Jon Snyder/Wired.com Jon Snyder/Wired.com Mrs. Gemstone/Flickr Derek Purdy/Flickr Gen. Patrick Hughes, then-assistant secretary for information analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, explains the departments color-coded threat-condition system on Capitol Hill in 2004.

Dennis Cook/AP

Apparently the terrorists have cracked the five-color threat advisory code the federal government instituted in 2002, in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Or maybe the government has finally realized the silliness of the oft-spoofed five-color threat-level advisory to which nobody paid attention?

In either case, the rainbow coloring system is ending come April.

Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security secretary, is expected to make the announcement Thursday. CNN reported that the color system will be replaced with what is to be known as the National Terror Advisory System to address threats in a more localized manner.

The changeover comes more than a year after the Homeland Security Advisory Council recommended altering the terror-alert code.

"There is currently indifference to the public Homeland Security Advisory System and, at worst, there is a disturbing lack of public confidence in the system," the 19-member council had written Napolitano.

Today's threat advisory color is "Yellow," or "Elevated." For domestic and international flights, the level is "Orange," or "High." (Duct tape your windows at your own discretion.)

"Everyone should establish an emergency preparedness kit and emergency plan for themselves and their family, and stay informed about what to do during an emergency," the DHS warned Wednesday on its website.

The threat level has not changed in more than four years.

Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in a 2009 book, The Test of Our Times, that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft unsuccessfully lobbied him to raise the threat level days before the 2004 elections, in a bid to seal President George W. Bush's re-election.

As you might infer from the title of this blog, we're more than a little sad to report the death of the threat-level color codes. But check out the cool pics above for the serious and humorous takes on the oft-spoofed system.

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