Defcom vs Rainbow Alert

I know this has probably been answered years ago..
Why was the Defcom system replaced with the
different colored alerts?

Defcon, or Defense Condition is still in use. It is used by the military. I think it is a range from 1 to 6. 6 being world peace and 1 being under attack.

The rainbow alerts are more for public use. The public have a clearer idea of what condition yellow means compared to defcon 3. Also, the colours are significant for immenent and likelyhood of a terrorist attack. Defcon is used more in conjunction with somewhere like N.Korea launching a nuclear weapon.

Ok, so the color alerts measure the likely hood of terrorist activity. The Defcon system is still in use for
military/gov't purposes of warfare potiential.
I did not know about Def com 6. I always thought
Def com 5 was about as peaceful as things could be, not suprising(sp?) as it is the most probable. :-/