about national threat level changes via media sources prior to being notified by DHS. This raises questions about whether DHS is always conveying information regarding threat level changes to government entities expeditiously, as required by HSPD-3.
Federal agencies responding to our questionnaire indicated that they maintain a high security posture and, as a result, did not need to implement a substantial number of additional protective measures to respond to code-orange alerts.
Some federal, state, and local government agencies we contacted reported that they have threat advisory systems in place to ensure government agencies are notified of impending emergencies such as natural disasters or terrorist threats, allowing them to prepare a response. These systems, which were generally in place before the creation of the Homeland Security Advisory System, are similar to the Homeland Security Advisory System or have been revised to conform to it and include threat levels with
associated protective measures. For example, one federal agency told us that it had developed its own five-level alert system 8 years ago to ensure protection of critical national security assets.
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