Proposed EAS Rule Would Require National Tests
The FCC proposed amending emergency alert system rules to require national testing and data collection. In its latest rulemaking notice, issued Thursday, the commission sought comment on whether the proposed change would “effectively ensure accurate EAS testing at the national level.” Currently, FCC Part 11 rules provide for periodic national EAS testing, but mandates only state and local testing. No U.S. president has ever issued a national alert, and it’s never been tested, the agency said. EAS testing was one issue raised last year in the Public Safety Bureau’s 30- day review.
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“By providing for periodic national testing, we can achieve the certainty required to ensure that citizens get the warnings they need during emergencies,” Commissioner Michael Copps said. Data collected in last week’s EAS test in Alaska (CD Jan 7 p10) “should help us in the development of a framework for testing the national EAS,” he said. He praised the commission’s proposal to set up a reporting mechanism allowing the it, FEMA and other agencies “to diagnose real-time EAS alerts and make needed improvements.”
The proposed rule would “expressly require all EAS Participants to participate in national testing and to provide test results to the Commission,” the FCC said. Participants would have to report within 30 days of the test whether they got the alert message, whether they retransmitted it, and if either failed, “their ‘best effort’ diagnostic analysis regarding the cause or causes for such failure,” it said. The information would be made publicly available, it said. Tests would occur annually with two months’ notice, the FCC said. “Avoiding a set date will yield more realistic data about EAS reliability and performance, and will discourage complacency.” For the month the national test occurs, states and localities would not be required to do their monthly test, it said.
The FCC cited several vulnerabilities in EAS. “Because of its daisy chain structure, the EAS is potentially vulnerable to ’single point of failure’ problems,” where one station’s failure results in a system-wide failure for all subsequent stations on the chain, the commission said. Another weakness stems from the system’s management, the regulator said. “The EAS is administered and tested by multiple agencies at multiple levels of its operations, and this too may lead to vulnerabilities in function or gaps in nationwide coverage.” In September testimony before Congress, GAO cited “long-standing weaknesses” including lack of redundancy, coverage gaps, a lack of testing and training and limitations on alert dissemination,” the FCC added.
A next-generation EAS is on the way, but the FCC said “testing of the existing EAS remains important because it is likely that the existing EAS will continue to function as a critical alerting system for the foreseeable future.” The commission and other agencies have formed a working group that’s planning an initial national test, it said. After evaluating the results, “it is contemplated that we and our Federal partners will continue to test EAS nationally.”