GOING FOR THE GREEN.

In the scheme of America's current economic disaster and all of the ailments that plague the United States, this issue pales in comparison, and may be destined for the far back burner...But: President Obama once described it as the "colour-codes politics of fear".

It is America's Homeland Security Advisory System. The colour coded threat-advisory chart which was unveiled with fanfare and promise about six-months after the September 11 attacks of 2001.

I am not sure if anyone is still checking; the cobwebs surely have along ago settled on the "Yellow" (elevated) threat assessment, where the chart has been stuck for the last five-years and two months. That pretty much confirms the view of critics who have charged that the threat-assessment decisions had as much to do with political expediency as with the national security of the United States.

In 2002 the system's champion was then Attorney-General, John Ashcroft. It was introduced after former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge became the country's first Chief of Homeland Security. After changing hues ten times in its first 24-months the chart has now, to be polite, fallen into "limited" use. And; Governor Ridge himself was recently quoted in the "Intelligence Report" of Parade.com claiming that even during his tenure..."the use of the system was driven by others in the Bush Administration, sometimes over his (own) objections."

A spokesman at the White House, Nick Shapiro, says the new President..."will not tolerate politicization of such a system." Instead, President Obama believes any advisory system should focus on keeping Americans safe when..."information specific to a particular sector or geographic region is received."

In one of her first acts at the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Janet Napolitano launched a review of the colour-coded program to determine how the President's vision is to be implemented.