Bloggers have been making fun of this for a while now:
A new Congressional report has found that the government’s much ridiculed color-coded terrorist alert system is so vague in detailing threats that the public “may begin to question the authenticity” of the threats and take no action when the alert level is raised.
The review by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan branch of the Library of Congress, offered lawmakers options for replacing or overhauling the system, including a proposal that the five-color palette of alert levels be replaced with “general warnings concerning the threat of terrorist attacks.”
I don’t know what would work better in place of this, but there is no doubt this system is pointless.