A thoughtful commentary on the "Presidential Alert" squabble...

[brooklynite]

In 2012 (under Obama), the WEA system was fully deployed and operational. Since that time it has been used to provide AMBER alerts and NOAA weather alerts… but has never transmitted any Presidential Alerts. This is because the use and operation of the system is very tightly restricted and regulated by conditions in the Warning, Alert, and Response (WARN) Act of 2006.

Another requirement of IPAWS is that they conduct regular regional tests as well as at least one national test every 3 years. Obviously it’s a complicated process getting a system as wide-spread and all-encompassing as this to operate bug-free… and many of the past national tests have been less than error free (to be nice). But testing needs to continue until they get it right.

So Trump did not cause this test to happen… it was a scheduled necessity.

One last bit to chew on, Trump has had access to IPAWS as long as he’s been Resident. Don’t you think he would have taken advantage of it by now if he could? I’d say the fact that we haven’t all been subjected to obnoxious push messages from Ol’ Cheeto-head for his whole term says that just maybe those WARN restrictions are doing their job.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/17/1796287/-Don-t-fall-for-the-Presidential-Alert-scam-please

[gratuitous]

1. "Don't you think he would have taken advantage of it by now"?

Maybe he just found out about it. Understanding the processes and procedures of governance has not been a real strong suit to this point in the Trump administration.

[onenote]

4. The statute mandates that the system be tested within 3 years of the statute's April 2016 enactment

We justifiably dump on FEMA when it screws up. In this instance, they're actually trying to follow the law and test a system to see if it has any bugs in it and yet some people want to dump on them for that.

[Girard442]

2. A wise POTUS would realize this is not the time to be in the spotlight.

I crack myself up sometimes.

[onenote]

3. Basically correct. One clarification

The currently planned test is specifically required by legislation not mentioned (at least as far as I can tell) in the dailykos article: the Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) Modernization Act, which was passed unanimously by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Obama in April 2016 and which specifically mandates actions by FEMA with respect to the implementation of a national emergency alert system and requires that the system be tested within 3 years of the law's enactment.

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

[Fred Sanders]

5. Thank you for heeding President Obama's advice to not be distracted by modern bread and circuses.