Colors of incompetency at homeland security.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

"The color-coded warning system has never served a useful purpose and deserved all the ridicule it received over the past decade," declares David Schanzer, coauthor of a report on risk management in homeland security for the IBM Center for the Business of Government, Armonk, N.Y.

"The system pretended that the risk from a sophisticated, multi-factor threat like terrorism could be boiled down to one code, applicable at all times and places across our vast and diverse nation, but terrorism is not like the risk of a forest fire, which can be easily determined by calculating how dry the brush is.

"We really have very little idea where or when terrorists are going to strike, or even when the likelihood of an attack is elevated--and when we do have information suitable for public disclosure about a terrorist threat, the public deserves, and demands, a more detailed explanation about it than a change in the colors on the Department of Homeland Security website," Schanzer continues.

"Even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Americans understood right away that the system provided no useful information or guidance on meaningful actions that they should take in response to government...