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The Federal Emergency Management Agency will test this week a new presidential alert system that will allow the president to send a message to every phone in the United States.
The alert is the first national test of the presidential alert test, FEMA said in a notice, which allows the president to address the nation in case of national emergency.
By using the Wireless Emergency Alert System (WEA), anyone with a cellular service must receive the message on their phone.
"THIS IS A TEST of the national wireless emergency alert system. No action is needed, "read the message, which will be sent Thursday at 14:18 ET.
A few minutes later, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will broadcast a similar test message on television, radio and wired video services.
Emergency alerts are not new and warning systems have long been used – and tested – in the United States to alert citizens of local and state incidents, such as AMBER Alerts for Missing Children and severe weather.
But the presidential alerts have yet to be tested. Unlike other alerts, citizens will not be allowed to withdraw from presidential alerts.
In 2006, the adoption of the WARN Act, under the Bush administration, allowed the president to send alerts nationwide, creating a state-of-the-art emergency warning system that would replace an aging infrastructure. As alarming as these alerts can (and are designed to be), the system aims to modernize the system of alerts for a population that is moving away from more and more televisions and towards mobile technology.
These presidential alerts are only at the discretion of the president and can be sent for any reason, but experts have shown little concern about the misuse of the system.
But the system is not perfect. Earlier this year, panic spread to Hawaii after an erroneous alert was sent to residents, warning that a "ballistic missile wire was entering." The message said: "It is North Korea, which regularly tested its ballistic missiles as part of its nuclear weapons program.
More than 100 carriers will participate in the test, FEMA said.
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