President to announce new terrorism alert system

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Monday “a new phase in the local terrorism threat” in the U.S, following an attack last week in San Bernardino, California that left 14 people dead.

“We need a system that adequately informs the public at large, not through news leaks of joint intelligence bulletins to law enforcement”, Johnson said.

The department used to have a color-coded terror alert system that was put into place after September 11, but that was replaced by the National Threat Advisory System (NTAS) in 2011.

In October, Johnson said that DHS was looking at revising the current alert system that replaced the color-coded system based on the latest threats.

Johnson said he hopes to announce the change soon and that he thinks it “reflects the current environment and current realities”.

“We need to do more of that kind of thing”, he said.

“We need to get beyond that to go to a new system with an intermediate level”, Johnson said.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson participates in a conversation during an event sponsored by Defense One at the District Architecture Center in Washington, D.C, Monday. That system, created to provide an alert only when there is a known, credible terrorist threat to the US, has never been activated.

The announcement comes less than a week since the mass shooting in Southern California, which the FBI has declared a terrorism investigation.

“You are going to hear all the familiar complaints: ‘freedom of speech, ‘” Clinton said in an hourlong speech and question-and-answer session at the Saban Forum, an annual gathering at the Brookings Institution that focuses mostly on Israel’s security issues. Earnest discussed President Barack Obama’s address to the nation Sunday night, and other topics.

Officials have struggled with how to alert the public in a responsible manner when there is only vague information about possible attacks, without unnecessarily alarming people.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed credit for organizing the Paris attacks and said the San Bernardino shooters were supporters.

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