The
messages would bear the headline "Presidential Alert" and the phones
will make a loud tone and have a special vibration.
 |
The presidential alert system aims to warn the public in the event of a national emergency. (File) |
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration will send messages to
more than 200 million US cellphones on Wednesday testing a previously unused
presidential alert system that aims to warn the public in the event of a
national emergency.
The test message was originally scheduled for September but
was pushed back to Wednesday at 2:18 p.m. EDT (1818 GMT). The Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), which will send the alert, said the messages would
bear the headline "Presidential Alert," and that phones will make a
loud tone and have a special vibration.
The test has been scheduled to ensure that the alert system
would work in the event of a national emergency. The message will read:
"THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action
is needed." A separate alert on TV and radios will be issued at 2:20 p.m.
(1820 GMT)
The tests have drawn a lot of attention on social media in
part because of President Donald Trump's propensity for sending tweets to his
55 million followers.
On a conference call, government officials told reporters
that Trump would not personally trigger the alert -- from his phone or any
other device -- and emphasized that no president could "wake up one
morning and attempt to send a personal message."
The test alert will be sent by a device similar to a laptop
from a FEMA laboratory.
An actual alert would be used for an impending missile
attack or other national emergency.
Then-President Barack Obama signed a law in 2016 requiring
FEMA to create a system allowing the president to send cellphone alerts regarding
public safety emergencies.
Federal Communications Commissioner Mike O'Rielly told
reporters on Tuesday that an April 5 regional test of the emergency alert
system in the Washington area showed some potential issues.
He said some people did not receive alerts on some devices
during that test. "We're trying to analyze that," O'Rielly said.
The country's wireless emergency alert system has issued
over 36,000 alerts for situations such as missing children, extreme weather and
natural disasters since 2012, but never a presidential directive.
Cellphone users can opt out of natural disaster or missing
children alerts, but not presidential alerts. Verizon Communications Inc said
nearly all of its mobile phone handsets are capable of getting alerts.
COMMENT
Government officials estimated that the alert would reach
upwards of 225 million US cell phones, or around 75 percent of all phones. They
said a person on a call lasting 30 minutes may not get the alert as with phones
with an active data connection.
Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/more-than-200-million-us-phones-to-get-presidential-alert-test-1925917
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