FEMA and the FCC Announce Adoption of Standards for Wireless Carriers to Receive and Deliver Emergency Alerts Via Mobile Devices
As part of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS),
the nation’s next generation of emergency alert and warning networks,
the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the adoption of the design specifications for the development
of a gateway interface that will enable wireless carriers to provide
its customers with timely and accurate emergency alerts and warnings
via their cell phones and other mobile devices.
The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) is one of many projects
within IPAWS intended to provide emergency mangers and the President of
the United States a means to send alerts and warnings to the public.
Specifically, CMAS provides Federal, state, territorial, tribal and
local government officials the ability to send 90 character
geographically targeted text messages to the public regarding emergency
alert and warning of imminent threats to life and property, Amber
alerts, and Presidential emergency messages. The CMAS is a combined
effort of the federal government and cellular providers to define a
common standard for cellular alerts.
Today’s announcement marks the beginning of the 28-month period,
mandated by the FCC in August 2008, for commercial mobile service
providers who have elected to participate in the design specifications
known as CMAS to develop, test and deploy the system and deliver mobile
alerts to the public by 2012.
“Working as a team with our partners in the public and private
sectors, the adoption of the CMAS standard brings us even closer to
making the nation’s next-generation of emergency alerts and warnings –
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) – a reality,” said
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. “Our goal is simple, to give one
message over more devices to more people for maximum safety.”
“Today’s announcement brings us one step closer to ensuring that
Americans receive critical emergency alerts and warnings to protect
themselves on the go, anywhere, anytime,” said FCC Chairman Julius
Genachowski. “I applaud FEMA for its leadership and look forward to
working with both FEMA and the wireless industry to expedite the
delivery of this important public safety service to consumers.”
Wireless carriers who choose to participate in the CMAS will relay
authorized text-based alerts to their subscribers. To ensure that
persons with disabilities who subscribe to wireless services receive
these emergency alerts, the FCC adopted rules in 2008 that will require
participating wireless carriers to transmit messages with both
vibration cadence and audio attention signals.
The adoption of CMAS culminates the collaborative specification
development work between FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security
Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), the Alliance of
Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), and the
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and begins the next phase
of CMAS collaboration with industry in which FEMA will build the
Federal Alert Aggregator/Gateway. This collaboration with industry is a
key component of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)
Programs’ ability to provide alerts and warnings to the public through
as many means as possible, including commercial mobile services.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to
ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve
our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover
from, and mitigate all hazards.