Defcon Levels & What Each Alert Level Color Means

Official Defcon levels range from a scale of alert level 1 (color white) to 5 (color blue). Defcon levels 1 through 4 mean an elevated condition status, and alert level 5 means a current state of peace or low levels of military readiness or alertness.

What are all the Defcon Levels, and what do the levels mean? The five official Defcon levels are: Condition 1 - Cocked Pistol (color white), 2 Fast Pace (color red), 3 Round House (color yellow), 4 Double Take (color green), and 5 Fade Out (color blue). All five Defcon levels and their meanings are shown below.

Because the Official Defcon Levels are not released to the public from the United States Government usually until later, we give both official changes to the Official Defcon Levels, as well as Current Estimates based on open source intelligence analysis of the current geopolitical situation.

Now that we know the meaning of the Defcon Level Warning System, what are the Defcon levels used for? The levels are used to show the Current Overall system status, but each Combatant Command region also uses these Defcon levels to show the current alert status of each Region. News alerts for each region can be found on the Regional Alerts Pages.

Below is the list of the 5 Defcon levels in the official system and the color for each. Click on one of the alerts below to find out what each Defcon Level color means and in what situations each of the alert levels are used for. Visit the Official Changes page to see a list of official Defcon system changes.