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Contrary to public concern, the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not give a direct line to President Donald Trump to send personalized messages to US citizens.
He would break the law if he did it.
Last Friday, the Federal Communications Commission and FEMA announced their intention to test a system that would allow the president to send a message to mobile devices in the United States.
The announcement of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) test caused fears that Trump would use it as he uses Twitter. But in 2015, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Introduced a bill to prevent any president from abusing the system.
"Except to the extent necessary to test the alert and warning system, the public warning and warning system shall not be used to transmit a message unrelated to a natural disaster, terrorist act or any other disaster or human-caused threat to public safety ", states the Integrated Public Alert and Public Warning System Modernization Act, 2015.
This means that Trump will not be allowed to send messages related to the ongoing investigation into Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 US elections or the mid-term elections in November.
Instead, any alert will include information about the nature of the emergency, the agency that sent it, and the instructions to follow.
"The idea behind this alert is that the president should be able to reach residents in case of emergency," said Nick Crossley, president of the International Association of Emergency Managers. "And that's his only goal."
The WEA is the new emergency alert system (EAS) messaging tool, which also sends emergency alerts to the public on television and radio. EAS replaced the emergency broadcast system in 1997.
While the next test will be the first presidential alert, more than 40,000 wireless alerts have been sent to Americans since the launch of the WEA in 2012, according to the FCC. But unlike other wireless alerts from federal and local agencies, people will not be allowed to withdraw from presidential alerts.
Jenny Burke, spokesperson for FEMA, said the news of the test triggered an online response and a wave of calls to FEMA, which was flooded with requests to withdraw the alert.
The Emergency Alert System Guidelines describe the complex details and protocols in place for a national alert to be delivered quickly and accurately. The margin of error is minimal, even though it occurred – the most recent incident that occurred in January in Hawaii, when a false alarm was reported to inform locals from the state that a ballistic missile was heading towards the island.
"I do not see anything like Hawaii spawning," Crossley told NBC News. "I'm surprised it happened to begin."
In response, Congress enacted the 2018 law on improving the distribution of reliable emergency alerts, introduced by Senator Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.
The 90-character emergency alert has also been confused with the fact that it is received as a text message sent through the SMS channel, but it will be broadcast through cell cells and will only be disturbed by any network congestion in case of emergency.
Trump will also be unable to locate people or access personal phone numbers through the system.
The next presidential wireless emergency alert test is scheduled for Oct. 3 at 2:18 pm. AND, and the emergency alert system test will follow shortly thereafter on radio and television at 14:20 ET.
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