Posted by: Brass Scrounger Jun 27 2006, 05:16 PM
Conlrad, EBS, EAS, now there's PAWS! Public Alert And Warning System. Never mind the fact that NONE of them have worked worth a damn - this one won't either. My comments are in bold type.

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2006

Executive Order: Public Alert and Warning System

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States of America, including the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.),
and the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended (6 U.S.C. 101 et seq.), it
is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to have an
effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive system to alert
and warn the American people in situations of war, terrorist attack, natural
disaster, or other hazards to public safety and well-being (public alert and
warning system), taking appropriate account of the functions, capabilities,
and needs of the private sector and of all levels of government in our
Federal system, and to ensure that under all conditions the President can
communicate with the American people.

Sec. 2. Functions of the Secretary of Homeland Security.

(a) To implement the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, the
Secretary of Homeland Security shall:

(i) inventory, evaluate, and assess the capabilities and integration with
the public alert and warning system of Federal, State, territorial, tribal,
and local public alert and warning resources;

(ii) establish or adopt, as appropriate, common alerting and warning
protocols, standards, terminology, and operating procedures for the public
alert and warning system to enable interoperability and the secure delivery
of coordinated messages to the American people through as many communication
pathways as practicable, taking account of Federal Communications Commission
rules as provided by law;

(iii) ensure the capability to adapt the distribution and content of
communications on the basis of geographic location, risks, or personal user
preferences, as appropriate;

(iv) include in the public alert and warning system the capability to alert
and warn all Americans, including those with disabilities and those without
an understanding of the English language;


Looks like we'll be doing our tests in English, Braille, Ebonic, Spanish,
Swahili, Chinese, Arabic, etcetera ad nauseum "Yo you Crakahs! Da Man say
dat da chinks be 'bout ta bust a cap in ah asses, so yoo best be gettin' the
fo' outta dere!"


(v) through cooperation with the owners and operators of communication
facilities, maintain, protect, and, if necessary, restore communications
facilities and capabilities necessary for the public alert and warning
system;

Lets look at this one VERY carefully. Sounds like under the "right"
conditions, they can have jack-booted thugs running the station.


(vi) ensure the conduct of training, tests, and exercises for the public
alert and warning system;

(vii) ensure the conduct of public education efforts so that State,
territorial, tribal, and local governments, the private sector, and the
American people understand the functions of the public alert and warning
system and how to access, use, and respond to information from the public
alert and warning system;

(viii) consult, coordinate, and cooperate with the private sector, including
communications media organizations, and Federal, State, territorial, tribal,
and local governmental authorities, including emergency response providers,
as appropriate;

(ix) administer the Emergency Alert System (EAS) as a critical component of
the public alert and warning system; and

(x) ensure that under all conditions the President of the United States can
alert and warn the American people.

(b.) In performing the functions set forth in subsection (a) of this section,
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall coordinate with the Secretary of
Commerce, the heads of other departments and agencies of the executive
branch (agencies), and other officers of the United States, as appropriate,
and the Federal Communications Commission.

© The Secretary of Homeland Security may issue guidance to implement this
order.

Sec. 3. Duties of Heads of Departments and Agencies.

(a) The heads of agencies shall provide such assistance and information as
the Secretary of Homeland Security may request to implement this order.

(b.) In addition to performing the duties specified under subsection (a) of
this section:

(i) the Secretary of Commerce shall make available to the Secretary of
Homeland Security, to assist in implementing this order, the capabilities
and expertise of the Department of Commerce relating to standards,
technology, telecom-munications, dissemination systems, and weather;

(ii) the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the Secretary of Homeland
Security requirements for the public alert and warning system necessary to
ensure proper coordination of the functions of the Department of Defense
with the use of such system;

(iii) the Federal Communications Commission shall, as provided by law, adopt
rules to ensure that communications systems have the capacity to transmit
alerts and warnings to the public as part of the public alert and warning
system; and

(iv) the heads of agencies with capabilities for public alert and warning
shall comply with guidance issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security
under subsection 2© of this order, and shall develop and maintain such
capabilities in a manner consistent and interoperable with the public alert
and warning system.

Sec. 4. Reports on Implementation. Not later than 90 days after the date of
this order, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the
President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and
Counterterrorism, a plan for the implementation of this order, and shall
thereafter submit reports from time to time, and not less often than once
each year, on such implementation, together with any recommendations the
Secretary finds appropriate.

Sec. 5. Amendment, Revocation, and Transition.

(a.) Section 3(b.)(4) of Executive Order 12472 of April 3, 1984, as amended,
is further amended by striking "Emergency Broadcast System" and inserting in
lieu thereof "Emergency Alert System".

(b.) Not later than 120 days after the date of this order, the Secretary of
Homeland Security, after consultation with the Assistant to the President
for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, shall issue guidance under
section 2© of this order that shall address the subject matter of the
presidential memorandum of September 15, 1995, for the Director, Federal
Emergency Management Agency, on Presidential Communications with the General
Public During Periods of National Emergency, and upon issuance of such
guidance such memorandum is revoked.

© The Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure an orderly and effective
transition, without loss of capability, from

alert and warning systems available as of the date of this order to the
public alert and warning system for which this order provides.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented in a manner
consistent with:

(i) applicable law and presidential guidance, including Executive Order
12472 of April 3, 1984, as amended, and subject to the availability of
appropriations; and

(ii) the authorities of agencies, or heads of agencies, vested by law.

(b.) This order shall not be construed to impair or otherwise affect the
functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to
budget, administrative, and legislative proposals.

(c.) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any rights or
benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a
party against the United States, its agencies, instrumentalities, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

In short, "If you don't like it, TOUGH SH*T!"


GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

June 26, 2006.

And heres an additional followup:

DIGITAL EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM DEMONSTRATION
At an event that took place July 12 at PBS member station WETA in Washington DC, the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) and the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) showed a test of Phase Two of the Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS). This project was intended to demonstrate how the Department of Homeland Security can improve and disseminate public alerts and warnings during times of national crisis through the use of local public television's digital television broadcasts.

Together with the Director of FEMA, David Paulison and the White House Homeland Security Advisor, Kenneth Rapuano, the President and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations, John Lawson, said, "This project demonstrates how the capabilities of America's public broadcasters can be utilized to dramatically enhance the ability of the President of
the United States to communicate with the American public during a national crisis."

Here is an extract from the rest of Lawson's speech describing the demonstration.

"We are going to demonstrate for you the capabilities of our digital alert and warning system. I ask you to turn your attention to this plasma screen. On it, you see a schematic of how the system will operate.


John Lawson, APTS (left), David Paulison, FEMA, Charles Hopkins, DHS (right), at WETA




First, on the far left, you see the logo representing the Department. In a few moments, an official at FEMA headquarters will send a test alert to PBS over a secure connection. PBS will then uplink to their satellite and it will be received by WETA and other pubic television stations across the country. WETA will then datacast the message on their DTV transmitter, and it will be received over the air by a regular TV antenna that we have set up and connected to the laptop computer you see before you. This will only take a matter of seconds.

Once the Presidential message comes through, it will take priority and replace what was being fed. When the laptop receives the transmission, the first thing you will see will be banner scroll across the bottom of the screen. You will also hear the EAS tones as the message trips an existing EAS encoder/decoder. Because we will datacast text, audio and video in this demonstration, a Windows media player will open and you will see and hear a live message from that same official at FEMA headquarters. At the same time as these alerts are being sent, we will datacast text files (for those of us in the Washington area) that include critical information that the Department would be able to provide in the event of - for example - a biological attack.

In the demonstration, the audio that WETA datacasts will be received at XM Radio's headquarters, uplinked to their satellite and received on the XM radio here in the room. Because of the extra satellite link it will take a few more seconds to get here.

Finally, these messages will be sent to these cellphones and Blackberries through the use of Alert Manager, a proprietary software technology developed by SpectraRep. For today's demonstration, we are using the Internet to send messages to cell phones. In the pilot, wireless carriers received live messages off-air from WETA and successfully retransmitted them as text messages to designated cell phones without using the Internet."

Lawson then went on to say:

"We are not saying that public television's DEAS is a silver bullet offering the total solution for all emergency communications. However, we do want to make clear that our stations can offer the backbone for a unique, robust, and highly cost effective alert and warning system. It responds directly to the recommendations of the Katrina Commission and the requirements of the Executive Order signed by the President on June 26, 2006. Without the support of the Department that we are announcing today, we can deploy the basic delivery system in months, not years.

Although FEMA's responsibility is Presidential messaging, the infrastructure and best practices developed in the national plan can be used by public television stations working with local, regional, and state authorities to serve their alert and warning needs.

APTS has demonstrated the DEAS before Congress, and they have embraced it. Both the House and Senate have introduced versions of the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (or WARN) Act.

The WARN Act establishes a National Alert System to provide a public communications network capable of alerting the public on a national, regional, or local basis. The WARN Act builds upon the infrastructure we are creating today. We hope Congress will act on this legislation quickly to extend the capabilities of this system to States and local jurisdictions as well."

More information on the technical basis for this system may be found on the SpectraRep web site at: http://www.spectrarep.com

It is becoming more apparent that Big Bro is intent on siezing privately owned broadcast and telecom facilities for their own use under the guise of Public Safety.