"elevated imminence"
What do you do when your system is too complex? You simplify, of course!
But will that reduce the ridicule? Only some of it; the part that mocks its complexity. The part that mocks the bombastic vagueness and self-important panickmongery without substance to what is most important to people: What's the trouble? How do we defend against it? Will we be safe? The institutional answers are "the unspecified but indubitably very bad people yonder", "give up your civil liberties", and "listen to us, we're so honest", and you'll note that they're not very useful answers.
The change isn't a substantial one, but does give ample opportunity for fresh and new ridicule. Lookit, if you thought the DHS thought you were stupid, not we're certain. They think we can't even handle five meaningless colours. Two will have to do. Black, and blacker!
The real problem isn't in the colour codes. That's just a colourful self-supplied illustration of how stuck up their own arses they are. Lookit them pretty colours they're imagining. Or now the black and the blacker they're actually seeing. It's like "show and tell"; first the creative and now the practical approach.
The trouble is built right into the structure of the TLAgency. It's their core belief. Yes, belief, because all the rational thought is strictly poured into supporting the premise, not in being self-critical. That would be bad for budget, see.
A commedian here joked about a newsreader of Antillian descent joked that if she'd true to her heritage newsreading would be a lot more relaxing. It'd go like, said in a sing-song accent, "Well there are of course a lot of really troubling things happening in the world, it's large you know, but we can't dig into all of that now" and continue with the really important stuff, the weather.
The DHS is pretty much the antithesis to that. Seeing trouble everywhere, always evangelizing people about the importance of the threats and being prepared and crap, but never adding much useful at all to the debate. You can't take them seriously; it'd kill you just for the heartburn. See? See? Them thar terrists have won!
Hang'em high I say. Tar, feather & run out of town. No not "them thar terrists", they're just not important enough for anyone but some small national secret services to keep tabs on and occasionally smack down, or simply refuse a visa. The greedy bunch of the security horror theatre complex. Every last one of them.