Wireless Emergency Alerts

The Federal Communications Commission proposed and adopted the network structure, operational procedures and technical requirements in 2007 and 2008 in response to the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act passed by Congress in 2006, which allocated $106 million to fund the program.[3] CMAS will allow federal agencies to accept and aggregate alerts from the President of the United States, the National Weather Service (NWS) and emergency operations centers, and send the alerts to participating wireless providers who will distribute the alerts to their customers with compatible devices via Cell Broadcast, a technology similar to SMS text messages that simultaneously delivers messages to all phones using a cell tower instead of individual recipients.[1][4]

The government issues three types of alerts through this system:

• Alerts issued by the President of the United States.
• Alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life, issued in two different categories: extreme threats and severe threats
• AMBER Alerts.[1]

When the alert is received, a sound is played if the ringer is on. On nearly all devices, the Emergency Alert System radio/TV attention signal sounds in a predetermined pattern.[5]

The system is a collaborative effort among the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA),[6]

Within ten months of FEMA making the government's design specifications for this secure interface for message transfer available, wireless service providers choosing to participate in CMAS must begin development and testing of systems which will allow them to receive alerts from alert originators and distribute them to their customers.[1] Systems must be fully deployed within 28 months of the December 2009 adoption of such standards and are expected to be delivering alert messages to the public by 2012.[6] Although not mandatory, several wireless providers, including T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon have announced their willingness to participate in the system.[3] Providers who do not wish to participate must notify their customers. Some phones which are not CMAS-capable may require only a software upgrade; while others may need to be replaced entirely.[1]

CMAS messages, although displayed similarly to SMS text messages, are always free and are routed through a separate service which will give them priority over voice and regular text messages in congested areas.[1][7] Users may disable most CMAS messages; however, CMAS regulations[8] prohibit participating carriers from configuring phones to allow users to opt out of "Presidential" alerts.[1]

Presidential mobile phone alert for national emergencies.

Public television stations are also required by the FCC to act as a distribution system for CMAS alerts. Within 18 months of receiving funding from the Department of Commerce, all public television stations must be able to receive CMAS alerts from FEMA and transmit them to participating wireless service providers.[1]

On April 6, 2017, Canada's telecom regulator, the CRTC, ruled that all LTE wireless carriers in Canada must begin relaying public alerts effective April 2018. This system is based on style guides and behaviors dictated by the equivalent Alert Ready system used for radio and television alerting.[9][10]

In January 2018, FCC chairman Ajit Pai said the commission planned to vote on overhauling wireless alerts, with a goal to make their targeting more granular and specific, citing issues with uses of wider alerts during Hurricane Harvey, and perceptions by users that they are receiving too many alerts that do not necessarily apply to them. The FCC voted in favor of these new rules on January 30, 2018; by November 30, 2019, participating providers must deliver alerts with only a 0.1 mile overspill from their target area, require that devices be able to cache previous alerts for at least 24 hours, and that providers must support a 360-character maximum length and Spanish-language messages by May 2019.[11][12]

The first national test of a mandatory Presidential alert was held on October 3, 2018 at 2:18 PM EDT as part of a national periodic test (NPT) of the Emergency Alert System.[13][14][15] The message was expected to reach an estimated 75 percent of cell phones. Reasons for not receiving the message included carriers that did not participate in WEA, a phone that was old or otherwise not compatible, or having the phone in airplane mode or off. It is known some did not receive the message, but the exact number has yet to be determined.[16]

The lead-up to the test attracted controversy, due to the false assumption that current president Donald Trump was personally executing the test, and reports suggesting that he could abuse the system to send personal messages similar to those he issues via social media;[17][18] A lawsuit was filed requesting a temporary restraining order blocking the test, claiming that it violated users' First Amendment rights to be free from "government-compelled listening", the system could allow the dissemination of "arbitrary, biased, irrational and/or content-based messages to hundreds of millions of people", and could frighten children. The suit was thrown out, citing that a Presidential alert can only be used to disseminate legitimate emergency messages. The judge also clarified that the test itself would be conducted and executed by FEMA employees, with no personal involvement from the President.[17][19]

Wireless Emergency Alerts have several ways they can be administered, These have several different uses and severities most commonly are Imminent Threat Alerts, these are for emergency weather conditions primarily or in the case of imminent danger. Other faucets Wireless Emergency alerts include Public Safety Alerts, Amber alerts, and Presidential alerts which recently was used during a countrywide test in 2019. The software impact of the alert is a simple text notification however security concerns still exist for a possible spoof alert. The versatility is limitless in the nature that any kind of alert can be sent; however, the technology is limited until every phone company provides their customers with a way to receive alerts.

Mobile phones are the most reliable means of relaying the news to the public quickly in case of an emergency. The Department of Homeland Security says what messages are to be sent. They have disclosed that they have phone companies install software connecting your phone to WPA2 servers for possible alerts. The ability in which they do this is changing with new threats we face approaching the future they have special certain alerts for certain areas like in Tornado Alley in the United States.

• Boston Marathon bombing – A shelter-in-place warning was issued via CMAS by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.[28]
• A child abduction alert in the New York City region in July 2013 for a 7-month-old boy who had been abducted. The massive inconvenience caused by the 4:00 am timing raised concerns that many cellphone users would choose to disable alerts.[29]
• A blizzard warning in February 2013 for New York City.[30] (Note: As of November 2013, blizzard warnings are no longer included in the CMAS program.)
• A shelter-in-place warning for New York City in October 2012 due to Hurricane Sandy.[31]
• A child abduction alert in the New York City Region on June 30, 2015, for a 3-year-old girl who had been abducted.[32]
• 2016 New York and New Jersey bombings – A wanted alert was issued in New York City with a suspect's name two days after the bombings.[33]
• On January 13, 2018, a false alert of an inbound missile to Hawaii was mistakenly issued through EAS and WEA by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, as the result of an employee error during a routine internal system test.[34][35]
• On October 24, 2018, an alert was sent to those in the area of the Time Warner Center to shelter in place while the NYPD investigated a suspicious package sent to CNN.[36]
• On December 15, 2018, an AMBER Alert that was later considered a hoax was issued for parts of Central Illinois.[37]
• An AMBER Alert issued in Utah in late-September 2019 was mocked on social media for its accompanying WEA message, which only contained the unclear shorthand "gry Toyt" (an abbreviation of "gray Toyota", referring to the suspect's vehicle).[38][39]
• On March 31, 2020, an alert was sent to residents of Illinois and neighboring states with the message "State needs licensed healthcare workers to sign-up at IllinoisHelps.net to fight COVID-19." This message was in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois.[40]

At the 2019 MobiSys conference in South Korea, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder demonstrated that it was possible to easily spoof wireless emergency alerts within a confined area, using open source software and commercially available software-defined radios. They recommended that steps be taken to ensure that alerts can be verified as coming from a trusted network, or using Public-key cryptography upon reception.[41]

• Integrated Public Alert and Warning System
• Emergency Alert System
• NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
• Common Alerting Protocol
• Alert Ready (Canada)
• Emergency Mobile Alert (New Zealand)
• EU-Alert (European Union)
• NL-Alert (Netherlands)
• National Severe Weather Warning Service (UK)

• FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)
• Commercial Mobile Alert System Test in San Diego
• List of wireless emergency alert capable cell phones with instructions to enable or disable WEA