MOSCOW, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The Russian Parliament adopted a system of color-coded terror alerts Friday in response to this week's deadly bombing at the Moscow airport.
Russia has turned to the system just as the Obama administration scrapped a similar one in the United States, The New York Times reported. Fred Burton, an analyst with Stratfor, a Texas-based global intelligence company, said Britain has also abandoned color codes, while France still uses the system.
Under the Russian system, there will be blue, yellow and red alerts, with blue the least serious. The plan was put forward after a double bombing in the Moscow Metro in March last year, and President Dmitry Medvedev called for increases in security after Monday's airport bombing.
Burton said the color-coded system was adapted from what is used at military bases, where each level had certain defined procedures associated with it. In civilian life in the United States, however, it provided little useful information.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a speech Thursday her department will define threats as "imminent" or "elevated" with as much specific information as possible on the nature of the threat and the response.
