It's essential that everything moves with the times in order to survive, even counter-terrorism. The terror alert system brought in by the US government after the 9/11 attacks is to be scrapped and replaced with warnings on Twitter and Facebook.
The new system will be introduced on 27 April. Here's your guide to the social network alert system.
US terror alert levels-
Elevated (yellow)
Imminent (orange)
When will alerts be posted online?
Terror alerts may be broadcast on Twitter and Facebook only “when appropriate”, according to a previously top-secret document. Terror threats are made public only after members of Congress, various counter-terrorism officials, governors and mayors have been informed.
What information will we get?
You can bet that information will be extremely vague but if there is a specific threat then the government might issue a public warning. I.e. by vigilant in airports for instance.
What do the threat levels mean?
“Elevated” alert would warn of a credible threat against the US with specific details unknown.
An “imminent” alert would warn about a credible, specific and impending terrorist threat or an ongoing attack against the US.
Will we see them in the UK?
There’s no concrete plans at the moment but it seems extremely likely that a similar system will be introduced in the near future.
I’d say ‘elevated.’