High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System was a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale. The different levels trigger specific actions by federal agencies and state and local governments, and they affect the level of security at some airports and other public facilities. It is often called the "terror alert level" by the U.S. media. The system was, as scheduled, phased out April 27, 2011, and replaced with a new system called the National Terrorism Advisory System. The phase-out was announced on January 27, 2011 by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano during a speech at George Washington University.