With this sense of a new era came the need, felt in both the social sciences and the humanities, for another description of the contemporary situation, in its political and historical as well as symbolic and cultural dimensions. This agency and program were symptoms of the sense that the strikes heralded a new era in America and the West generally.
It hardly requires mention that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, catalyzed the second Bush administration to create both the DHS and its advisory system. While federal emergency communication initiatives had been in place for over fifty years, the Homeland Security Advisory System was the first to communicate a perceived threat rather than an actually occurring military offensive or other catastrophic event. The implementation of this alert system made clear that the nation at large was now, if not at greater risk, more aware of the risks it faced. Each easy-to-decode color-from red (severe) to green (low)-communicates a threat status that impels government entities as well as the public to modify their preparedness for an emergency.
The system was designed to disseminate emergency information smoothly from the DHS to residents and governmental agencies by translating the national threat into one of five colors. On March 12, 2002, the newly created United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inaugurated its Homeland Security Advisory System.
