`

FEMA Integrated Public Alert

and Warning System (IPAWS) 2018 Performance Report

May 31, 2019

Federal Emergency Management Agency

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Message from the Administrator

May 31, 2019

I am pleased to present the Integrated Public Alert and Warning

System (IPAWS) Performance Report for 2018 to Congress prepared

by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency

Management Agency (FEMA).

This report is being submitted to Congress in response to a requirement

set forth in the IPAWS Modernization Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-143),

which directs that the Administrator shall make a performance report

available on the public website of the Agency.1 The performance report

should establish and evaluate performance goals for the implementation

of the public alert and warning system by the Agency, describe the

performance of the public alert and warning system, and identify

significant challenges and areas of improvement.

Pursuant to Congressional requirements, this report is being provided to

the following Members of Congress:

The Honorable Ronald H. Johnson

Chairman, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

The Honorable Gary C. Peters

Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

The Honorable Roger F. Wicker

Chairman, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The Honorable Maria Cantwell

Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The Honorable Peter DeFazio

Chairman, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

The Honorable Sam Graves

Ranking Member, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson

Chairman, House Committee on Homeland Security

The Honorable Mike Rogers

Ranking Member, House Committee on Homeland Security

1 https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ143/PLAW-114publ143.pdf

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Inquiries relating to this report may be directed to FEMA’s Office of Congressional and

Intergovernmental Affairs at (202) 646-4500.

Sincerely,

Pete Gaynor

Acting Administrator

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Executive Summary

The IPAWS vision, mission, goals, and objectives directly support “Mission 5: Strengthen

National Preparedness and Resilience” of the Department of Homeland Security Fiscal Years

2014-2018 Strategic Plan and Strategic Goal 1: “Build a Culture of Preparedness” of the FEMA

2018-2022 Strategic Plan. As required by the IPAWS Modernization Act of 2015, the

Performance Report covers performance goals and steps taken to meet them, significant

challenges to its operation, and areas of improvement.

The IPAWS Program Management Office (PMO) integrates new and existing public alert and

warning systems and technologies to provide federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial local alert

and warning authorities a range of capabilities and dissemination channels. Originally

established by Executive Order (E.O.) 13407, IPAWS provides the capability to notify the

American people of impending natural and man-made disasters, or other hazards to public safety

and well-being.2 In the event of a national emergency, the President may use IPAWS to

communicate with the public quickly, easily, and simultaneously via multiple communications

pathways with only 10 minutes notice. The IPAWS may be used by state, local, tribal, and

territorial agencies when not in use by the President. IPAWS delivers timely, geographically

targeted messages during a crisis to both save lives and protect property through a federated

system of systems consisting of: Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations, the National Public

Warning System (NPWS), the Emergency Alert System (EAS), Wireless Emergency Alerts

(WEA), and the IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks (OPEN). As of September

2018, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 4 tribal

governments have adopted IPAWS-OPEN. There are currently 1,137 alerting authorities –

organizations who have a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with FEMA IPAWS to distribute

alerts through IPAWS-OPEN. The IPAWS mission is to provide integrated services and

capabilities to federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities that enable them to alert and

warn their respective communities via multiple communications methods.

Over the past four years, the IPAWS PMO has undertaken dramatic steps to improve access to

and effectiveness of public alerts and warnings. This multi-faceted approach includes adopting

improved standards to make alerts and warnings more effective and accessible to all users;

working with the IPAWS Subcommittee to incorporate emerging trends and best practices from

communications and emergency management practitioners; increasing training and stakeholder

engagement with state, local, tribal, and territorial communities; and raising public awareness of

the importance of alerts and warnings. These efforts have resulted in numerous lives saved

during emergencies around the country, including during the 2017 and 2018 wildfires in

California and during hurricane season which impacted multiple states and territories.

Additionally, thousands of civil emergency messages have been issued by local alerting

authorities, and 54 children have been rescued in direct response to America’s Missing:

Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alerts from the National Center for Missing and

Exploited Children (NCMEC). The IPAWS PMO community engagement efforts have yielded a

78 percent growth in the number of alert originators using IPAWS since 2015. As of September

2018, more than 3,000,000 messages WEAs were processed through the IPAWS program.3 The

2 Executive Order 13407—Public Alert and Warning System, June 26, 2006 3 Alert Originators hold a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with FEMA IPAWS and are approved by the appropriate state, territorial, or tribal authority to send alerts to the public in their jurisdiction via IPAWS. Alert

activities reported here, and those planned, exemplify FEMA’s mission: “Helping people before,

during, and after disasters”.4 Further IPAWS efforts are designed to enhance the ability of

federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities to deliver timely and actionable alerts in

response to threats to public safety.

Originators are typically state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies with public safety responsibilities such as emergency management or law enforcement agencies. 4 FEMA’s Mission Statement: https://www.fema.gov/about-agency

FEMA IPAWS Performance Report

2018 Report to Congress

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 1

Legislative Requirement ................................................................................... 1

Background on the Evolution of Alerting ........................................................ 2

IPAWS Performance ......................................................................................... 4

Current Challenges .......................................................................................... 20

Appendix: Acronyms ...................................................................................... 24

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Legislative Requirement

This document responds to the reporting requirement set forth in. section 526(e)(1) of the

Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended by the IPAWS Modernization Act of 2015 (Public

Law 114-143), also known as the IPAWS Modernization Act, which directs the following:

(e) PERFORMANCE REPORTS. —

(1) IN GENERAL. —Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Integrated Public

Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015, and annually thereafter through

2018, the Administrator shall make available on the public website of the Agency a

performance report, which shall—

(A) establish performance goals for the implementation of the public alert and warning system

by the Agency;

(B) describe the performance of the public alert and warning system, including—

(i) the type of technology used for alerts and warnings issued under the system;

(ii) the measures taken to alert, warn, and provide equivalent information to individuals

with disabilities, individuals with access and function needs, and individuals with limited-

English proficiency; and

(iii) the training, tests, and exercises performed, and the outcomes obtained by the Agency;

(C) identify significant challenges to the effective operation of the public alert and warning

system and any plans to address these challenges;

(D) identify other necessary improvements to the system; and

(E) provide an analysis comparing the performance of the public alert and warning system with

the performance goals established under subparagraph (A).

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Background on the Evolution of Alerting

The modern EAS alerting system was built on a structure originally conceived in the 1950’s, when

over-the-air broadcasting was the best available technology for widely disseminating emergency

alerts. EAS has been upgraded numerous times since then, including in 2005 to include digital

broadcast television as well as satellite radio and satellite television. EAS was further expanded to

include Internet protocol-based television in 2007.

FEMA, in partnership with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is responsible for operating and maintaining EAS at the

federal level. NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) and state and local alerting authorities, in

conjunction with local radio and television stations, can also use EAS to disseminate emergency

messages. These messages include: weather warnings, AMBER Alerts, and other public emergency

communications, targeted to specific regional and local areas and are independent from a

presidential alert. Presidential EAS alerts, also known as national-level alerts, use a hierarchical

broadcast-based distribution system to relay emergency messages. As the entry point for national-

level EAS messages, FEMA is responsible for distributing such alerts to National Primary stations,

which include PEP stations.

In 2004, FEMA initiated IPAWS to integrate EAS and other public alerting systems into a larger,

more comprehensive public alerting system. In June 2006, the President issued E.O. No. 13407,

entitled the Public Alert and Warning System, which created the policy that the U.S. must have a

comprehensive, integrated alerting system. The order directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to

“ensure an orderly and effective transition” from current capabilities to a more coordinated and

integrated system and details the responsibilities of the Secretary in meeting the President’s

directive.

In addition, in 2006, the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act (WARN Act) was enacted,

which required the FCC to adopt relevant technical standards, protocols, procedures, and other

technical requirements to enable commercial mobile service providers (e.g., wireless providers) to

issue emergency alerts. The act required the FCC to establish an advisory panel called the

Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee to recommend technical specifications and

protocols to govern wireless service providers’ participation in emergency alerting. In 2008,

following public notice and opportunity for public comment as required by the Administrative

Procedure Act, the FCC adopted requirements based on the committee’s recommendations for

wireless providers to transmit alerts and began developing the Commercial Mobile Alert System

(CMAS), in conjunction with the IPAWS PMO.

In 2010, IPAWS implemented a federal alert aggregator called IPAWS-OPEN, which has increased

alerting capabilities for authorities at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial level. IPAWS-

OPEN is capable of receiving and authenticating alerts from public alerting authorities and routing

them to various public alerting systems. As of September 2018, 1,137 public alerting authorities, in

all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 4 tribal governments

have gone through the necessary authentication steps with FEMA to use IPAWS. Authorized public

alerting authorities may use IPAWS-compatible software to compose and transmit alerts via the

Internet to the alert aggregator using a common standard, called the Common Alerting Protocol

(CAP). CAP can be used as a single input to activate multiple warning systems and is capable of

geographic targeting and multilingual messaging.

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On November 9, 2011, FEMA conducted the first nationwide test of the national-level EAS. The

IPAWS PMO conducted the test in conjunction with the FCC. In conducting the test, IPAWS

initiated a national-level alert to be distributed through the EAS chain to EAS participants, which

included approximately 26,000 broadcasters, cable operators, and other EAS participants.

Additional national EAS tests using IPAWS-OPEN CAP distribution were conducted in September

2016, September 2017, and October 2018, and the first WEA national test was successfully held in

October 2018. Figure 1 shows the timeline of alerting updates since FY 2009.

Figure 1: The Evolution of Alerting

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IPAWS Performance

A summary of the report requirements is below as required by Section 526(e)(1) of the IPAWS

Act:5

• The type of technology used for alerts and warnings issued under the system;

• The measures taken to alert, warn, and provide equivalent information to individuals with

disabilities, individuals with access and functional needs, and individuals with limited-

English proficiency; and

• The training, tests, and exercises performed, and the outcomes obtained by the Agency.

This section of the IPAWS Performance Report examines five IPAWS performance goals. Later, it

explains efforts undertaken for each of the three elements specified in the law and highlights

alerting authority successes in issuing time-sensitive, critical alerts.

Performance Goals

As required by Section 526(e)(1) of the IPAWS Act, FEMA established five performance goals for

the implementation of the public alert and warning system:

• Goal 1: Create, maintain, and evolve an integrated interoperable environment for alert and

warning;

• Goal 2: Make alert and warning more effective;

• Goal 3: Strengthen the resilience of IPAWS infrastructure;

• Goal 4: Enhance the means for monitoring and measuring success; and

• Goal 5: Develop an IPAWS PMO workforce that is well-trained and satisfied.

Goal 1: Create, maintain, and evolve an integrated interoperable environment for alert and

warning

IPAWS is capitalizing on advances in data and technology by designing a responsive architecture

to address future alerting needs. Capitalizing on advances in data and communications technology

provides a more robust alert and warning system that allows for effective communication to reach

impacted peoples at all times. For example, IPAWS is harnessing the technology of mobile devices

to send WEA alerts in a timely manner. These alerts do not depend on standard mobile voice and

texting services that are subject to congestion during periods of high demand, ensuring that critical

alerts are received by the public in a timely manner. In addition to capitalizing on the advances in

existing technology, IPAWS designed a responsive architecture to address future alerting needs

and capabilities. IPAWS-OPEN integrates the FCC’s rule changes to allow alert originators to

embed URLs and telephone numbers in WEAs.6 Further, IPAWS alerts can provide messages to

internet applications and websites that currently exist or may be developed in the future.

5 Full text of the performance report requirements can be found in the “Legislative Summary” section of this

document 6 Wireless Emergency Alerts; Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert

System, PS Docket No. 15-94. Second Report and Order and Second Order on Reconsideration. Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) (January 2018) https://www.fcc.gov/commission-releases-order-improving-wea-

accuracy-and-requiring-preservation-alerts.

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The IPAWS PMO is also conducting comprehensive stakeholder engagement activities to create,

maintain, and evolve an integrated interoperable environment for alert and warning. To create this

environment, IPAWS is providing training opportunities to alerting authorities through the IPAWS

Lab and through the provision of two online courses at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute

(EMI) (IS-247a and IS-251). In addition, IPAWS is hosting—in conjunction with FEMA’s Office

of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC)—roundtables highlighting issues of importance

to people with disabilities or access and functional needs. In doing so, IPAWS creates an alerting

environment informed by and designed to ensure effective communication with persons with

disabilities and others with access and functional needs.

To maintain an integrated, interoperable environment for alert and warning, IPAWS engages in

multiple promotional initiatives. These awareness campaigns include the dissemination of lessons

learned from the IPAWS National Tests (INTs) to broadcasters for proper configuration of EAS

devices for effective alerting.

Lastly, IPAWS is evolving the integrated interoperable environment for alert and warning, in large

part by providing forums through which new ideas can be created, and later, implemented. IPAWS

has provided continuing support to FEMA’s National Advisory Council (NAC) IPAWS

Subcommittee, pursuant to the IPAWS Act, which provides recommendations to the NAC.7

IPAWS also facilitates discussion with alerting origination software providers (AOSP) to assess

interoperability with IPAWS-OPEN and provide a forum for alerting authorities to learn about the

various vendor offerings and their specific features.

Goal 2: Make alert and warning more effective

Just as IPAWS has made great strides to create, maintain, and evolve an integrated interoperable

environment for alert and warning, so too has it made alert and warning more effective nationwide.

These efforts range from initiatives focused on user reception of alerts, to those focused on alerting

authorities, vendors, and industry partners. Firstly, by focusing on user reception of alerts, IPAWS

makes alert and warning more effective by increasing the number of individuals who receive and

understand messages. For example, IPAWS-OPEN permits embedded URLs and phone numbers

in WEAs as required by the FCC and allows alerting authorities to provide more actionable

information to elicit desired public responses. Subsequent IPAWS-OPEN updates will implement

additional FCC requirements to further improve WEA alerts, such as increasing the number of

available characters from 90 to 360 on 4G LTE and future networks,8 creating a new class of alerts

(Public Safety Messages),9 facilitating State/Local WEA Tests to the public,10 and enabling

wireless providers to deliver alerts to more granular geographic areas.11

IPAWS’ current capability of providing alerting authorities with the capacity to issue alerts in

Spanish and any other languages that may be expressed using the Latin character set. make alerts

7 See IPAWS Subcommittee https://www.fema.gov/ipaws-subcommittee 8 47 CFR § 10.430. 9 47 CFR § 10.400(d). 10 47 CFR § 10.350(c). 11 Wireless Emergency Alerts; Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert

System, PS Docket No. 15-94. Second Report and Order and Second Order on Reconsideration. Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) (January 2018) https://www.fcc.gov/commission-releases-order-improving-wea-

accuracy-and-requiring-preservation-alerts.

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more effective. This language capability allows emergency managers to tailor messages to diverse

communities. This capability is in line with the 2016 FCC rules that require participating wireless

providers to support the transmission of Spanish-language alerts.12 The IPAWS PMO also assists

alerting authorities through the IPAWS Message Viewer, which allows alerting authorities to test

from their respective offices and sends the results of the test to their desktop. This assistance

enables authorized alerting officials to test, exercise, and maintain proficiency on their vendor

software tools and improves the quality of messages by allowing alerting authorities to practice

writing actionable and accurate alerts. The IPAWS PMO also leverages the IPAWS Lab to engage

industry partners and communities of interest through demonstrations that evaluate the capabilities

of IPAWS in a safe environment.

Goal 3: Strengthen the resilience of IPAWS infrastructure

To strengthen resiliency, IPAWS is in the process of conducting numerous upgrades to the system.

Firstly, FEMA will migrate IPAWS-OPEN to a commercial cloud service provider (CSP) which is

expected to increase the alerting system’s resiliency and availability to provide lifesaving alerts.

Secondly, IPAWS is upgrading all legacy PEP stations with all-hazards capabilities to enhance the

resiliency of the NPWS and the ability of the president to issue an alert under all conditions (as of

September 2018, 31 of 77 PEP stations require modernization to all-hazards capability).

Thirdly, the IPAWS PMO is conducting national tests to validate the speed, effectiveness, and

efficiency of alerting capabilities—and test the adequacy of policies, plans, procedures, and

protocols. The first national test was held in November 2011, and the second and third in

September 2016 and September 2017, respectively. The first joint EAS/WEA national test was

held in October 2018. Such tests have helped the PMO to verify that it has met the NPWS

performance goal of providing coverage to 90 percent of the U.S. population.13 The extensive

reach of IPAWS coverage enables the president to deliver an emergency alert to the majority of the

public.

To improve qualitative effectiveness, the IPAWS PMO has conducted interviews with selected

alerting authorities to understand their needs and concerns, and to capture where they believe

IPAWS alerts are of the most benefit for their communities. In addition, the IPAWS PMO

conducted numerous after-action reviews following events with significant IPAWS usage,

including the 2017 California wildfires, the 2017 hurricane season, and the 2018 false ballistic

missile alert in Hawaii.

Goal 4: Enhance the means for monitoring and measuring success

There is an increasing number of IPAWS alerting authorities across federal, state, local, tribal, and

territorial jurisdictions. As of September 2018, there are 1,137 public alerting authorities including

2 federal non-military authorities (NOAA and NCMEC), 19 military facilities, 68 state agencies in

50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, 3 tribal agencies, and

12 Wireless Emergency Alerts; Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert

System, PS Docket Nos. 15-91, 15-94, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 31 Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) Rcd 11112 (2016) (WEA R&O and WEA FNPRM). 13 Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Strategic Plan: Fiscal Year 2014-2018, p. 8

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1401983070609-

479ca97bdfbf9e12bf94a060faa93b94/IPAWS_Strategic_Plan_FY14-FY18_FINAL-Signed_(06022014)_KAS.pdf

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1,042 local alerting authorities. The above alerting authorities are playing a significant role in

driving IPAWS’ success. IPAWS provides coverage to 90 percent of the population through the

NPWS PEP broadcast system and meets the threshold Key Performance Parameter (KPP) for

national-level (Priority One) EAS activation to occur within 10 minutes, and the KPP objective of

activation within five minutes.14 In addition to these thresholds, metrics provide further insight

into dissemination timeframes. During the November 9, 2011 test, dissemination of the EAS test

message via the legacy PEP Station system took 40 seconds, and during the September 28, 2016

IPAWS National Test (INT), the EAS test message via IPAWS-OPEN took an average of 43

seconds.15 EAS test message dissemination times for the 2017 and 2018 INTs are not available for

inclusion in this report.

Lastly, enhancements with regards to monitoring and measuring success helps the PMO analyze

how successfully IPAWS disseminates messages that influence individuals’ decisions to take

proactive and protective action in case of emergency. As of September 2018, 54 children have

been recovered as a direct result of AMBER Alert WEAs issued by NCMEC.16 In addition,

IPAWS metrics have captured the number of messages issued as of September 2018, which

indicate that there have been 41,664 total WEAs sent, with 39,079 sent by NWS, 1,307 sent by

NCMEC, and 1,365 sent by state/local public safety officials.

Goal 5: Develop an IPAWS PMO workforce that is well-trained and satisfied

While IPAWS has dedicated significant time and effort to developing and implementing a

comprehensive alerting system for the U.S. public, it has also looked internally to develop its own

workforce—ensuring that it is well-trained and satisfied. In October 2017, the IPAWS PMO held a

two-day offsite for federal staff and contractors to strengthen coordination and communication

with the team. IPAWS leadership articulated the path towards successfully implementing IPAWS

vision, mission, and goals. Secondly, in December 2017, the IPAWS PMO completed a multi-year

strategic vision outlining the steps to improve coordination and synchronization across the

program and meet the KPPs for IPAWS projects.

These five goals all serve to support the core of the IPAWS strategy, embodied in the mission

statement: “Provide integrated services and capabilities to federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial

authorities that enable them to alert and warn their respective communities via multiple

communications methods”.

Type of Technology Used

The IPAWS PMO maintains two major information technology (IT) systems to address the intents

and requirements of Public Law 114-143, which directs FEMA to implement a public alert and

warning system to disseminate timely and effective warnings. The two systems, IPAWS-OPEN and

NPWS, illustrated in Figure 2, together address alert and warning needs of federal, state, local,

tribal, and territorial authorities for warning the public of threats from any and all-hazards scenarios.

14 KPPs are defined in the program’s Operational Requirements Document (ORD) as the critical elements of the

system’s performance 15 2016 National IPAWS EAS Test Report, https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1497968299990-

4223793cbcd1a43b8f94525c5e3ca6c4/2016_IPAWS_EAS_National_Test_Report_For_Public_Release_Final_2.pdf 16 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

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National Public Warning System

NPWS is comprised of 77 PEP broadcast and program distribution partners throughout the U.S..

The PEP system covers 90 percent of the American public. NPWS enables the President of the

U.S. to communicate to the public under all conditions as directed in E.O. 13407. For national

emergencies, the FEMA Operations Center (FOC) and FEMA Alternate Operations Center

(FAOC) activate the EAS with origination of an Emergency Action Notification (EAN) to the

PEP Network via the Public Switched Telephone Network or Satellite Communications Network.

NPWS EAS alerts carry audio only.

IPAWS-OPEN

IPAWS-OPEN, in contrast to NPWS, is activated by internet communications and can deliver

audio messages in different languages and text for EAS alerts. IPAWS-OPEN provides federal,

state, local, tribal, and territorial public safety officials with an effective way to alert and warn the

public about serious emergencies using the EAS, WEA, NOAA Weather Radio, and other public

alerting systems through a single interface. IPAWS-OPEN receives and authenticates messages

transmitted by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial alerting authorities and routes them to

IPAWS-compliant public alerting systems. Its web services-based design allows for the addition of

future alert and warning systems. IPAWS-OPEN also enables interoperable sharing of incident-

related data among different standards-compliant incident management systems. As of September

30, 2018, there are 26,000 radio and TV cable providers that monitor the IPAWS EAS feed; 63

cellular carriers that distribute WEA alerts to millions of handsets, and 82 internet applications

vendors that have access to the All Hazards Alert and Information Feed.17

The interfaces to IPAWS-OPEN conform to open messaging standards as defined by the

Emergency Management Technical Committee, sponsored by the Organization for the

Advancement of Structured Information Standards and through the National Information Exchange

Model. IPAWS-OPEN also provides a test bed to facilitate the development of open-based

standards to support interoperable information sharing for the emergency responder community.

IPAWS uses the following messaging interfaces:

• CAP Version 1.2 Alert Aggregator and outbound dissemination channel for EAS, All

Hazards EAS/public information feed, NWS HazCollect Non-Weather Emergency

Messages and CMAS for WEAs;

• Emergency Data Exchange Language - Distribution Element Version 1.0; and

• Interface for CAP EAS and Public Alert Retrieval.

17 The All Hazards Alert and Information Feed is an IPAWS channel that displays alerts on connected RSS Fields on

websites. This is different from the “all hazards” protection that PEP stations are required to be equipped with per EO

13407. “All hazards” protection means that PEP stations are protected from any threat including Electro-Magnetic

Pulse.

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Figure 2: NPWS and IPAWS-OPEN Architecture

IPAWS-OPEN Developers

Software and hardware developers create IPAWS-OPEN-compatible alert origination and

dissemination tools for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency management officials.

Vendors provide the software for alerting authorities to develop and issue an IPAWS alert. Several

private sector manufacturers of EAS encoder/decoder equipment provide products capable of

receiving alerts from IPAWS-OPEN. Existing state or locally-owned and operated warning

systems – such as sirens, highway signs, and emergency telephone notification systems – can be

configured to receive alerts from IPAWS-OPEN.

Accessing IPAWS-OPEN

Access to IPAWS-OPEN is structured around Collaborative Operating Groups (COGs). A COG is

a term used by FEMA to designate an organization that has been granted access to IPAWS-OPEN.

COGs must be sponsored by an eligible federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governmental

organization of the U.S. IPAWS-OPEN receives and authenticates messages transmitted by

authorized alerting authorities and public officials and routes the messages to IPAWS-compliant

public alerting systems. Figure 3 shows the number of alerting authorities with access to IPAWS

as of September 2018, broken down by type of alerting authority.

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Figure 3: IPAWS Alerting Authorities

Cross-Border Agreements

In response to U.S.–Canada Beyond the Border (BTB): A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security

and Economic Competitiveness, dated February 4, 2011, and BTB Action Plan, a Memorandum of

Understanding was negotiated in June 2012 between IPAWS and the Centre for Security Science,

Government of Canada. This agreement allows interoperability between IPAWS-OPEN and the

Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System – Canada (MASAS) so that MASAS and IPAWS-

OPEN can exchange alert, warning, and incident information to improve response coordination

during binational disasters. The connection between IPAWS-OPEN and MASAS was made

official on June 9, 2014, and information is exchanged on 15-second intervals. This agreement

allows U.S. and Canadian alert originators to send alerts that affect cross-border regions.

Quarterly QHSR/GPRA Performance Report

In response to the Government Performance and Results Act of 2010 (GPRA), the IPAWS PMO

identified two critical performance measures to report quarterly through the DHS Quadrennial

Homeland Security Report (QHSR) reporting requirement.

Performance Measure As of FY 2018 Target

Percent of the U.S. population directly covered by

FEMA-connected radio transmission stations

90.2% 90%

Percent of the time IPAWS infrastructure is operating

and available for use by federal, state, local, tribal, and

territorial officials for the dissemination of emergency

alerts

99.82% 99.9%

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Social Media Monitoring

The IPAWS PMO uses traditional and social media to engage and inform the public about IPAWS

as the program, and especially WEAs, gain traction in the public’s awareness and interest. The

IPAWS PMO has used the Mention application since 2015 to monitor social media activity, noting

positive or negative mentions of IPAWS, to develop a data-driven assessment of the public

perception of the program.

The Mention application allows the PMO to monitor national and international mentions of

relevant key phrases, specifically IPAWS and WEA, in traditional news outlets, blogs, forums,

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, all through one platform. Analytical reports are produced

monthly and aid in reporting significant events and public sentiment. Frequent reporting has

provided a useful metric for the PMO as it seeks to identify more effective ways to reach

stakeholders. These reports help the IPAWS PMO better communicate with partners by identifying

mediums and opportunities to reach key audiences, continually gauging results, and when needed,

tailoring the IPAWS message for improved communication.

Beginning in 2015, IPAWS shifted its focus from adoption to implementation, and began to

effectively gather public reactions, practices, and questions. The PMO regularly monitors media

activity on topics related to IPAWS using a social media tracking tool. In 2016, the application

helped identify alert challenges and proved state and local public safety officials could benefit

from additional outreach support from the PMO. More recently, media findings through Mention

have highlighted a significant increase in public awareness of both IPAWS and WEA in response

to the Hawaii false missile alert. Since January 2018, the PMO has focused on public reaction to

the event, best practices and changes that need to be implemented by emergency managers, as well

as new guidance from the FCC.

Alerting for People with Disabilities or Access and Functional Needs

IPAWS has made significant progress in performing outreach to people with disabilities or access

and functional needs, those with limited English proficiency, and organizations representing these

communities.

Technology Identification

The IPAWS PMO works to identify and engage with companies that can help make IPAWS more

effective, inclusive, and resilient for people with disabilities. This includes developing a

comprehensive vendor/stakeholder matrix with over 200 points of contact across Government,

advocacy groups, IPAWS-capable companies, and developers from industry. IPAWS has also

created a vendor guidance document to complement stakeholder engagement efforts.18 The

document guides vendors with products that improve communication with people with disabilities

or access and functional needs through the process of signing up for IPAWS and highlights the

benefits of the system to the American people.

Roundtables

18 Vendor guidance document: https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/25916

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In coordination with FEMA’s ODIC, IPAWS hosts roundtables highlighting issues of importance to

people with disabilities or access and functional needs. Most recently, IPAWS hosted a roundtable

on August 11, 2016, with more than 125 participants and presenters from industry, academia, and

the Executive Branch to discuss emerging technologies, challenges, and potential solutions to

improving alerts.

IPAWS also coordinated with the FCC Disability Advisory Council and attended events such as the

“WEA Working Group” and Disability Working Summit.

Symbology

IPAWS supported the development of 16 symbols to provide graphical representation of IPAWS

alerts for individuals with disabilities or access and functional needs. The symbols are designed to

complement text and audio alerts distributed as EAS and WEA, illustrated in Figure 4. IPAWS

continues to socialize the public alert symbol set at various conferences and events. The symbols

were most recently displayed during the 2017 National Association of Broadcasters Show and

International Association of Emergency Managers Conference. IPAWS developed the Symbology

initiative with DHS Science and Technology, the DHS Geospatial Management Office, and the

National Alliance for Public Safety GIS to standardize the symbols to be used by IPAWS.

Figure 4: IPAWS Approved Symbology

Multilingual Capability

As of September 30, 2018, IPAWS-OPEN is capable of handling multilingual EAS messages in

Spanish and other languages that can be expressed using the Latin character set. WEA messages

13

can be sent in English only. Future WEA updates will allow for Spanish language alerts. The

IPAWS PMO continues to explore the capability to relay messages in additional languages. IPAWS

testing efforts in November 2015 marked the first time that IPAWS was used to deliver a single

National Periodic Test (NPT) message to EAS participants that included content in both Spanish

and English. The INTs in September 2016, September 2017, and October 2018 also included both

Spanish and English message content providing EAS participants the option to broadcast a Spanish

language version of the test message. IPAWS also worked with Spanish-speaking advocacy groups

to collect feedback on the INT. National messages distributed by the NPWS PEP stations are only

able to convey the President’s audio message as spoken due to the technical architecture of the

more resilient system. The FCC has adopted rules requiring participating wireless providers to

support transmission of Spanish with English WEA messages beginning in May 2019.19 The

Spanish language support in WEA messages will roll out across the nation as wireless providers

modify their networks and cellular phones to support the new functionality and as alerting

authorities begin to include Spanish language content in their alerts sent via the IPAWS.

Training, Tests, and Exercises Performed and Their Outcomes

IPAWS conducts a variety of tests to evaluate the operational capabilities of the IPAWS-OPEN

alerting system. National, state, and local tests are conducted to evaluate the ability to send alerts in

a timely and clear manner. These end-to-end tests range from periodic INTs to state and local tests

focusing on a specific geographic area.

Training

The EMI provides two online IPAWS training programs (IS 247a and IS 251). These courses were

taken a total of 24,717 times between 2012 and September 2018, broken down by year and course

in Figure 5. Both courses are being combined and updated to reflect current advances in emergency

notification and warning. The new IS 247b will provide introductory information on IPAWS with

the goal of providing alerting authorities increased awareness of the benefits of IPAWS and

instruction for sending more effective public warnings. The material in IS 251 is also being updated

with emphasis on assisting authorized public safety officials in developing the skills to draft more

appropriate, effective, and accessible warning messages; best practices in the effective use of CAP;

and developing the ability to geo-target areas of their communities. This material will be available

directly to the public safety community.

19 Wireless Emergency Alerts; Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert

System, PS Docket No. 15-94, Second Report and Order and Second Order on Reconsideration, Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) (January 2018).

14

Figure 5: Online Training Trends

IPAWS has been integrated into FEMA’s Community Specific Integrated Emergency Management

Course (L930), a four-day course delivered at the participating jurisdiction’s emergency operations

center. It was delivered in Yolo County, CA in May 2017. IPAWS has also been integrated into

EMI’s Virtual Table Top Exercise (VTTX) series, a monthly web-based training delivery available

to all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial entities. The initial IPAWS VTTX was delivered in

March 2018 as part of the lead-up training to the National Level Exercise (NLE) 2018. Questions

pertaining to IPAWS were included in the Earthquake VTTX delivered in September 2018. Eight

additional VTTXs containing IPAWS are being developed. The IPAWS Lab delivered test message

development and delivery training, conducted in-person or virtually, with 197 state, local, tribal,

and territorial agencies in 2017. IPAWS engagement with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial

alerting authorities from October 2017 through September 2018 is illustrated in Figure 6.

15

Figure 6: IPAWS Outreach Map – Federal, State, Tribal, Territorial, and Local Engagement

with IPAWS 2018

National Tests

In 2011, the PMO conducted the first nationwide EAS test across the U.S. and its territories with

16

activation of an EAN. The purpose of the test was to assess the functionality of the legacy system

for the President of the U.S. to address the public during times of extreme national emergency.

Following the 2011 test, the FCC published the Sixth Report and Order in June 2015, which

provided several rules regarding NPT message handling and test reporting requirements for EAS

participants.20

Following the 2011 test, the IPAWS PMO developed a three-phase testing approach, referred to as

the INT, to conduct the first nationwide EAS test using the NPT code and IPAWS-OPEN:

• Phase I – Controlled test in the IPAWS Lab;

• Phase II – Series of IPAWS Supported State and Regional Tests (ISSRTs) using the NPT

message event code; and

• Phase III – Live end-to-end INT.

After conducting Phase I controlled tests at the IPAWS Lab, the IPAWS PMO began organizing

Phase II testing in 2014, in voluntary coordination with state broadcasting associations and

emergency management agencies, to assess the operational readiness of the alert and warning

system for delivery of a national-level message from origination to reception by the American

public. On September 17, 2014, the IPAWS PMO conducted the first test using NPT and IPAWS-

OPEN with the State of West Virginia, West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and

Emergency Management, West Virginia State Emergency Communications Chair, and the West

Virginia Broadcasters Association. Following the West Virginia test findings, the IPAWS PMO

supported a series of state and regional tests providing an opportunity for broadcast and cable

operators to observe how their EAS equipment would process and broadcast incoming IPAWS alert

messages prior to the nationwide test. Phase II was completed in June 2016 with the successful

execution of nine state/regional tests with a total of 46 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S.

Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Phase III culminated with the second nationwide EAS test on September 28, 2016, the first test

IPAWS conducted using the NPT code and IPAWS-OPEN. The second test on September 27,

2017, was originated from Scottsdale, Arizona during the annual National Emergency Management

Agency (NEMA) conference. The test message was available in English and Spanish, including full

message text and spoken word audio messages. Approximately 95 percent of U.S. broadcast,

satellite, and cable operators received the test message, and approximately 88 percent successfully

relayed the message. Phase III provided a repeatable process for future nationwide testing.

IPAWS successfully conducted a joint EAS/WEA test on October 3, 2018. The test was conducted

in conjunction with participating EAS radio, television, and cable operators and wireless providers

participating in WEA. This was the first nationwide WEA test. The FCC requires EAS participants

to report on reception and broadcast of the national test messages and reports national statistics after

each INT. Wireless providers participating in WEA are not required to report alert test delivery and

performance information.

Support for Local Tests by Alerting Authorities

The IPAWS PMO offers support to alerting authorities who wish to conduct IPAWS-OPEN tests

20 Review of the Emergency Alert System, PS Docket No. 04-296, Sixth Report and Order – Federal Communications

Commission (FCC) (June 2015).

17

within their region. For example, the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency

Management Agency (DC HSEMA) tested their WEA capability in preparation for the Presidential

inauguration on January 20, 2017. The DC HSEMA successfully issued the WEA test message that

read “This is a test of the District of Columbia Emergency Alert System. No action is required.”

The IPAWS PMO also supported the National Capital Region WEA test on April 5, 2018, where

nine alerting authorities (located in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia) successfully

issued a test WEA message. The test provided alerting authorities with the opportunity to evaluate

their policies and procedures to develop and send an alert using IPAWS and conduct public

education about alerts and warnings in their jurisdiction, and for the IPAWS PMO to assess how the

messages were transmitted through IPAWS-OPEN and the carriers, and then received by handsets.

IPAWS-OPEN System Performance Tests

The IPAWS PMO conducts extensive testing of the IPAWS-OPEN alerting architecture to evaluate

connectivity and interoperability performances.

• Required Weekly Test (RWT): IPAWS distributes an RWT message for EAS

participants to meet their FCC requirement to demonstrate connectivity to IPAWS by

receiving and logging reception of the IPAWS RWT. The RWT message is not broadcast

but is logged by radio and TV broadcasters throughout the U.S. each week. The FCC may

inspect station EAS logs for regulatory compliance.;

• Required Monthly Tests (RMT): An RMT WEA test message is sent to all connected

Commercial Mobile Service Provider Alert Gateways monthly to confirm connectivity

between the IPAWS-OPEN and wireless provider gateways and the ability of the gateways

to receive and acknowledge a WEA message. The FCC rules require wireless providers to

distribute the RMT within 24 hours of receipt of the test message. However cellular phones

are not required to display the WEA RMT and the wireless providers are not required to

report on network distribution beyond acknowledgement of the WEA RMT at the provider

gateway.; and

• User Acceptance Test (UAT): Each IPAWS-OPEN system release is thoroughly tested by

a formal UAT. The UAT ensures that all required functions of the IPAWS-OPEN web

services work as intended and at an acceptable level of performance. This test is done in a

formal testing environment operated by FEMA IT personnel and separate from the

development and live production environments. UAT includes all new functionality and

approximately 700 different regression tests. Testing is conducted by IPAWS personnel

and by external system operators whose software is designed to interoperate with IPAWS-

OPEN, including the NWS, makers of alert origination software, and downstream

commercial disseminators. A representative sample of all UAT testing is overseen by

FEMA Independent Verification and Validation staff who also conduct some tests

independent from IPAWS PMO staff. FEMA tested IPAWS-OPEN release 3.09.01in

March 2017 and is scheduled to complete IPAWS-OPEN release 3.10 in June 2019.

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Exercises

The IPAWS alerting capability is factored into key DHS/FEMA exercises, where appropriate, to

test and evaluate emergency response plans at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial level.

For example, the 2017 Gotham Shield exercise simulated the IPAWS alerting decision-making

process to issue timely and actionable information to the public in the event of a major natural or

manmade disaster. IPAWS also participated in NLE 2018, a two-week hurricane related event,

where IPAWS coordinated test message activity with the state of Pennsylvania and Fairfax County

in Virginia. During NLE 2018, NPWS successfully simulated readiness of PEP stations in North

Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. to support local emergency information

broadcast when needed during a local incident.

The IPAWS PMO also works with FEMA’s Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program and

the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program to make state and local emergency

managers aware of the possible uses of IPAWS during exercises in coordination with these

facilities. This included participating in message simulation with Madison County, Kentucky and

Pueblo County, CO during the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program meeting in

December 2017. The IPAWS Lab has worked with Berrien County, MI and Monroe County, MI in

conducting message simulation leading up to their evaluated exercises in 2017 and 2018.

IPAWS also identifies additional exercise opportunities through participation with the FEMA

National Exercise Program, National Exercise Division monthly meetings, the annual Exercise and

Evaluation Program Training and Exercise Planning Workshops, and collaboration with DHS

Office of Emergency Communications.

Outcomes

The IPAWS Program has provided the tool for alerting authorities to send alerts and warnings that

help save lives and mitigate the consequences of natural and manmade events. Examples are as

follows:

● During the 2017 and 2018 hurricane seasons, state and local emergency management

authorities used the IPAWS system to issue timely and actionable alerts that complemented

other alerting channels. The NWS extensively relied upon IPAWS to help convey their

warnings to impacted areas;

• The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) issued several evacuation alerts

prior to the arrival of Hurricane Irma, which assisted in the safe evacuation of nearly 6.5

million residents. FDEM also issued IPAWS alerts on behalf of counties that did not have

access to use IPAWS, and used other methods to deliver information to reinforce the alert

advisories;

• During the 2017 December California wildfires, alerting authorities embedded URL links

in WEAs to ask the public to identify what protective actions, if any in their localities, they

should undertake. This demonstrated the power of WEAs to disseminate life-saving

information in a timely manner;

19

• Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) used WEAs in August 2016 to dispel false reports

of an active shooter at Los Angeles International Airport, and inform the public it was safe

to return to the airport terminals;

• The New York City Office of Emergency Management used WEAs to distribute critical

information to the public during the September 2016 terrorist events. These WEAs

included a shelter in place advisory, and asked residents to help locate the suspect: Ahmad

Khan Rahami. Suspect Rahami was arrested within four hours after the WEA was issued;

• In September 2015, Missouri issued a WEA for Cleveland, Missouri, shortly before a

football game, when a tornado touched down at the Cass Midway School grounds. The

WEA prompted the school to move about 350 people to shelter. The school credited the

early warnings for its decision to shelter people 10 minutes before tornado impact; and

• Martinsville law enforcement in Virginia released a WEA in October 2015 after receiving a

call from a business reporting an armed robber on the loose. Citizens recognized the

suspect at a local convenience store and called the 911 dispatch center to inform them of

the suspect’s whereabouts. Law enforcement credited IPAWS and the use of WEAs with

the quick apprehension of the dangerous criminal.

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Current Challenges

As required by Public Law 114-143, FEMA has identified significant challenges to the effective

operation of the public alert and warning system and plans to address these challenges. IPAWS

has achieved notable successes since its inception, providing critical and timely alerts for a

variety of natural and manmade events. Challenges and opportunities remain as the program, and

its benefits, continue to expand. Key areas for improvement are listed below.

Increasing the Usage of IPAWS by Alerting Authorities

There is a large number of alerting authorities (92 percent) that have sent 10 or fewer alerts

between January 2016 and September 2018. FEMA is conducting an initiative to understand

why some alerting authorities rarely use IPAWS, and identify ways to increase usage, when

appropriate. The PMO is interviewing a sample of alerting authorities to assess how FEMA can

support them in improving the quality of alerts and increasing usage during emergencies. The

purpose of the research is to identify the main challenges alerting authorities face and to share

effective practices through training and stakeholder engagement activities. From April 2017

through September 2018, evidence shows a significant increase in the number of messages

alerting authorities sent to inform the public of threats to public safety. Figure 7 shows IPAWS

WEA usage from 2012 through September 2018.

Figure 7: IPAWS WEA Usage Over Time

Installing “All Hazards” Protection for PEP Stations

31 of the 77 PEP stations throughout the U.S., that form the foundation of the NPWS, are not

fully protected against “all hazards.” The IPAWS PMO is currently upgrading the PEP stations

to an “all hazards” capability to increase resiliency. The PEP system provides broadcast

coverage to 90 percent of the American public.

Improving Alerts to Individuals with Disabilities, Access and Functional Needs, and Limited-

English Proficiency

Educating the public about IPAWS PMO efforts remains a top priority to increase awareness

about initiatives like the IPAWS National Test and alerts Symbology, as well as of IPAWS as a

21

whole. Continued outreach and stakeholder engagement can continue to address this priority.

IPAWS continues to explore new technologies to improve the reach and effectiveness of alerts

for persons with disabilities and others with access and functional needs. IPAWS also continues

to work towards the inclusion of additional languages with each new release of IPAWS-OPEN.

Additional stakeholder engagement activities, combined with FCC and industry interactions,

will help facilitate the adoption of innovative alert capabilities.

Dependencies

The IPAWS architecture relies on several dependencies across IT infrastructure operations and

maintenance, and relies on voluntary partnerships with PEP stations and cellular carriers.

IPAWS’ effectiveness is dependent upon directly resourced relationships for maintenance and

sustainment of IT infrastructure at the FEMA and DHS data centers. IPAWS works in close

coordination with its federal partners to maintain and sustain the IT infrastructure, but this

reliance on outside entities limits the PMO’s control over critical elements.

IPAWS depends on the broadcast industry to participate as PEP stations in the NPWS and has

installed FEMA-provided resiliency systems at PEP stations throughout the country. If the

IPAWS PEP program loses participating PEP stations, either by broadcast industry action,

regulatory changes, or natural disaster, then the PEP network will have less than 90-percent

population coverage and IPAWS will be unable to meet its legislative and executive mandates.

The FCC is considering reducing Class A AM radio interference protections. If the FCC rules to

change these parameters, many PEP stations in the program will have reduced power output,

which will lessen nationwide coverage by PEPs. The IPAWS PMO actively monitors PEP

station status, conducts industry and regulatory engagement emphasizing the benefits of

national and local-level EAS services to the public, and promotes broadcast media as the more

resilient and reliable source of public safety information.

Current IPAWS IT infrastructure contains many single points of failure. To address these

challenges, FEMA will migrate the IPAWS-OPEN system to a cloud-hosted environment to

achieve and meet the IPAWS Operational Requirements Document Full Operational Capability

definition that IPAWS-OPEN have “two redundant, geographically diverse highly available

operational sites.”

Necessary IPAWS Improvements

The IPAWS PMO continuously improves the performance of the alerting system based on

recommendations from internal reviews, advisory committees, and regulatory rule changes.

FCC WEA Rule Changes

The IPAWS PMO is currently implementing the FCC’s adopted rules to update and strengthen

WEAs. The rules, announced on September 29, 2016, update the FCC’s 2008 technical and

procedural requirements. These changes increase the maximum length of WEA messages (from

90 to 360 characters) for 4G LTE and future networks, supports a new classification of WEA

messages called “Public Safety Messages,” and requires support for embedded URLs and phone

numbers. Additionally, the rule changes will require facilitating State/Local WEA Tests to the

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public which will make it easier for state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities to test WEA,

train personnel, and raise public awareness about the service. Participating carriers must also

support Spanish language WEAs by May 2019. The Commission also authorized the use of the

“BLU” event code for alert originators to send Blue Alerts to notify the public of threats to law

enforcement using EAS as of January 2018 and using WEA as of July 2019. The January 2018

WEA rules update requires that WEAs hit a 100 percent target area with a 0.1-mile overshoot

and for cell phones to preserve alerts on the device for 24 hours by November 2019.21

IPAWS-OPEN v3.09.01 ends the restriction on the use of phone numbers and links in current

messages. Cell carriers and alerting software vendors are making system modifications where

necessary for the changes to take effect.

Cloud Migration

The IPAWS PMO is working toward migrating IPAWS-OPEN to the cloud to increase the

availability and the resiliency of IPAWS-OPEN. The cloud migration decision was made

following the IPAWS PMO, in conjunction with the FEMA Office of the Chief Information

Officer (OCIO), performing an Alternatives Analysis in March 2015, and an Extended Analysis of

Alternatives in August 2015. Through this analysis and research, IPAWS and the FEMA OCIO

determined that moving the IPAWS system from DHS’ Data Center 2 (DC2) at Mount Weather to

a commercial CSP would increase availability and resiliency, while lowering cost. The analysis

revealed that hosting services offered by CSPs could provide 99.9 percent availability or better.

Extensive follow-on market research analysis with the General Services Administration, industry,

and other DHS cloud subject-matter experts resulted in a strategy to modernize the IPAWS-OPEN

application to be cloud-optimized, rather than migrate the existing application architecture to the

cloud. This cloud modernization approach will significantly lower cloud migration technical risk

and eliminate existing costly licenses. IPAWS awarded a cloud contract in FY 2018 for hosting,

modernizing, and maintaining the IPAWS-OPEN system.

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Business Processes Improvements

The IPAWS PMO is assessing options for updating the MOA process for registering new alerting

authorities. The MOA management application will allow alert originators to self-edit their

information and to track the process of their application online. The improvements follow a

business process review conducted in 2016 to improve and accelerate the MOA process. A MOA

authorizes the alerting authority to connect to and ultimately use IPAWS-OPEN. The business

process review analyzed the current business processes, identified bottlenecks and redundancies,

identified business process improvements, and investigated options for automation.

Message Creation and Dissemination

Many IPAWS alerting authorities are issuing actionable alerts in a timely manner. The IPAWS

21 Wireless Emergency Alerts; Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert

System, PS Docket No. 15-94. Second Report and Order and Second Order on Reconsideration. Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) (January 2018).

23

PMO continues to emphasize the importance of sharing best practices across all alert originators.

IPAWS is also developing an online IPAWS users working group community as part of this

process. This will help to support those facing difficulties in issuing alerts or those who are

infrequent users of IPAWS. IPAWS’ efforts are focusing on governance and coordination,

mechanics of alert creation and dissemination, and alert content to achieve desired outcome. The

outcomes will likely include expanding available training for alerting authorities.

NOAA Weather Radio Connection

The National Weather Service’s NOAA Weather Radio is one of the four dissemination channels

of IPAWS-OPEN and allows the dissemination of Non-Weather Emergency Messages (NWEM).

This increases the reach of message dissemination and offers another mechanism for the public to

receive important emergency messages. As of September 30, 2018, the NOAA Weather Radio

connection is currently offline from IPAWS. Currently, FEMA and NOAA are working together

to enable this capability.

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Appendix: Acronyms

AMBER America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response

AOSP Alerting Origination Software Provider

CAP Common Alerting Protocol

CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert System

COG Collaborative Operating Group

DHS Department of Homeland Security

EAS Emergency Alert System

EO Executive Order

EAN Emergency Action Notification

EMI Emergency Management Institute

FAOC FEMA Alternate Operations Center

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FDEM Florida Division of Emergency Management

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

FOC FEMA Operations Center

GPRA Government Performance and Results Act

HSPD Homeland Security Presidential Directive

INT IPAWS National Test

IPAWS Integrated Public Alert and Warning System

IPAWS-OPEN IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks

KPP Key Performance Parameters

LAPD Los Angeles Police Department

MASAS Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System

MOA Memorandum of Agreement

NAC National Advisory Council

NCMEC National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

NIPP National Infrastructure Protection Plan

NLE National Level Exercise

NOAA National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration

NPT National Periodic Test

NPWS National Public Warning System

NWS National Weather Service

OCIO Office of the Chief Information Officer

ODIC Office of Disability Integration and Coordination

PEP Primary Entry Point

PMO Program Management Office

QHSR Quadrennial Homeland Security Report

RMT Required Monthly Tests

RWT Required Weekly Test

UAT User Acceptance Test

VTTX Virtual Table Top Exercise