Amber Alert
© Giles PriceThe BIKINI state was an alert state indicator previously used by the UK Ministry of Defence to warn of non-specific forms of terroist activity, established on 19 May 1970. According to the Ministry of Defence, the word bikini was randomly selected by a computer.
The highest levels of alert, RED and AMBER, were only intended to be maintained for limited times. The WHITE state has never been used in the history of the system.
Level AMBER = There has been specific information received and there is a substantial threat to government targets. It can also mean “high alert”, which could be transition to war.
It was replaced by a more general and public terrorism alert status,UK threat levels, an alert state system in use by the British Government since 1 August 2006.
The newly termed ’severe' state of alert was in place during the London 2012 Olympic Games and during its construction.
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