The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is built on a structure conceived in the 1950¿s when over-the-air broadcasting was the best-available technol. for widely disseminating emergency alerts. It is one of several federally managed warning systems. The NOAA/NWS weather radio system has been upgraded to an all-hazard warning capability. The Dept. of Homeland Security is implementing a program that will disseminate nat. alert messages over digital broadcast airwaves, using satellite and public TV broadcast towers. This program is called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Contents of this report: EAS Admin.; NOAA Weather Radio; All-Hazard Warning Tech.; Public Alert Warning System: The WARN Act. A print on demand report.

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is built on a structure conceived in the 1950's when over-the-air broadcasting was the best-available technology for widely disseminating emergency alerts. It is one of several federally managed warning systems. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) jointly administers EAS with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in cooperation with the National Weather Service (NWS), an organization within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA/NWS weather radio system has been upgraded to an all-hazard warning capability. Measures to improve the NOAA network and the new Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS) are ongoing. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), working with the Association of Public Television Stations, is implementing a program that will disseminate national alert messages over digital broadcast airwaves, using satellite and public TV broadcast towers. This program, referred to as the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), is part of the Department's response to an Executive Order requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to meet specific requirements for an alert system as part of U.S. policy. Legislation was passed at the end of the 109th Congress (the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act, or WARN Act, as signed into law as Title VI of P.L. 109347) to assure funding to public television stations to install digital equipment to handle national alerts. The law also required the establishment of a committee to provide the FCC with recommendations regarding the transmittal of emergency alerts by commercial mobile service providers to their subscribers. Committee recommendations provided the structure for a Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS). In addition to presidential alerts, which clearly are a federal responsibility, the service would transmit emergency alerts generated by state, local, and other nonfederal authorities. In the 110th Congress, S. 1223 (Senator Landrieu) and its companion bill, H.R. 2331 (Representative Melancon), would authorize funds to strengthen the radio broadcasting infrastructure that supports the Emergency Alert System. It would also provide for a pilot Broadcast Disaster Preparedness Grant Program. H.R. 2787 (Representative Ellsworth) would require the installation of weather radios in new manufactured (mobile) homes. H.R. 2787, known as CJ's Law, was passed by the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. Three bills would place statutory requirements on the development of IPAWS and would authorize funding to implement the program and conduct pilot tests. These are the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2008 (H.R. 6038, Graves); the Alerting Lives Through Effective and Reliable Technological Systems (ALERTS) Act (H.R. 6392, Cuellar), which also addresses federal participation in operating parts of the CMAS alerting capability; and the Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Enhancement ACT (H.R. 6658, Oberstar). H.R. 6658 contains provisions covering a wide range of FEMA activities; in addition to reiterating the IPAWS provisions of H.R. 6038, the bill would create an advisory committee to make recommendations to FEMA concerning IPAWS and report to Congress on the committee's actions.

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is built on a structure conceived in the 1950's when over-the-air broadcasting was the best-available technology for widely disseminating emergency alerts. It is one of several federally managed warning systems. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) jointly administers EAS with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in cooperation with the National Weather Service (NWS), an organization within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA/NWS weather radio system has been upgraded to an all-hazard warning capability. Measures to improve the NOAA network and the broader-based EAS are underway or are being tested. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (P.L. 108-458) addressed the possibility of using advanced telecommunications and Internet technologies for emergency notification by requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement pilot projects. On June 26, 2006, President George W. Bush issued an executive order stating that U.S. policy is "to have an effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive system to alert and warn the American people." To achieve this policy, the President sets out a list of functional requirements for the Secretary of Homeland Security to meet. Bills in the 109th Congress that would improve emergency alert systems, domestically and internationally, include S. 50 (Senator Inouye) and H.R. 396 (Representative Menendez); these bills were prompted by the tsunami disaster but include measures that also apply to the need for a better all-hazard warning system in the United States. A bill dealing more broadly with the development of emergency alert networks and post-disaster communications has been introduced by Senator Jim DeMint (S. 1753). It has been approved by committee, with amendments that include the incorporation of S. 50. Bills similar to S. 1753, but with some modifications and without the text from S. 50, were introduced in the House by Representative John Shimkus (H.R. 5556, amended as H.R. 5785). A bill to provide telephone alerts as part of a national alert system has been introduced (H.R. 2101, Representative Meek). A bill to assist individuals with disabilities in emergency situations (S. 2124, Senator Harkin) includes provisions for providing information in emergencies. A companion bill to S. 2124 was introduced by Representative James R. Langevin (H.R. 4704). H.R. 5351 (Representative Reichert), a bill which would strengthen FEMA within the Department of Homeland Security, includes a section covering general provisions for an "Integrated National Alert and Warning System." H.R. 5759 (Representative Harris) has similar provisions regarding an integrated national alert system. This report summarizes the technology and administration of EAS and the NOAA/NWS all-hazard network, new programs in DHS, and some of the key proposals for change. It will be updated.

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is one of several federally managed warning systems. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) jointly administers EAS with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in cooperation with the National Weather Service, an organization within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA/NWS weather radio system has been upgraded to an all-hazard warning capability.

FEMA and the FCC have committed to a timetable for development of IPAWS and CMAS that is intended to deliver mobile alert messages to consumers by April 7, 2012.9 National Response Framework Policies and programs to improve post-disaster information appear to show the same symptoms of poor planning and coordination that have delayed the implementation of IPAWS and related alert programs. [...] For the broadcast of non-federal emergency messages, the FCC has ruled that the broadcasters, not a state or local authority, have the final authority to transmit a message.16 Historically, the level of cooperation from the broadcasting industry has been high. [...] In 1999, FEMA and the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture took the lead in a multi-agency working group to explore ways to create an all-hazard warning network.23 Their recommendations included using NWR as the backbone for a national all-hazard warning system and the establishment of a permanent group to promote improvements in warning systems. [...] Congressional Research Service 7 The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and All-Hazard Warnings Policy and Capability." The purpose of the document was to "develop a national vision and goals" for improving all-hazard warning systems at the federal, state and local levels. [...] The Secretary of Homeland Security was ordered to "ensure an orderly and effective transition" from current capabilities to the system described by executive order.28 The development and implementation of IPAWS is part of the response to the order.

Following a series of natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, that revealed shortcomings in the nation's ability to effectively alert populations at risk, Congress passed the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act in 2006. Today, new technologies such as smart phones and social media platforms offer new ways to communicate with the public, and the information ecosystem is much broader, including additional official channels, such as government social media accounts, opt-in short message service (SMS)-based alerting systems, and reverse 911 systems; less official channels, such as main stream media outlets and weather applications on connected devices; and unofficial channels, such as first person reports via social media. Traditional media have also taken advantage of these new tools, including their own mobile applications to extend their reach of beyond broadcast radio, television, and cable. Furthermore, private companies have begun to take advantage of the large amounts of data about users they possess to detect events and provide alerts and warnings and other hazard-related information to their users. More than 60 years of research on the public response to alerts and warnings has yielded many insights about how people respond to information that they are at risk and the circumstances under which they are most likely to take appropriate protective action. Some, but not all, of these results have been used to inform the design and operation of alert and warning systems, and new insights continue to emerge. Emergency Alert and Warning Systems reviews the results of past research, considers new possibilities for realizing more effective alert and warning systems, explores how a more effective national alert and warning system might be created and some of the gaps in our present knowledge, and sets forth a research agenda to advance the nation's alert and warning capabilities.