Statement of The Honorable James L. Oberstar
September 30, 2009
I am pleased that the Subcommittee is holding this important hearing on the status of the efforts within the Federal Government to modernize, expand, and integrate the nation’s emergency alert system (EAS) through the Integrated Public Alert and Warnings System (IPAWS). I look forward to receiving testimony from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) specifically detailing its assessment of the nation’s EAS. I commend Chairwoman Norton for her leadership in examining this important issue.
In 1979, an executive order issued by then-President Carter merged many of the separate disaster-related responsibilities into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Several of FEMA’s responsibilities came from its origin in civil defense. Among other agencies, FEMA absorbed the Defense Department's Defense Civil Preparedness Agency that included: the responsibility for emergency communications and warning systems; chemical, biological, and radiological warfare defense; post-attack assistance and damage assessment; preparedness planning; and government continuity. Today, to help keep millions of Americans out of harm’s way in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, our nation relies on an emergency communications system that has been in existence since the 1950s.
FEMA is responsible for administering EAS at the national level and is responsible for distributing Presidential alerts to national primary stations, often referred to as Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations. The PEP stations then relay broadcast across the country to radio and television stations that, in turn, rebroadcast the message to other broadcast stations and cable stations. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), one of FEMA’s federal partners, manages EAS broadcaster participation. The FCC provides technical standards and support for EAS, rules for its operation, and enforcement within the broadcast media, including radio, cable television stations and satellite radio operators, all of which are required to participate in national-level EAS alerts. State and local governments may use EAS on an as-available basis, but participation is voluntary. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service administers the All-Hazards National Weather Radio (NWR) alert and warnings program. Currently, 90 percent of all messages disseminated by the EAS are generated by NOAA weather alerts. Fortunately, there has never been a national-level disaster alert issued by the President.
In recent years, the Federal Government has elevated the importance of providing the nation with a modern, reliable, integrated, and comprehensive public alert and warning system, utilizing various technological methods that can reach the American public all across the nation at any time. Executive Order 13407, issued by then-President Bush in June 2006, called for the modernization of the EAS system, and specifically detailed the responsibilities in meeting this requirement.
FEMA’s IPAWS was initiated in 2004, and it became the programmatic mechanism to carry out this Executive Order. IPAWS will be the nation’s next generation alert and warning communications system. Americans no longer rely on just the television or radio to receive news and information. For IPAWS to be successful, the existing EAS framework must be upgraded, and the network must be expanded to include more modern technologies, including cell phones, pagers, the internet, and other wireless devices.
Modernizing and integrating the public alerts and warning system is an extremely large and complicated task. At the commencement of the IPAWS program, FEMA outlined a vision of an integrated alert and warning system that would be effective and available at all times and under any conditions through various media devices. FEMA initiated several pilot projects aimed at furthering those goals, including upgrading the digital capabilities of public radio and television, providing more geographically-targeted alerting capabilities, and upgrading and expanding the relay distribution system.
Unfortunately, the IPAWS program has fallen victim to poor management. There was a lack of clearly articulated intermediate and long-term strategic goals for IPAWS, a firm timeline for full-scale implementation of the system, and perhaps most importantly, what an upgraded, integrated system will look like and how FEMA intends to achieve it. GAO will testify today that FEMA has been plagued with several problems, including a shifting program vision, difficulties in program planning, poorly maintained program information from which to make management decisions, and major staff turnover.
Cleary, the federal government cannot operate in a vacuum. State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector have specific roles and responsibilities in disseminating alerts, and they must work together. We cannot afford to allow implementation of a haphazard and uneven version of EAS across the country. Because FEMA has not taken a leadership role by providing federal standards and protocols and well-articulated plans for IPAWS, some states and localities have felt the need to upgrade their alert systems on their own. A national, integrated system is needed because a patchwork of equipment and systems operating around the country may or may not be interoperable. We have been there before, and remember the problems and tragic consequences that non-interoperability caused during the events of September 11, 2001.
Although some progress has been made in modernizing and integrating the EAS system, some major challenges remain, including: going forward with the adoption of standard technology for disseminating alerts; working with EAS stakeholders to gain collaboration so all systems can work effectively together; and providing training for EAS participants.
I also look forward to hearing from the special needs community, including individuals with disabilities and people with limited English proficiency. They, as citizens and end users of the IPAWS program, are also stakeholders who can help give valuable information for how the national alert and warning system can fulfill its responsibility as a “system of systems” to reach all citizens.
This Committee stands ready to assist FEMA in meeting its mission to provide federal leadership as it modernizes and integrates the nation’s EAS by ensuring more transparency and accountability, and by providing consistent oversight.
Finally, I would like to recognize Ranking Member Diaz-Balart and Chairwoman Norton for introducing H.R. 2951, the “Integrated Public Alerts and Warning Systems Modernization Act of 2009,” a bill which directs the President to modernize the integrated public alert system, and includes a requirement to produce a detailed implementation plan with a timeline and spending plan and establishes an IPAWS Modernization Advisory Committee to ensure stakeholder input. In the last Congress, the Committee included similar provisions to modernize IPAWS in H.R. 6658, the “Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Enhancement Act of 2008”, which was ordered reported on July 31, 2008.
I welcome the witnesses, and I look forward to hearing their testimony.
Statement of The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton
Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management
Hearing On “This is NOT a Test: Will the Nation’s Emergency Alert System Deliver the President’s Message to the Public?”
September 30, 2009
Currently, our nation is fascinated with television shows, like “CSI” and “24,” where the characters work with a myriad of state of the art weapons, scientific tools and communication devices. Most Americans use the internet, mobile phones or personal digital assistants. We can “Skype video-conference” our friends 5,000 miles away, who sound as if they are just down the street. We can “Google” and find out millions of pieces of information almost instantaneously. Most of the country has embraced the use of “smart” technology.
Consequently, many Americans believe that they have the capability to receive a presidential emergency message via their cell phone, PDA, or fax. They are wrong. In the event of a national emergency, heaven forbid, a 9/11 or the Oklahoma City bombing type events, citizens must rely primarily on an emergency alert system build in the 1960s. Today, thousands of citizens across the country rely on the familiar system that interrupts television viewing with a beeping sound, the multi-colored stripes across the screen and the words, “This is only a test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS)….” This system was built during the Cold War to provide citizens with an emergency broadcast on their television or radios advising that they have five minutes to seek appropriate shelter because a tornado is approaching, or to evacuate the area because a hurricane will arrive in a few hours, or other disasters.
If there were a need to reach the nation to convey an emergency message, it is at best questionable whether a sizable portion of the country would receive it. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that there are many unaddressed weaknesses that limit the effectiveness of the nation’s primary public alert and warning system, as far as it goes, considering technology today.
The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) is responsible for administering the national EAS with assistance from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure compliance with regulations. Broadcast radio and television stations and satellite radio operators are required to participate in national-level EAS alerts, and state and local governments may use the EAS on an as-available basis, but participation is voluntary. Our subcommittee’s jurisdiction is primarily implicated because of the large number of natural disasters this country experiences each year. Approximately 90% of all messages disseminated by EAS are generated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather alerts.
In June 2006, President Bush issued Executive Order 13407, directing the Department of Homeland Security to modernize and integrate the nation’s public warning system, to create a robust federal warning system and to report on progress on at least a yearly basis. The FEMA Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) program was initiated in 2004 and became the programmatic mechanism to carry out the Executive Order. FEMA defines IPAWS as a “system of system,” which is intended to eventually integrate existing and new alert systems, including EAS.
Unfortunately, we are now nearing the end of 2009, and national-level alert capabilities have remained virtually unchanged since the 1960s and new technologies have not been adopted. Consequently, Ranking Member Diaz-Balart and I asked GAO to examine (1) the current status of EAS; (2) the progress made in FEMA’s efforts to modernize and integrate alert and warning systems; and (3) the issues and challenges involved in implementing an integrated public alert and warning system. Today, FEMA will testify on the report we asked FEMA to prepare which has been titled, “Emergency Preparedness: Improved Planning and Coordination Necessary for Development of Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.”
At the June 2008 hearing, we heard from various EAS/IPAWS stakeholders, including federal partners, state and local governments, the emergency management associations, the broadcast industry and others, that FEMA has not met with them periodically to get their advice or to inform them about program progress or direction. At the hearing, this subcommittee was clear that immediate leadership by FEMA was expected and that simply attending events and conferences that other groups hold is not an effective way for it to interface with stakeholders. The then Assistant Administrator for Continuity Programs, General Martha Rainville, said that FEMA “…will be setting up a formal group, an advisory group, if you will, that will work to make sure to inform the IPAWS program.” There has been some very recent progress made, but stakeholders still express frustration with the lack of communication and coordination overall. Therefore, it has become necessary for Ranking Member Diaz-Balart and I to introduce H.R. 2591, the “Integrated Public Alerts and Warning Systems Modernization Act of 2009” to specifically direct FEMA to establish an IPAWS Modernization Advisory Committee to ensure stakeholder input.
Currently, I understand that most of the members of FEMA’s staff who will be responsible for the current and future implementation of IPAWS are fairly new. We hope that with the new administration, the “revolving door” of staff, shifting program goals, lack of specific plans and timetables, no periodic reporting on progress and lack of performance measures will be a thing of the past. The danger from terrorism and natural disasters only increase with an antiquated alert system and FEMA should expect frequent oversight and reports on progress. Without leadership, and in the absence of federal standards and protocols, many states and localities have felt they have to begin building their own systems. A useless patchwork of alert systems that are unable to communicate with one another is the likely result of the state-by-state approach. We have seen that result before when police and fire on 9/11 could not communicate. We cannot repeat the same mistakes again.
Several of our witnesses today have stories to share that will remind us of what is at stake for citizens and why there must be no more delay in building a modern, integrated alert system that takes into account the end users – our fellow citizens.
I welcome today’s witnesses and look forward to their testimony.
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For more information on this hearing go to: transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetail.aspx
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