[EAS] National Weather Service Message Flooding

[Richard Rudman]

All:

The biggest thing that stands in the way of fixing the vertical warning structure challenge that Bill Ruck outlined: The lack of an overall USA warning strategy.

Some on this list may remember the Partnership for Public Warning, Inc. (PPW) was incorporated as a not-for-profit in 2002 to try to address that deficiency. The start of the roadmap to a national warning strategy is contained in the reports PPW wrote for FEMA, FCC, NWS and some other agencies. Bill Ruck did mention the key precept that needs to be at the heart of that yet-to-be-implemented national warning strategy: All emergencies are local. 

As some of you know, I recently joined the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and attended their annual Forum that was held this year in Anchorage, AK. I had a chance to talk to several emergency managers. My "elevator speech" in Anchorage went something like this:

1. The USA badly needs an overall warning strategy
2. The emergency management community as a group has to treat warnings as a response resource to be managed and integrated with all other emergency management response resources (fire strike teams, emergency food and water, etc.)
3. There has to be overall coordination of warning information between warning centers (Bill's point).
4. There has to be carefully coordination of information that flows out through the growing list of social media warning vehicles so those other warning systems that can carry long form information can fill in the blanks left by short form warning systems. I am thinking of including but not limited to WEA/CMAS, Twitter, and Nixle as definitely "Short form".

Some of the EM's I talked to were receptive. Others were polite, but probably just did not get it. So, I we (shudder) have to look to Congress.

Congressional oversight of the warning function has to be the legs of the strategy for the very reason that Bill mentioned: The current model is broken so each agency acts out its warning function in what amounts to virtual, physical and administrative isolation from other warning entities. I know NASBA is trying to revive warning legislation that died in the last Congress. We already have a name for what this strategy should embody - IPAWS*. So, how do we make the name a reality?

I have a suggestion for the title of the bill I would like to see enacted:

The National Public Warning Strategy and Coordination Act

I know we have "lurkers" on this list who work for our Federal partners. Any ideas suggestions (on and off list) on how we get a real overall national warning strategy will be appreciated -- short of making Bill Ruck "King of the World."

:-)

Richard

*Integrated Public Alert and Warning System

On Sep 29, 2013, at 12:48 PM, Bill Ruck wrote:

>The problem today with emergency warning messages is too many 
>different agencies have their own system.