A few months ago I thought I heard on the news that the Department of Homeland Security had finally decided to drop its silly "threat level" color codes. After all, the bottom two levels were never used, the top level only once, and it came out that it was frequently manipulated for political purposes.

So now it transpires, doubtless after months of consultation, that the U.S. Reichssicherheitshauptamt has decided that the system can be fixed by switching from five colors to three, by dropping the two that were never used. Loosely translated, the new levels are 1. Be Afraid, 2. Be Very Afraid, 3. Panic!

And of course, this momentous change will prevent the threat levels from ever again being manipulated again by the Administration. Uh huh. Sure.

As usual, Bruce Schneier -- who has long advocated the whole system be dropped -- summed it up best: "...it should be easy to ditch; no one thinks it has any value. Unfortunately, if the Obama Administration can't make this simple change, I don't think they have the political will to make any of the harder changes we need."