US to use FB, Twitter to issue terror alerts

The US government's colour-coded warning system is being replaced with a more specific and informative plan that would offer two levels of alerts -- elevated and imminent.

The US government's colour-coded warning system is being replaced with a more specific and informative plan that would offer two levels of alerts -- elevated and imminent.

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According to a draft Homeland Security Department plan obtained by The Associated Press, the public could see the warnings on Facebook and Twitter.

The colour-coded system has been one of the government's most visible counter-terrorism tools since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The government's terror warnings could be withheld from the public entirely if announcing a threat would risk exposing an intelligence operation or a current investigation, according to the government's confidential plan.

The new system is expected to be in place by April 27.