Emergency 'Presidential Alert' Scheduled Today: Facts To Know About System Test

The government, with the assistance of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will send messages to more than 200 million mobile devices across the nation on Wednesday, as part of a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts.

Governmental authorities said the public should not be alarmed when they see this message pop up on their phone: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

The test will commence at 2:18 p.m. EDT and mobile users are expected to receive the message within half an hour from that time. Two minutes after the test alert for mobile users is sent out, all broadcast and cable television programs as well as AM and FM radio stations will be interrupted for a minute with either the visual or the audible form of the emergency alert message.

The national-scale test run was originally supposed to take place Sept. 20, but was delayed until Oct. 3 due to the impact of Hurricane Florence in North and South Carolina.

Here are a few facts to know about the “presidential alert” that you are about to receive:

Trump will not write it

Although it is a “presidential alert,” President Donald Trump will not be composing the content of the test alert and sending it your devices.

“The president will not originate this alert, say, from his mobile device," a FEMA official confirmed Tuesday, CNN reported. The official also explained why: “You would not have a situation where any sitting president would wake up one morning and attempt to send a particular message.”

Under a real threat, the process of sending an emergency alert will go somewhat like this – several federal agencies as well as the White House will relay information about the threat to a FEMA official. The latter will then, using a device "very similar to a laptop computer,” select and tweak a pre-written message to fit the-then circumstances. The revised text, as well as the password of the system will be checked by two separate individuals before the message is sent out to the public.

How the alert differs from other ones

The message people will receive from the Emergency Alert System will not be that different from those people are used to receiving on their mobile phones and other devices such as amber and severe weather alerts.

However, while with those alerts, people have the option of opting out of receiving them, they will have no such choice with this one. The moment a mobile device receives the test alert, it will make a loud tone and start vibrating.

Even if mobile users find a loophole in the system that lets them opt out of receiving the messages, according to FEMA, it is a move that is not advisable as "they would prevent themselves from receiving critical life-saving information."

Last month, three people from New York filed a lawsuit against the lack of provision for opting out of the alert, pushing for a halt on the nationwide test. The case was neither heard, nor dismissed.

"I believe that for any public alert, people should be able to opt out," said one of the plaintiffs, Kristine Rakowsky, Voice Of America reported. "We have a right to privacy and not having your phone turned into a loudspeaker like in North Korea."

Purpose of the test

The purpose of testing out the “presidential alert,” like any other test run, is to make sure the system is efficient enough to distribute a national message and to look into potential technological improvements if required.

With the test Wednesday, FEMA was targeting 75 percent of mobile devices — which is about 225 million cellphones in the United States — within the half an hour period that the test was going to run.

According to Reuters, several regional tests of the system have been performed in the recent past, which highlighted a number of issues that needed to be worked on. Federal Communications Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said an April 5 regional test of the emergency alert system in the Washington area showed some people did not receive alerts on some devices during that test. “We’re trying to analyze that,” O’Rielly said.