National Defence
The phrase alert state is used in milieu variously although in a capitalized form the reference is of an indication of the state of readiness of the armed forces for military action or a State against terrorism or military attack.The term frequently used is on High Alert Examples are the DEFCON levels of the US armed forces, probably indicating some degree within DEFCON:2 to DEFCON:4,possibly DEFCON:1 classified with the words as high alert .
The British government's UK Threat Levels, probably including the highest three levels of five, these being classified as substantial,severe and critical. Both highest positions within the classification are synonymous with red alert. All these of course rely on an understanding of the word alert, which is also originally relevant to a type of military activity, within the earliest recorded usage.
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Famous quotes containing the words national and/or defence:
“[D]rilling and arming, when carried on on a national scale, excite whole populations to frenzies which end in war.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“What cannot stand must fall; and the measure of our sincerity and therefore of the respect of men, is the amount of health and wealth we will hazard in the defence of our right. An old farmer, my neighbor across the fence, when I ask him if he is not going to town-meeting, says: “No, ‘t is no use balloting, for it will not stay; but what you do with the gun will stay so.””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)