Homeland Security Advisory System threat-level chart
A five-color scale (green through red) communicated a national terrorism threat level to the public from 2002 to 2011, with no attached base rate and usually no geographic scope or specific recommended action beyond generic vigilance. The color carried the message; the underlying intelligence behind a given level was rarely disclosed.
- Date
- 2002
- Period
- Contemporary
- Made by
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Document
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- George W. Bush Administration
- Leader
- George W. Bush
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Theme
- Security and surveillance
- Event
- War on Terror
- Techniques
- Fear appealCard stacking
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security (via Wikimedia Commons), retrieved September 25, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2002-2011 (Homeland Security Advisory System, retired March 2011).
Text on the object
[Seal: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY] HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISORY SYSTEM SEVERE Severe Risk of Terrorist Attacks HIGH High Risk of Terrorist Attacks ELEVATED Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks GUARDED General Risk of Terrorist Attacks LOW Low Risk of Terrorist Attacks
The SVG file's text is rendered as vector outlines rather than a text element, so this was read visually off a rasterized rendering of the chart rather than extracted from markup.
