This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. This is only a test.

[NightWatcher]

We've got that warning on antenna television and over the air radio for as long as I can remember.

Today's test was an update to that system to take advantage of advances in technology that ensure that most people can receive the warning. We all have phones now (except for a few). It's the easiest way to get a warning to the most people.

Breathe and return to your regularly scheduled gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.

Thank you.

[LAS14]

1. Yup, we really have better things to rend and gnash over. nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. The contempt people have for this process, which has been around since the 1930s, is weird to me.

[NightWatcher]

4. I wonder how many people that freaked about trump sending a message follow him on twitter already.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Yes.

They changed the name of it to the "Emergency Alert System" in 1997... as part of updates that would include the new tech to come... like cells.

I still miss the old EBS though.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. If it hadn't been labeled a "presidential" alert it wouldn't be given a second thought.

Spanky probably told FEMA to call it that to make it seem more important, but the result was widespread outrage and the donning of tinfoil hats over something that was just a legally mandated test of an upgrade of an existing system. Can we all just go back to drunk, rapey Supreme Court nominees now?

[BumRushDaShow]

7. NO.

That is the "category" of alert that is literally designed into the "computer system" that handles the alerts. Drumpf had nothing to do with it.

Other alerts include weather ones, earthquake ones, missile ones (like we saw happen in Hawai'i)... plus the severe weather ones like those for tornadoes and of course the Amber Alerts.

Edit to include what all is involved (I have posted this elsewhere)-

The disastrous false alarm issued by Hawaii over the weekend has raised concerns about what safeguards the state had in place. The state-wide alert, which told people a ballistic missile was about to hit, terrified residents and visitors, as the state scrambled for 38 minutes to issue a correction.

Officials soon released a timeline of events, saying the state’s software contained a menu option that allowed a live alert to be sent in place of a test, a problem that several people quickly categorized as a design failure. The state released an image that showed a list with options for test and live alerts next to each other. Officials later said the image did not accurately portray the system, and released what it characterized as a “representation” of the system, but said that it could not share an actual screenshot.

While the state has not named its software provider, evidence suggests it is an Idaho-based company called AlertSense, a FEMA-approved company that says it works with clients in states around the country. The audio version of the alert broadcast in Hawaii was posted on the company’s website. The first image released by Hawaii also appears similar to example software provided to The Verge by AlertSense. For instance, the word “templates” appears above the alert options in AlertSense’s software, and is barely visible in the first image issued by the state. (A local TV station in Hawaii independently came to the same conclusion.) The Verge’s review of the program suggests that functionally there is only a one-click difference between sending a test and a live alert.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/18/16905512/hawaii-missile-software-false-alarm-emergency-alert

[blugbox]

8. Those categories are just fine.

They explain the nature of the alert immediately.

So why does there need to be a "Presidential" alert category? What emergency would he inform us about that doesn't already have it's own category? I think that's the main issue people are having with it.

Alert systems are very good, and categories help a ton, just for the record.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. My mother was 11 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked

The President of the United States (Roosevelt) commanded the (limited) airwaves - i.e., the radio because that's all there was - with the message about this attack. She said everyone was sitting in front of it when his emergency address happened.

THAT is the purpose behind the "Presidential Alert" category. Theoretically, Shrub could have used it on 9/11 but obviously all the TV stations were already broadcasting it. Meaning it should not and will hopefully not be used casually.

[onenote]

16. Because only the President can give final authorization for FEMA to send a national alert

y'know, the buck stops here and all that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. I can't read all those screens clearly but I don't see where

any are called presidential alerts.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. All of the "drop down" categories are not on the screen caps

As I understand it, the system is designed with hierarchical security access meaning that the people (techs or whoever) who will be entering and sending these messages will be using accounts that have different levels of functionality, so their screens will have different options depending on their account's purview and security level.

So for example, the people who send alerts out for a "Tornado Warning" at the NWS are NOT able to send out an "Amber Alert" as that function would be handled by a state/local authority and not the NWS.

[wishstar]

6. On my TV it seemed identical to the EAS alerts we have received for years

I have Spectrum cable and get the EAS alerts when there is a real warning message and when it is just a test. There was a man's voice reciting the message but it was not Trump's voice. We had our cellphones turned off, so don't know about those alerts but my understanding is that the point of this EAS alert was getting the message out on mobile devices, not just TV..

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Exactly. THAT is all it is.

The difference being instead of just being sent to your locality where each broadcast station is required by the FCC to test at least once a month, this special category of message went out EVERYWHERE across the country, on all (participating) types of media.

This is the first time that this has been done. I don't think such a simultaneous nationwide test had ever been done before with the old EBS system.

[Calista241]

12. So, I see the need for an alert system like this.

But why did they have to call it a "Presidential Alert"? That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[leftstreet]

13. Yep. It's so pre WWII dictator-y n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Basically taken from an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934

The EAS is a national public warning system that provides the President with the communications capability to address the nation during a national emergency. The test is made available to EAS participants (i.e., radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers) and is scheduled to last approximately one minute. The test message will be similar to regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar. The EAS message will include a reference to the WEA test:

“THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by broadcast and cable operators in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency an official message would have followed the tone alert you heard at the start of this message. A similar wireless emergency alert test message has been sent to all cell phones nationwide. Some cell phones will receive the message; others will not. No action is required.”

The EAS is based upon the War Powers Act provision of the Communications Act of 1934, which provides for Presidential access to commercial communications during “a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency.” For WEA, the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act of 2006 provides that subscribers may opt out of receiving any wireless alerts “other than an alert issued by the President,” and that wireless alerting service should allow wireless subscribers the capability of opting out of receiving WEA alerts, other than an alert issued at the direction of the President and/or his/her designee.

https://www.fema.gov/emergency-alert-test

What is sad is that we have an abuser-in-chief occupying a position of "trust" who has absolutely ZERO of it.

The WARN Act of 2006 happened under Shrub and the systems were put into place under Obama. Unfortunately it was all finally ready to go after some earlier tests had uncovered issues that were corrected, under the thing in the WH.

[onenote]

17. It's called a presidential alert because only the president can authorize a nationwide alert

which makes sense if you stop and think about it.

[Initech]

18. Test 1: Fake news! Test 2: Rigged witch hunt!

Test 3: Democrats mistreated Kavanaugh and privileged white men! Sad!

[LanternWaste]

19. It's still fun to use it as a mechanism to troll Trump.

Sure it's standard stuff... but it's still fun to use it as a mechanism to troll Trump.

And that's not half as fun as reading the self-righteous responses taking all this ever-so-seriously, and calmly explaining to us that "TRUMP'S NOT SENDING YOU A MESSAGE. STOP MAKING US LOOK STUPID!!!!" nonsense.

Meta-trolling for those holding the diaphanous pretense of cleverness and the attractive, though thin veneer of rationality.

[backscatter712]

20. This is only a test...

... If this had been an actual emergency, you would have just enough time to get to your nearest likely Ground Zero to make shadow puppets with your Hiroshima Shadow.