The National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) is a terrorism threat advisory scale used by the United States Department of Homeland Security since April 26, 2011. The system was announced on January 27, 2011 by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano during a speech at George Washington University. Her official announcement followed reports of the NTAS that had surfaced the day before. The NTAS is the replacement for the often-criticized, color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System introduced by the George W. Bush administration in 2002. Napolitano said the color-coded system often presented "little practical information" to the public, and that the NTAS will provide alerts "specific to the threat" with "a specified end date." On December 7, 2015, a day after an Address to the Na