The end of the rainbow? Terrorism and the future of public warning

After 9/11, the US introduced a public warning system for terrorism, the Homeland Security Advisory System: the first of its kind in the country. Within months, however, the system was attracting widespread criticism, with questions regarding its ability to adequately communicate risk, its use of colour-coded threat levels, and even its potential to be manipulated for political advantage by the Bush administration. Despite this, the UK introduced a similar system in 2006. Whilst some lessons appear to have been learned from the American experience, in other respects the UK approach is still a work in progress.