No, Trump can not use FEMA emergency alerts as an alternative to Twitter

Get ready for a new alert coming directly to your phone, this time from the president himself.

In the afternoon of Thursday, September 20, FEMA will send two alerts to cell phones across the country, both testing its Integrated Alert and Public Alert System (IPAWS). At 14:18 ET, there will be an emergency alert system (EAS) test to be followed at 2:20 pm ET by the first ever national Emergency Wireless Alert System (WEA) test.

The tests themselves are not new but, until now, the WEA was focused on the region. The system was launched in 2012 through the Alert, Alert and Response Networks Act (WARN).

For example, every time your iPhone detonates a local Amber Alert, it's the WEA in action.

The FCC has a very helpful FAQ that explains, among other things, that no, you can not be tracked through this system. Dozens of mobile operators, including all major carriers, are part of the system, which means that you will probably receive the alert.

And EAS has been tested three times in the country: twice under President Obama (Nov. 2011, Sept. 2016) and once under President Trump (Sept. 2017).

People 's attention is that these alerts allow for direct communication between the president and the nation in an emergency, such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack. So, yes, this means that President Trump will be able to send an emergency alert directly to your phone using a system that you can not retract.

This news is, of course, a bit skeptical for some people.

But there are safeguards to prevent a president from abusing this system.

First, it should be noted that the President is just another authority with access. Hundreds of agencies already have the option to send these alerts. And, again, the system that would allow a presidential alert was established years before Trump took the oval office, so it's not some kind of wild Trump program for world domination.

Secondly, sending one of these alerts is far more complicated than just throwing a series of tweets, as Trump likes to do. By browsing this protocol document (see page 34 in particular), you have a clear idea of ​​the complexity of editing these messages. Point being, there will be layers between Trump and the actual message. Trump will not be the one to type the message and hit send.

Not that mistakes happen, as evidenced by the panic that followed when a person in Hawaii mistakenly sent a ballistic missile alert in January. But, at the very least, this error has exposed flaws in the system, such as the 2018 Law on Improving the Distribution of Emergency Alerts, presented to the Senate this summer in response to the false alarm warnings. Hawaii.

Third, there is a law that would prevent a president from using the alert system as a personal Twitter feed. The 2015 Law on Modernization of the Integrated Warning and Public Warning System states:

Use of the system – Except to the extent necessary to test the warning and warning system, the public alert and warning system shall not be used to transmit a message that does not relate to a natural disaster, act of terrorism or others makes a disaster or threatens public safety.

In other words, if Trump used this system for anything other than a 9/11 terrorist attack or a large-scale natural disaster, he would literally break the law. Of course, given the current state of affairs, it may not be very comforting.

But experts seem convinced that even Trump can not spoil everything. Tim Groeling, professor of communication at UCLA, told NBC News that he had not planned this system, a logical evolution of a system put in place for decades, likely to be abused: "emergency alert systems based on dissemination … through the decades."

So when you get this presidential alert on September 20th (or maybe the October 3rd backup date), do not let your blood pressure go up too high. It's just a test and it's unlikely that he will be abused by Trump before he leaves the Oval Office.

Probably.