NEW YORK (CNN) - We're in perilous times, and the people responsible for our national security are doing their best, so I want to assure you I mean no one any disrespect... but today's announcement by the Attorney General and Homeland Security Director that they have raised the so-called threat assessment level from yellow to orange struck me as nonsensical. I've never liked the color code for threat levels. Less so tonight. Orange, if you don't know, means there's a high risk of a terrorist attack. Would it be too much to ask of our national leaders that they simply say "there's a high risk of a terrorist attack"?

Not one person with whom I talked today knew where to look, or listen, to learn what color of alert the nation was under...or what it all meant. And not one person was surprised to learn that on the eve of September 11 that we should be extra vigilant... or that our local law enforcement and federal agencies should be on high alert and coordinating their efforts.

Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have reason tonight to believe there are terrorist attacks planned against U.S. embassies and interests around the world, principally in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. And our military is on heightened alert all around the world. These are serious men and women doing serious and dangerous work, and they...and the rest of us they seek to protect...deserve better from our national leaders than a patronizing, silly color code for levels of threat. We are all Americans, and when we're threatened we've proved time and again there are only three colors that matter: red, white and blue.