[EAS] Why "Voluntary"

[Phil Johnson]

Bill Ruck cites the Communications Act of 1934 in believing that the
"presidential finding making his pronouncements mandatory could be protested
and ultimately made null in court."

I'll leave it to people smarter than I am to sort out polygons, event codes,
NWS messaging, etc.  And I'm certainly not an attorney.

However, I'd point out that parts of the 1934 law were amended or repealed
by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  And predicting appellate court
decisions is not something on which either engineers or lawyers should bet
large amounts of money.

We should keep the bottom line in mind:  Saving lives is paramount.  If
putting more teeth in EAS contributes to public safety and the continuity of
government, I favor moving forward.  Throwing up our hands and complaining
that we can't improve the system because a court might do something in the
future doesn't get us anywhere.

Phil Johnson
Curmudgeon
Chair, CPS LECC
Seattle