DC area residents to get National Wireless Emergency Alert System test on April 5

washington examiner ^ | 4/2/2018 | Diana Stancy Correll

[bitt]

Residents of Washington, D.C., and 19 other nearby metropolitan jurisdictions will receive test text notifications next week as part of an automatic National Wireless Emergency Alerts System test.

The system allows government officials to send emergency alerts to specific geographic areas on cellphones or other mobile devices.

People in the 20 participating jurisdictions will receive the following message on Thursday, April 5: “A test of the District of Columbia Wireless Emergency Alerts System. No action required.” The alert is expected to be accompanied by a loud noise as it displays the message.

Residents of Washington, D.C., and 19 other nearby metropolitan jurisdictions will receive test text notifications next week as part of an automatic National Wireless Emergency Alerts System test.

The system allows government officials to send emergency alerts to specific geographic areas on cellphones or other mobile devices.

People in the 20 participating jurisdictions will receive the following message on Thursday, April 5: “A test of the District of Columbia Wireless Emergency Alerts System. No action required.” The alert is expected to be accompanied by a loud noise as it displays the message.

Local officials told the Washington Examiner that residents of Northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland should not be surprised if they receive multiple alerts from nearby areas. For example, someone in the city of Alexandria, Va., could receive another alert from a nearby jurisdiction.

Since 2012 when the system was first implemented, the system has been used 33,000 times to inform the public about weather, missing children, or other critical situations, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

However, local officials say this is the first time a live regional test using the system’s geo-target capabilities has been conducted, and 5.2 million people are expected to receive the test next week.

[generally]

I would not 100% trust any alert. It could be fake or it could be Trump communicating directly with us. We’ll have to use our best judgment to figure out which it is.

[DaveA37]

Can’t wait to hear all the “confusion” reports once that “alert” is over.

[bitt]

:) !!!

[generally]

Haha! Lots of LIVs in the area.

[hoagy62]

Having been in radio before, the emergency alert system is meant to be used as kind of a last-ditch ditch effort to get presidential orders to the people in case there wasn’t time to set up some kind of communication through normal channels, like the MSM.
The obvious use, of course, was in case there was a bolt out of the blue missile attack from a foreign power. However, in a time of national crisis, if the president is not able to get to the networks, or if the networks are unwilling to put the president on, then the president can use the emergency alert system.
A presidential EAS message has to be broadcast. Not even the networks have the authority to override it.

[Bigg Red]

Thank you.

I am always glad that there are so many FReepers with areas of expertise who are willing to share their knowledge.

[Bigg Red]

Thanks. Did you see post 25?

[generally]

I did now that you pointed it out. Thanks for the ping!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Just lovely. Hopefully I'm not trying to sleep when they do this.

Maryland "Freak State" PING!

[markomalley]

Just lovely. Hopefully I'm not trying to sleep when they do this.

Of course, you could just turn alerts off:

[COBOL2Java]

I’ll make sure to have my phone turned off.

[COBOL2Java]

“A test of the District of Columbia Wireless Emergency Alerts System. No action required.”