FEMA to Send Its First "Presidential Alert" in Emergency Messaging System Test

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Megalith

Megalith

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The president is expected to send a message to every phone in the US on Thursday as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new “presidential alert” system, which will allow the commander in chief to reach anyone with cell service in the event of a national emergency. “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed,” the message will read, due to be sent out on Thursday at 2:18pm ET.

Allowing the president to send nationwide alerts was included in the passing of the WARN Act in 2006 under the Bush administration, creating a state-of-the-art emergency alert system that would replace an aging infrastructure. As alarming as these alerts can (and are designed to) be, the system aims to modernize the alerts system for a population increasingly moving away from televisions and towards mobile technology.
 
trparky said:
I wouldn't do that, those kinds of alerts aren't sent out for shits and giggles you know. Usually they're sent because bad shit's goin' down and you need to know about it.
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Is it area specific? Because outside of 911, I can't think of the last time bad shit was going down that the President of the nation needed to send me an alert. I didn't get any alerts, so I'm guessing my phone had it off be default
 
Dalexx said:
Is it area specific? Because outside of 911, I can't think of the last time bad shit was going down that the President of the nation needed to send me an alert. I didn't get any alerts, so I'm guessing my phone had it off be default
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That I don't know. Evacuation messages for areas being hit by a big storm (like hurricanes) would be a good idea.
 
trparky said:
I wouldn't do that, those kinds of alerts aren't sent out for shits and giggles you know. Usually they're sent because bad shit's goin' down and you need to know about it.
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Like the Hawaii missile thing? Or being alerted that a child has been abducted in a geographic area the size of several EU countries? I grew up in an era where we thought we were all going to die in nuclear fire at any moment. Nothing can top that.

Also, I am wired up to get news of incoming disaster without needing a government feed. I live in one of the most densely populated places on the planet, i'll get the message one way or another, i dont need Trump sending me missives.
 
Are PRESIDENTIAL alerts localized? Because unless an asteroid is going to hit or China launches all their nukes at us in both cases we're pretty much fucked, I don't see a use for these alerts. I mean most of us probably already have a localized alert system.
 
I can't imagine a reason that we would need a single message sent to the entire united states, where we wouldn't be equally or better served by sending 50 state specific messages and how every many territories. Maybe if the rapture is coming?
 
Spire3660 said:
Like the Hawaii missile thing? Or being alerted that a child has been abducted in a geographic area the size of several EU countries? I grew up in an era where we thought we were all going to die in nuclear fire at any moment. Nothing can top that.

Also, I am wired up to get news of incoming disaster without needing a government feed. I live in one of the most densely populated places on the planet, i'll get the message one way or another, i dont need Trump sending me missives.
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Amber Alerts have an over 90% recovery rate and are only triggered when the child is in immenent risk of harm or death. Less than 200 get triggered a year in the US, and some cover multiple states due to factors like time and flight risk. So while I am sure the abducted children feel bad inconveniencing your precious day, the system and coverage areas work.
 
Ocellaris said:
Amber Alerts have an over 90% recovery rate and are only triggered when the child is in immenent risk of harm or death. Less than 200 get triggered a year in the US, and some cover multiple states due to factors like time and flight risk. So while I am sure the abducted children feel bad inconveniencing your precious day, the system and coverage areas work.
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at first i was thinking that number of total alerts was just wayyyyyy too low so i looked it up and yeah. its really not that much. the last full set of data from DOJ is 2016 and its 179 total for the entire U.S. 21 of them were multi-state.



and for others: i really dont think this is so trump can send you all sorts of stupid crap. i also dont see it as needed in any way shape or form.
 
I have all alerts set to silence. If nukes or an asteroid are inbound, I'll hear it from my mother or game buddies faster than any other systems on the planet:ROFLMAO:
 
There are so many bad jokes that could be made that .. um no. I'll just let it go.
 
harbingerofdoom said:
at first i was thinking that number of total alerts was just wayyyyyy too low so i looked it up and yeah. its really not that much. the last full set of data from DOJ is 2016 and its 179 total for the entire U.S. 21 of them were multi-state.
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And for a great many people, that number was too many when, like me, it made the loud siren sound when the phone was switched to silent either at 6:30am, or during a time when things needed to be quiet (e.g. a meeting), when you knowing that some kid who's dad took them during a bitter divorce was 200+ miles away decides that quiet is not the right time when you are in no position to look for said car they were in anyways. And then as a result, disable AMBER alerts, because apparently they don't think people look at their phone much when they wake up, and a simple vibration when the phone is set to silent isn't enough.

It's sad, it really is, because yeah the argument is "what if it's my kid" but again someone sleeping is not going to jump and start driving around looking for a car, hell someone who's already awake isn't going to look for a car, ironically the only people who would maybe keep an eye out for a car are people driving, and they shouldn't be reading texts on their phones anyways. Not sure of the success rate of AMBER alerts, but the fact that electronic freeway billboards are tied into the system probably skews the results as to how successful it is to receive via phone.
 
UrielDagda said:
I hope he doesn't screw up and accidentally use this for his tweets.
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I picture a giant room that only POTUS can enter, and he has to wear a special hat to make the announcement.

x-men-cerebro.jpg
 
Apparently this was rescheduled to 10/3 @ 2:18PM EDT due to severe weather across much of the east coast and ongoing response efforts.
 
yuck 11:18 am PDT is when they're sending it.. guess i need to make sure my phones off since that's when i'm asleep(work graveyard).
 
Well, it finally happened:vomit: All alerts turned off on my phones, so they remained silent, and when the alert popped on my TV I turned it off before the words started scrollingo_O There is not one thing THIS system will alert us to that either isn't already covered by existing alert systems. It's an absolute waste as anyone wanting to hear from this President is already tapped into his Twitter feed and has his network on 24/7.
 
Chupachup said:
Well, it finally happened:vomit: All alerts turned off on my phones, so they remained silent, and when the alert popped on my TV I turned it off before the words started scrollingo_O There is not one thing THIS system will alert us to that either isn't already covered by existing alert systems. It's an absolute waste as anyone wanting to hear from this President is already tapped into his Twitter feed and has his network on 24/7.
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I love people blaming Trump for this.
Megalith said:
Allowing the president to send nationwide alerts was included in the passing of the WARN Act in 2006 under the Bush administration, creating a state-of-the-art emergency alert system that would replace an aging infrastructure.
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I really do hope President Truck just replaces the Twitter app on his phone with this system for a day.

The backlash and handwringing would be worth far, far more than the irritation of a few extra alerts among the dozen+ spam calls and texts I get daily.
 
Ocellaris said:
Amber Alerts have an over 90% recovery rate and are only triggered when the child is in immenent risk of harm or death. Less than 200 get triggered a year in the US, and some cover multiple states due to factors like time and flight risk. So while I am sure the abducted children feel bad inconveniencing your precious day, the system and coverage areas work.
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I don't need to be alerted to who I have in my trunk.
 
Lol it seems people don't realize this was signed into law by Obama in 2016.
 
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