Alert colours confuse US

It is yellow on America8217;s streets, orange in New York City and red in the skies, but only for travellers on planes from Britain. When it comes to terrorism threats, the nation is painted in a confusing rainbow of colours. Despite criticism the colour-coded threat alert system adopted in 2002 lacks meaningful information, it remains the measure by which Americans are to judge the danger they face.

Red means there is indisputable, credible evidence that an attack is planned or has already occurred. So why are the airlines still flying? John Rollins, former chief of staff in the Homeland Security Department8217;s intelligence analysis unit, said once anything gets to red, US officials should 8216;8216;pretty much shut down that activity8217;8217;. 8216;8216;Why take any chances?8217;8217; he asked.