[EAS] New EAS Forum posting: A vision for what to do now that the FCC has eliminated the GMC

[Sean Donelan]

1. What should be the policy objectives that determine the technical 
objectives for coordinated emergency public information and warning 
systems?

2. Is a coordinated system still needed?

Between 1951 and 2012, every technical objective and policy objective of
the various generations of national non-governmental broadcast emergency 
systems have changed with both major and minor revisions. The primary 
and secondary objectives have changed over the years.  At different 
times, there have been objectives before, during and after an 
emergency event.  The types and number of participants has also expanded 
on both the emergency information originator and distributor sides.

What are the documented objectives of news directors (and equivalents for
the different types of participants) for obtaining and handling emergency 
public information before, during and after an event?

What are the documented objectives of emergency public information 
officers (and equivalents) for distributing and handling emergency public 
infomation before, during and after an event?

How does the public react to the different systems?

Japan uses two catagories for its emergency warning broadcast system, and
activated it about 20 times in 25 years. The US uses at least 53 
different event codes for EAS, with over 100,000 activations. CAP 
uses a combination of multiple levels of multiple catagories, and CAP
systems are already generating hundreds of messages everyday. 
Interoperability between different systems makes it easier to pass 
information between systems, but it can aso break assumptions built
into different systems about the types of information expected.

Is a coordinated system still needed?

When there were only two newswire services, three national television 
networks and four national radio networks; a coordinated system may have 
made sense for recovery after a military attack.  With many 24x7 news 
sources and a multi-channel environment, is there still a need for a 
coordinated system.  Nothing prevents any broadcaster, satellite, cable, 
cell phone, etc from obtaining emergency public information from national, 
state and local sources and distributing that information to its audience 
at anytime on its own.

What are the objectives for a coordinated system that can't be satisfied 
by working independently like any other news information.  Although the
rules don't concentrate on it, all the national emergency public 
information and warning broadcast systems have been set up as "pool" 
arrangements.

The public communications & safety working group started looking at
some of these issues.
http://transition.fcc.gov/MSRC/