[EAS] Blue Alerts

[Sean Donelan]

On Thu, 25 May 2017, Phil Johnson wrote:
> Blue Alerts do not warn of imminent danger to the public.  Therefore, 
> they have no place in the Emergency Alert System.  They do not merit an 
> EAS Alert event code - LEW or anything else.  And I say this is as the 
> father of a 15-year Seattle Police Officer.

Different alerting systems (EAS, IPAWS, NWR, WEA, etc.) have different 
policies/rules. Not every alerting system is the same, and not every alert 
is the same, so its appropriate they have different policies.

Nevertheless, it can be confusing.

CMAS/WEA has a relatively strict "imminent threat" policy, plus 
presidential and amber alerts. The AMBER alert is a distinct category, 
because it doesn't fit the imminent threat policy. A child may be
in imminent danger, but an abduction isn't an imminent threat to the 
public.

EAS has a looser "day-to-day emergency situations posing a threat to life 
and property" policy, plus presidential alerts. Emergency situations are 
fairly broad as shown by the variety of EAS event codes, ranging from 
national emergencies to 9-1-1 telephone outages.

NWR has the broadest policy of disseminating weather "watches, warnings 
and related statements."  In addition, NWR may provide non-weather related 
messages which "provide timely warnings to the public of events that 
threaten life and property" which are "originated and authenticated 
by local, state and other Federal government agencies." And finally, NWR 
policy allows forecaster discretion for unanticipated events which 
"presents a clear and immediate threat to lives and property in the 
listening area."

The IPAWS Modernization Act states a use policy of "Except to the extent 
necessary for testing the public alert and warning system, the public 
alert and warning system shall not be used to transmit a message that 
does not relate to a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other 
man-made disaster or threat to public safety." Double-negative?

Social media networks (twitter, facebook, etc) have their own policies.

The policy for Blue Alerts may not be consistent. But other types of 
alerts and warnings have been added over the years, which weren't 
consistent with the prior policy.  For example, allowing the use of 
Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) for tornado warnings in the early 1970's 
was inconsistent with the prior EBS policy of the time.

Protocol standards often include many, never used options.  Just because 
the FCC adds a Blue Alert code to the EAS protocol doesn't mean a state 
or local EAS plan must use it, or any other state/local event code.