About Defcon Level And Its Threat Levels | FAQ

Defcon Level is a U.S. based open source intelligence (OSINT) gathering, informative organization & community to keep the public updated on current world events and threats. We assess events and threat levels as accurately as possible through a wide variety of means to obtain open source intelligence and information.

Founded In 2013 By Investigative Journalist Donald Standeford

Founded, and headed by independent investigative journalist and intel/geopolitical analyst Donald Standeford, we started in 2013 as an Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) alerts website, but then expanded into providing more detailed alerts and news to the public. We implemented the U.S. military's regional combatant command system from there so that news and alerts could be categorized by appropriate world regions and easier for readers to browse and understand.

Defcon Level then expanded into a wide reaching open source 'crowd sourcing' intelligence community with members from all over the world, including many members within the U.S. military, ex military and military analysts, professional intelligence and data analysts, computer scientists, nuclear professionals and experts, forensic experts and people on the ground in various conflict hotspots worldwide who became a part of our unique intelligence filtration system. The system allows us not only to gather OSINT intelligence, but quickly analyze it, filter out bad intel and report alerts and news as accurately and quickly as possible.

If you have news or alerts to share we encourage everyone from our community to to send news and alerts to us as quickly as possible so that we can keep the public accurately informed of world events and conflicts.

Defcon Level monitors military readiness, terror threats as well as nuclear threats, and the overall global geopolitical situation. Since we base our Defcon status levels on both military readiness and nuclear threat risk factors, our alert level does not always indicate risk of nuclear war since both factors are tied together.

For example, if we were to be at risk for a nuclear war the United States military readiness would be raised by default, the same as if we had a terror threat or any other kind of threat. For this reason, our level is an overall indicator for military readiness rather than simply how close we are to a nuclear war.

• Question: Why aren't your alerts continually focused on [x] ongoing conflict?
• Answer: First and foremost, we tend to prioritize our focus on conflict escalation or escalation potential, especially international conflict escalation, over ongoing conflicts that have not shown a heightened risk of escalating further for a while. This means that we may initially focus on a new conflict due to its "unknown variable" aspect regarding escalation, but may reduce focus as the conflict continues without escalation and instead choose to cover it periodically, especially if the risk of escalating further heightens.

This in no way means we stop focusing on it, we do continue to monitor the conflict on an ongoing basis, we may just cover it less unless an escalatory action occurs that risks a greater conflict. Also keep in mind, our sister news agency The Standeford Journal may cover regions and topics not currently covered on Defcon Level or the Defcon Alerts platform.

Alternatively, all news, intel, and alerts are posted on Donald's Patreon Platform and covers a great deal more than is posted anywhere else, especially on the highest tier.

• Question: Which Of Your Paid Platforms Are Best For Me?
• Answer: Overall, Donald's Patreon Platform (second and third tier) contains the most news and intel and is for subscribers who don't mind paying a few dollars more for extra content. It contains all geopolitical news, intel and alerts in one platform. Defcon Alerts is a cheaper platform meant mainly for important alerts, for those who are only looking for the alerts we provide. The Standeford Journal is our full release news platform that can contain unique articles, and often contains alerts and intel packaged up into longer and more detailed news/intel reports than on Defcon Alerts. More time and energy is spent on SJ articles, resulting in quality releases. The Standeford Journal focuses on quality over speed, for those who value this. Donald will often spend a full day/night researching, perfecting each article and putting all the intel and alerts together into a single report, along with a lot of extra information not put out in alerts on the other platforms, so they are usually quite packed with useful intel and information. Geopolitical articles posted on SJ are also posted on Donald's Patreon account (second and third tier), but again, non-geopolitical articles found in SJ may not be. Which is best depends on your budget, and whether you're looking for just alerts, or news and intel as well. Keep in mind, if you're not able to afford a subscription we release free alerts on the Alert Flash Page, just keep that page on refresh! We want everyone to stay informed, but Donald and his family survives on what he makes from the platforms and this is more than a full time job for him.

• Question: What is the connection between the overall alert level, and regional alert levels?
• Answer: Although the regional alert levels may seem to affect the overall alert level, they are not inherently connected and are separate level systems. The regional levels indicate military readiness for each region, while the overall level is more of an indicator for risk of overall war and/or nuclear conflict but not necessarily nuclear conflict which has its own indicator On This Page. The only reason the regional levels might seem to influence the overall level system would be because specific events may affect both level systems, not necessarily because the level systems affect or influence one another.

• Question: How do I receive alerts and news from Defcon Level?
• Answer: Generally, news and alerts are posted out on Our Subscription Platforms first, and then out to the website (except for the free alerts posted in the alert flash page which are instant), and our social media channels after that if the alert is important enough to put out on the Defcon website for free. We have begun putting out instant alerts on the Alert Flash Page for free, so it's good to monitor that page continually for new daily updates. There you will find some free alerts and intel on this website that you won't find on the subscription platforms for free.

Although this website will sometimes contain important alerts and information that is not shown for free on our subscription platforms, our paid apps include a great deal of information not posted on this website, including full statements, information, images, videos, conversation transcripts, documents, and other information.

Subscribe to Our Defcon Alerts platform to receive all alerts to your email, including information not on this website, and subscribe to our sister news site The Standeford Journal to receive breaking news straight to your email. Many of our alerts are also posted on The Standeford Journal in full release format.

Our news and alerts have been separated so that those only wanting to receive important alerts won't also receive news. You can opt-in to receiving news as well by signing up for both platforms. The prices of both platforms have been reduced to allow for people to subscribe to both if they wish without it breaking the bank.

Alternatively, you could subscribe to our Patreon Platform, where all of our alerts, intel and geopolitical news is posted in one place. Some non-geopolitical news posted on The Standeford Journal news site may not be posted on our Patreon Platform, however.

If we add more ways down the road they will be added to that page as well. Although we have an external alert platform, and an external news platform, the external platforms do not in any way replace this website. Some important alerts, news, and other useful information that is not found on the platforms for free will still be posted here for free, so be sure to bookmark us and check this website frequently!

• Question: How Accurate Are The Alerts On This Site?
• Answer: Nothing on this site is automated. Everything on it is hand verified and hand written by our intel team, and by investigative journalist Donald Standeford before being hand-coded into the website. Donald is an American intelligence analyst, freelance journalist and world traveler currently living in a small tribal village surviving on what he makes from the Subscription Platforms. Follow Donald Standeford on: Twitter.

• Question: Do the warnings on this site show the risk of nuclear war, or conflict or both?
• Answer: The Regional Alerts on this site show risk of war or conflict, the nuclear alerts show nuclear risk. The Overall Level include both military readiness and nuclear risk. We have now overhauled the Alert Levels to include nuclear risk levels. We are in the planning stages to add other different types of levels in the future.

• Question: Is the current Defcon level made public?
• Answer: No, the current level is not made public right away for security reasons. The alert status for each military branch may also differ at any given time. The status levels on the 'current' page and regional command pages are determined by community intelligence alerts and known threats but is not recorded on the official Change History page until a status change is revealed to the public by the U.S. government.

• Question: Are the 'live' alert levels on the website just a guess as opposed to the Official Levels?
• Answer: A 'guess' is a casual or spontaneous conclusion. An 'estimate' is based on thought and/or data. What we do is collect large amounts of data and put forth an estimate of what our intel community believes it should be based on all of the open source (OSINT) intelligence and data we've collected from all over the world and our analysis of that data. The live alerts are in no way trying to guess the government alert status, it is a separate assessment based on data that we have.

• Question: Is Defcon Level unbiased in their reporting?
• Answer: Defcon Level is biased towards 'truth' outside of propaganda, beyond slant, beyond manipulative agendas and beyond narrative. What is truth? Whatever the evidence supports. We are human, but we do our very best to report based on intel, information, evidence and facts.

• Question: What side of the political spectrum does Defcon Level lean?
• Answer: We don't believe that truth is (or should be) regulated by any political spectrum at all and is instead outside of said spectrum. Furthermore, we believe that a little maturity and respect goes a long way in honoring differences in opinion among people. Our intel community is comprised of people of all political leanings, so long as respect and maturity is maintained, and we strive to report the news based on facts and truth and not based on political opinion or leaning.

• Question: How is Defcon Level Funded?
• Answer: We depend entirely on ad revenue, donations (crowdfunding), paid subscriptions and affiliate programs to continue operating. If you would like to pitch in and contribute to the cause the next question below will help you find out how to do just that!

• Question: I want to become a contributor, how do I go about partnering with Defcon Level in various ways?
• Answer: Great! Visit the Contribute page where you will find all of the ways you can partner with us and contribute to the Defcon Level.

• Question: How do I share the current Defcon level's threat status on my website?
• Answer: To share the Defcon levels current status on your website copy the share code located on our share page and paste into your own website.

• Question: Which defcon level is good and which level is bad?
• Answer: Level 5 is a state of peace and is a good thing, while Level 1 is a state of war or imminent nuclear threat and a very bad thing.

• Question: Is Defcon level 5 good or bad?
• Answer: Defcon level 5 is good, it is the lowest status in the warning system and a state of peace.

• Question: Is Defcon level 1 good or bad?
• Answer: Alert level 1 is bad, it means we are in a state of war or imminent nuclear threat.

• Question: Has the United States ever gone to Defcon level 1?
• Answer: No, the United States has never been at Defcon 1 to date since the creation of the defcon levels alert system by NORAD in 1959.

• Question: What's the highest Defcon Level the U.S has ever reached?
• Answer: Highest ever reached was alert level 2 during the Cuban missile crisis in October 22, 1962.

• Question: What is the current Defcon Level right now?
• Answer: The current alert status can be found on or current level page, long with other important information about the alert system.

• Question: Has the United States ever been at defcon 2?
• Answer: Yes, the only time the U.S reached level 2 was during the Cuban missile crisis in October 22, 1962 but only the Strategic Air Command branch was ordered to level 2. In 1991 it was also changed to 2 during the Gulf War.

• Question: When was the defcon levels warning status last updated or changed?
• Answer: The Defcon level's status is updated daily, and the last official change was September 11th, 2001 during the attack on the twin towers. Although the current defcon level depends on community alerts and information, we do not record the defcon level as 'official' until the 'official' level has been released to the public at any given time.

• Question: What type of events change the Defcon level warning status?
• Answer: Things that can affect the alert level are imminent nuclear threats or a heightened state of alert in one or more of the U.S military branches.

• Question: Where do I find current government alerts and notices?
• Answer: You may find current government alerts and notices on our Advisories page.

• Question: What Time Zone Does Defcon Level Use?
• Answer: Defcon Level now uses Coordinated Universal Time For All Services (UTC).

Defcon Level is a Private intelligence gathering informative organization to keep the public updated on current world events, threats and conflicts around the world.