[EAS] No TOE for WEA

[David Turnmire]

I would certainly agree that WEA is a different animal than EAS.  As to 
the role of SECC, let us remember that the FCC in fact has very little 
about the SECC in their regs... basically from their stand point, they 
expect it to come up with a state plan and an RMT schedule.  But... 
neither does the FCC limit the SECC's scope.  Each state can decide 
whether they want to keep a narrow scope, or whether it makes sense to 
widen that scope a bit.  And in any event, there is a difference between 
the scope of its authority... and the scope of its "informed opinion".  
Either way, each state can do as it wishes in that regard.

And... while a state can add constraints to IPAWS/WEA... it can't 
detract from the restrictions that IPAWS has already placed on it. I 
don't have the list in front of me at the moment, but the list of 
supported event codes for WEA is fairly available... and short. And, 
even when the event codes are supported, there are further restrictions 
on WHO can originate some of those.

A case in point... CAE.  As I understand it, no state can directly 
originate a CAE, either via IPAWS' "EAS channel", or via its WEA 
channel.  That is exclusively the domain of the National Center for 
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).  Certain authorized people in 
your state get the word about an Amber situation, vet it, and then 
contact NCMEC who in turn initiate the IPAWS alert.  All of which can be 
handled within a few minutes.

If you DO try to send an event code that your MOA with FEMA doesn't 
support (or an unauthorized FIPS code for that matter), the IPAWS system 
software will automatically reject it.  There is even a special query 
command that originators can send to IPAWS that will get a response 
identifying specifically what you are authorized for and what you 
aren't.  I don't know what portion of software products out there 
provide this capability to the end-user, but IPAWS itself supports it.

Dave