Transcripts For CSPAN2 FCC Open Meeting On Emergency Alert System 20180201

[inaudible conversations] good morning. Welcome to the open meeting of the federal communications commission. Madam federal communications commission. Madam secretary we please announce our agenda for this morning . Thank you mr. Chairman. Morning to you and good morning commissioners prefer todays meeting you will hear six items for your consideration. First you will receive a preliminary. Reporter the Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau on its investigation into the false Emergency Alert that occurred in hawaii on january 13, 2018. Second you will consider a second report and order on recon to enhance wireless Emergency Alerts including the geographic accuracy. Third you will consider an order jesting the remaining issues raised by parties implementing the connect america phase two option nina three in which Service Providers will get support of up to 1. 98 billion to often voice and Broadband Service in unserved high cost areas. For the will consider a Public Notice establishing procedures for the connect america funds auction will which will award up to 1. 98 billion over 10 years to Service Providers that commit to offer voice and Broadband Services to six locations in underserved areas. This order to establish an office of economics and analytics. Sixth he will consider a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to eliminate the requirement of rockettes licensees and permittees to routinely submit paper copies of contracts and other documents as specified in section 73. 6. 3613 of the commissions rules and seventh you will consider an important action. This is your agenda for today. Please note item 7 on the agenda is listed in a january 23, the 2018 notice entitled amendment of parts 27, 54, 73, 74 and 76 of the commissions rule to delete rules made obsolete by the Digital Transition adopted by the commission and deleted from todays agenda. On your agenda today is a preliminary report presented by the Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau and lisa fowlkes fowlkes. Thank you madam secretary. Ms. Fowlkes if you are ready the floor is yours. At morning mr. Chairman commissioners. Earlier this month on the morning of january 13, people throughout hawaii were alerted on their televisions, radios and wireless phones of an eminent Ballistic Missile attack. The warning unleashed widespread panic and fear. The alert was issued by the state of hawaii to the Emergency Alert system and the wireless Emergency Alert system that the warning was a false alert. Compounding this problem it took 38 minutes for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to issue a corrected alert. As chairman pai stated this alert was unacceptable. He immediately directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau to investigate the incident with the goal of understanding how it happened and how to help prevent such an incident from happening again. Americas Emergency Alert system provides timely and lifesaving information to the public and we must assure the these systems remain effective. This includes maintaining the publics confidence so when an Emergency Alert is issued the public heaves its call. Today the bureau presents a preliminary report on its investigation. Joining me here today are nikki mcginest Deputy Bureau chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau, james wiley in the indications and Reliability Division. These talented folks along with the rest of the bureaus alerting team has produced an incredible amount of excellent work on this investigation. The wireless Emergency Alert item that will be considered shirley and my recent testimony before the Senate Commerce committee. All within a very, very, very short timeframe. To nikki, james and the rest of the alerting team as well as others within the bureau who have helped with projects in recent weeks, thank you. You have my pride and appreciation and im grateful that you are a part of the Public Safety and Homeland Security euros family. I would also like to recognize ryan a field agent with the Enforcement Bureau who assisted james and justin when they were on the ground in hawaii as part of this investigation. James will present the report. Thank you. Good morning chairman pai and commissioners as chief fowlkes seven generally pitching the way Management Agency initiated a false ballistic alert which delivers alerts to consumers mobile devices as well as the Emergency Alert system which delivers alerts through television and radio. In investigating the false alert the bureau to date has interviewed representatives of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency in person in honolulu and received a demonstration of how are the Origination Software initiated the alert. In addition we have interviewed representatives of wireless providers that offer service to hawaii the president of the hawaii Broadcasters Association and the Hawaii State Emergency Communications Committee alert Origination Software vendors including the alerting software to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency other state and local emergency as takeovers. So far we have been pleased with the level of cooperation we have received including from the leadership of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Unfortunately the individuals who translated the false alerts have refused to speak with us however late last week the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency provided us with information from a written statement made by this individual shortly after the incident which helps us to improve our understanding of events that led to the false alert. By way of background and to provide context to what happened on january 13 hawaii has been actively testing its alert and warning capabilities over the past year. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and Ballistic Missile defense aims to simulate a real event. It begins with a mock mock call for morning officer who simulates a call from United States Pacific Command and it ends with the transmission of a text message to fema. Under the hawaii Emergency Management agencies established drill procedures that text message should be sent only to famous integrative alerted Warning System. Should never actually be transmitted to consumer phones radios or televisions. By november 27 of last year that why Emergency Management agency had memorialized at check list of procedures. The refined over months of test. Irv pratt to send feedback and Lessons Learned. And the agency was regularly running the Ballistic Missile defense trail is a no notice trailed meaning it was commencing drills without prior notice to the warning officers who initiate the alerts. In order to better simulate actual emergency conditions. The final version of the checklist guided the agency through its defense drill on january 13 which was created january 5. I will now walk at will now walk you through it timeline of events as we currently understand them that led to the initiation of the false alert. An Early Morning hours of january 13, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agencys midnight shift conducted a Ballistic Missile defense drill. The supervisor then i shift decided to run and no notice version of the drill during the transition. The midnight shift supervisor specifically decided to drill at shift change in order to help train the day shift officers were Ballistic Missile defense in there at a time when id be challenging to properly respond. At 8 00 a. M. Hawaii standard time the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency conducted an early schedule at shift change. The supervisor of the day shift enter the agency the supervisor of the midnight shift orally communicated the intention to conduct a Ballistic Missile preparedness drill but there was a miscommunication. The incoming day shift supervisor that the midnight shift supervisor intended to conduct a drill for the midnight shift to warning officers only were ending their shift knob for the day shift officers who were beginning their shift. As a result the day shift supervisor was not in the proper location to supervise the morning officers when the defense drill was initiated. At 8 05 a. M. The midnight shift supervisor initiated the drill by placing a call to the day shift the warning officers morning up is ours. The supervisor played a recorded message over the phone. The recording began by saying exercise, exercise, exercise which is consistent with the beginning of the script for the drill. After that the recording did not follow the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Standard Operating Procedures for this drill. Instead the recording included language script for use in an alert emergency event and a Ballistic Missile alert. It thus included the sentence this is not a drill. The recording ended by saying again exercise, exercise, exercise. Three warning officers and Agencies Center received this message simulated a call from u. S. Pacific command. According to a written statement from the day shift warning officer issued the alert is related to the bureau by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency that they shift morning officer heard this is not a drill but did not hear exercise, exercise, exercise but according to a written statement the day shift morning officer believed the missile threat was real. 8 07 a. M. This officer transmitted a life incoming Ballistic Missile alert to the state of hawaii. The day shift morning officers use software to send a letter. Specifically they selected the template through life alert through a menu containing live contest alert templates. The alert Origination Software then prompted the warning officer to confirm whether they wanted to send a message to the prompt red are you sure you want to send this alert . The officers who heard the recording reported they knew the erroneous message did not indicate a real missile threat that was supposed to indicate the beginning of an exercise. Specifically they heard the words exercise, exercise, exercise. The day shift morning officer reported to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency after the event their belief that this was a real emergency so they couldnt guess to transmit the alert. Because they have not been able to interview the morning officer who translated the alert we are not in a position to reevaluate the ability of the assertion that they believe there was a missile threat intentionally sent the live alert believing that it was a drill and accidentally sending out the live alert that it is worth noting they accurately recalled after the event that the announcement did say this is not a drill. At 8 08 a. M. The warning officer who transmitted the alert sound of the wireless Emergency Alert signal. Distinct auto tones that announced a wireless providing the first indication to those at the watch center that an actual alert had been transmitted to the public. At 8 09 a. M. State adjutant general joe look and director of the Hawaii Emergency Agency notified the governor the agency a transmitted a false alert. At 8 10 a. M. The director that why Emergency Management agencies can indicate to the United States Pacific Command that there was no Missile Launch confirming that the command already knew. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency that Hawaii Emergency Management Agency used its alert Origination Software to cancel retransmission of the false alert. The cancellation is an instruction to downstream Emergency Alert system and wireless Emergency Alert system equipment to see retransmission notably a cancellation message that does not generate an all clear message. It also does not recall messages that have been transmitted and displayed on televisions in the u. S. From ap 8 13 a. M. To 826 and that why Emergency Management Agency Outreach to hawaiis county agency and radio and tv stations to inform them that the alarm was false. The agencys phone lines also became congested with incoming calls from the public asking about the nature of the alerts that they had just received. Some calls to the agency did not get through. The agency also led by the staff of the false alert so they could help respond. At 8 20 a. M. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency posted on facebook and twitter accounts that there was no missile threat to hawaii. At 8 24 a. M. Hawaii governor david e. Gates noticed there were some missile threat to the governor stated he was unable to do this earlier because he did not know his twitter password. At 8 27 a. M. The agency staff met to discuss options for sending a corrective second message using the Emergency Alert system and the wireless Emergency Alert system. The agency determined a correction of this false alert best met the criteria of the civil alert message to initiate alerts over the Emergency Alert system. Eddie 30 00 a. M. The agency called fema and on a second attempt to reach fema reached a fema per gram Management Office employee. After 45 seconds all on the call agreed that the corrections met the criteria for use of the Civil Emergency message. At 8 31 a. M. The deputy chief of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Communications Branch logged into the alert origination suffering created correction messages for the wireless Emergency Alert system. At 8 45 a. M. , 38 minutes after the also alert the Agency Issued a correction Emergency Alerting system. Based on our investigation to date the bureau believes the combination of human error and inadequate safeguards contributed to this false alert. With respect to human error due to miscommunication between midnight shift supervisor and the day shift supervisor the drill was run without efficient supervision. Speaking with the bureau other Emergency Management agency stressed the importance of copper drill supervision and conducting a drill without proper supervision would not be tolerated. Further the midnight shift supervisor initiated the drill by playing a recording that deviated from the script of the agencies establish drill procedure that included the phrase, this is not a drill. Finally the warning officer at the alert origination terminal apparently failed to recognize that this was an exercise even though the other warning officers on duty understood that this was not a real emergency. With respect to inadequate safeguards and most importantly there were no procedures in place to prevent a Single Person from mistakenly sending a missile alert to the state of hawaii. While such an alert address the matter of the utmost gravity there was no requirement of praise for warning officer to doublecheck with our colleagues or get signoff from supervisor before sending such an alert. Additionally the state of hawaii appears to have been king and atypical number of no notice drills which make the potential for an error to occur. If bureaus investigation so far has revealed that while other Emergency Management agencies used no notice drills under special circumstances are common practices to scheduled drills in advance have a set date and time. It was also troubling for wise alert Origination Software had not differentiated between the n environment. Hawaiis alert Origination Software allowed usage to send live alerts and test alerts using the same interface in the same credentials after clicking a button confirmed are you sure you want to send this alert regs in other words come permission prompt came the same language irrespective of whether the message was a tester and actual alert. The confirmation prompt did not offer the officer another opportunity to review the text that was about to be sent. Further hawaiis reliance on a prepared template stored in their Origination Software made it easy for warning officer to click through the origination process without sufficient focus of the actual text of the alert message that he or she was about to send. In contrast the prius investigation so far has revealed common industry practice is to host a live overproduction prima donnas separate debate in the login screen or through a separate application. Other Origination Software appears to provide clear visual cues that distinguish test environment from a live production environment including the use of watermarks. Once the false alert was sent the error was worsened by the delay and correcting the misinformation to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency had not anticipated the possibility of issuing a false alert and as such had failed to develop standard procedures for response response. At first and have a current of message using social media rather than the same alerting system it used to transfer the also alert. Indeed the agency was not merely prepared to issue a correction using the systems. The agency also did not attain effective means to communicate with each stakeholder during emergencies. The bureau was pleased that the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has started taking steps to help ensure an incident like this never happens again. It has created new policy the supervisors must receive advance no civil future drills. It will require two officers to sign and validate the transition of every alert and test. It has created a false alert correction template for Emergency Alert systems and wireless emergency messages so that officers are more readily prepared to conduct, correct the false alert should one ever occur again. Has requested its alert Origination Software vendor integrate improvements into the next iteration of its software to more clearly delineate the test environment from the last production helping to safeguard against false alerts. Finally to stop all future bad bad thats said there is more work to be done. The bureau will continue its investigation issue a final report including recommended measures to safeguard against false alerts and to mitigate the harmful effects. And once we have developed these recommended measures we intend to partner with fema to engage in stakeholder outreach and encourage implementation of these practices. Among other avenues of we are considering convening a roundtable stick holders in the Emergency Alert system to discuss the lessons that should be learned from this incident as well as a joint webinar with fema to further educate stakeholders and of course as always if bureau stands ready to implement additional actions as directed by the commission. Thank you. Thank you mr. Wiley and ms. Fowlkes. We will turn to comments from the bench including commissioner clyburn. I would like to thank the bureau for such a very, very completed comprehensive report. This is an extremely serious issue because a false ballistic alert in hawaii should be a wakeup call. We cannot simply dismiss this as being an inadvertent mistake that only Public Officials in hawaii need to address. This incident should and is serve as a catalyst for every state and locality to review their Emergency Alert procedures for every community should do more to prevent an issuance of a false alert. If and when a false alert is ever sent again the Technical Capability to immediately send a correction should be in place and the protocols on how to go about that should he clearly defined. Thank you. Thank you commissioner clyburn. Commissioner orielly. I do want to say this could have been a cataclysmic catastrophe of utmost importance. I didnt want to check on what is the point you made. You have highlighted and it was raised in the Washington Post article regarding the governor and the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency had responded to this Washington Post is saying we had hoped they waited until investigators report came out before commenting regarding the password but nothing you responded today suggest it was completely accurate. The reason the governor did not respond was because he couldnt find his password. Is that right . Chief fowlkes i watched your test minus senate and was very help of. Its correct in saying fema has a responsibility for overseeing the operation of the notification in its relationship with the state local and other organizations and their responsibilities to ensure notifications work from the Communication Company side. Is that consistent with your testimony . The fcc is responsible for the distribution by the service can indication providers. Fema oversees its integrated public alert and Warning System which aggregates alerts coming from the alert originators. The state and local government decides when to issue the alert, over what systems and windows alerts would be issued. The state or local government or fema before it gets to the communications. I was wondering when i read your good work and your next steps a lot of these steps seem to be femas responsibility. Is that not accurate . You mentioned stakeholders roundtable with the possibility of best practices are mentioned here and save guards for false alerts. Thats a lot of famous responsibilities whether they did or didnt do it. The Communications Company seem to work very well. It did get out what weather was false or Accurate Information to get out and the companies themselves did their jobs present accurate . So on the fema site looking at the statute their responsibilities all of that and its not our responsibility. From the statutory perspective yes, but. Kind of like a top level. What we said in his presentation as well as what i had said in my testimony is that all the stakeholders involved need to do their part to address these types of issues and the fcc is simply performing its part. For example the fcc has in the past served as the convener of stakeholders to identify Lessons Learned and best practices. We have also taken into account feedback received from state and local governments and fema in terms of policies that we adopt. On your last point there there is a Stakeholder Advisory Committee created in a law that fema operates and you are a member of that. They have the authority for another couple of years for convening that authorization. This is only 18 months old. Thats right. They have a committee that they have set up under statute dealing with their system. One last question. Is it right to say that the supervisor this entire project was at home at the time . Is that accurate . 8 31 the supervisor log in and he was at home at the time, right . The supervisor . It said that youre a . May i followup with you on that point . Thank you commissioner orielly. Commissioners carr. Imagine what you weighed do if on this very moment on your phone you receive the following message. Ballistic missile threat inbound inbound, seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill. Who would be the first person that you would call and what would you say and what would you do with the intervening 38 minutes between getting that message and getting another one saying the first one was false . Many residents dont have to imagine that scenario end of literate. Many of them that this 38 minutes were the last ones. The panic and fear and heartache for those 38 minutes we now believe was due to human error but also deficient preparation and training. No one should have to go through moments like this, especially if competency would have prevented it. The people of hawaii are justifiably livid. They demand answers and so do we. I commend the chairman for immediately beginning an investigation into what happened in hawaii in january 13. Think the Public Safety and Homeland Security drill and all the work you have put together in your pulmonary findings testifying on this issue and doing it also quickly. It shed a lot of light on what has already transpired. People get to the bottom of this incident and its income and upon all of the relevant agencies of our government to make certain that this doesnt happen again. Thank you again for your diligent work on this and the findings you put together and i look forward to continuing to work with you all on this matter. Thank you commissioner carr. Commissioner rosenworcel. Years ago i had the pleasure to work with the people of the state of hawaii when i served as counsel to the late senator daniel in a way so i know residents are grateful and resilient. Im sure they are aware like all of us of new vulnerabilitys. When this incident occurred i reached out to folks in hawaii who had worked with in the past to try to understand just what had happened and they had only harrowing tales to tell. Imagine knowing you had only minutes left to live before everything you hold dear could be. What would you do . Win this threat was over im sure people in hawaii help their children a little bit closer. I know i did the same that might might. As senator brian schatz said the system failed. Reading to improve it and get it right. Amen, so lets get to work. That work starts right here with the laminar reports that we produce today thanks to the chairman swiftly calling for investigation which was the right thing to do. Also thanks to the efforts of a talented Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau. What your work reveals is on many levels the mistake have been avoided and the effects could be mitigated. We need to take these facts and use them to improve their Emergency Alert system acrosstheboard. We can start by considering how this agency can help develop test practices at local state and federal levels. Then we need to incentivize their use in the Emergency Alert system plan which are subject to regular filing and review at the fcc. While we are at it we should address everything from training to improved user interfaces that reduce the light ahead of error. In addition we should explore the viability of offering these alerts to audio and videostreaming services and the possibility of aligning traditional recording practices with newer federal alert aggregation capabilities. But above all we need to act with we need real change is in place on an accelerated schedule. We should commit right here, right now to having them in place before the summer begins so what happened in hawaii would never happen again. Thank you commissioner. As we have heard the only things that struck the wine hawaiians were panic and outrage rightly so on each count and that raises two key questions, what went wrong and what needs to be done to stop this from happening in the future. Those are the two questions i had the Public Safety bureau when i originally in launch this investigation. Airports demonstrate the bureau has and 2. 5 weeks. Presentation this morning also made clear many things went wrong and hawaii as we saw mr. Wileys powerpoint. We simply need to identify the problem in order to fix fix it t just in hawaii than anywhere else in this country. In my view the troubling things in our investigation has found his number one the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency didnt have reasonable safeguards in place to prevent human error from resulting in the transmission of a false alert a false alert a number to hawaiis Emergency Management agency didnt have a plan for what to do if they also alert was transmitted. Every state and local government that originates needs to learn from these mistakes. Each should ensure that adequate safeguards in place to prevent the transmission of false alerts. Each should have a plan in place for how to immediately. This is important because the public needs to be able to trust that when the government issues Emergency Alerts it is indeed a credible alert. People will respond appropriately when a real emergency strikes and lives on the line. It is not the end of our work on this issue but the beginning. The fcc will work in collaboration with the federal state and local officials to explore appropriate actions and or best practices. To minimize future false alerts as well as the impact of any such false alert that i too would like to thank all of those who cooperate with their investigation id like to thank senator brian schatz and congresswoman of hawaii for speaking with me on that day and a subsequent and most of all i would like to thank the staff for the expertise speed and tenacity they brought to bear on this important task by james wiley. Bit investigators in hawaii as well as and they have been supporting Michelle Colin greg cook gene fowlkes and nikki. With that madam secretary please announced the next days agenda. Mr. Chairman commissioner the second item on your agenda is titled wireless Emergency Alert of the commissions rules regarding the Emergency Alert system presented by the Public Safety and Homeland Security lisa fowlkes will give the dash. Thank you madam secretary. Ms. Schultz whenever you and your team are ready. Thank you. Good morning again chairman and commissioners. The Public Safety and Homeland Security atyearold is pleased to present a second report and secondorder and reconsideration that would enhance the effectiveness of wireless Emergency Alerts. When the wireless Emergency Alerts program launched in 2012 participating wireless providers were generally required to send alerts to Geographic Area no larger than a county or counties affected by an emergency. Oftentimes however an emergency affects an area smaller than a county. To address that as of last november a participating wireless providers are required to transmit alerts to Geographic Area the best approximates the area affected and emergency even if its smaller than a county. Todays order but improved geotargeting even further by requiring wireless providers to deliver emergency to an area that matches the area specified by alert originators with no breach of no more than one tenth of a mile. This enhanced standard would allow Emergency Managers to send alerts to only those phones located in areas affected by an emergency without disturbing others. Recent natural disasters from texas california and puerto rico among other places has demonstrated the need for Public Safety personnel to communicate potential lifesaving information to targeted areas including orders to evacuate or shelter in place due to wildfires or hurricanes. The enhanced geotargeting before you today would allow for the precise alerting to prevent over alerting and encourage the use of wireless alerts to the crisis. If adopted this and other improvements would have made wireless Emergency Alerts even more effective tool for Emergency Managers to keep their communities safe. Joining me at the table and Nikki Mcginnis meghan henry and james wiley attorney advisers at the bureau of cybersecurity for Reliability Division and an engineer at the bureaus policy and licensing division. I also want to thank the other heroes and offices within the agency particularly her colleagues in the office of general counsel that provided their expertise and counsel throughout this project. Megan will present items. Thank you. Good morning chairman pai and commissioners. As chief fowlkes find todays order takes important steps towards improving the utility of wireless Emergency Alerts as a lifesaving tool. First the order would require participating wireless providers to deliver messages to an area that matches the target area specified by the overt. We define matching the target area is delivering an alert message to 100 of the target area with no more than one tenth of a mile over shoe. This requirement would apply to all new and existing devices that are capable of being up dated to support this standard. We thought it would match the target area except where they are technically incapable of doing so. Those areas in limited circumstances for example when a consumer turns out the Location Services on their device. Wireless providers would be required to approximate the target area. In recognition of the urgent need to ensure that members of the public receive only the alert messages that are relevant to them and to give emergency measure the tools to communicate lifesaving information to those specifically affected by an emergency we would require participating wireless providers to comply with these rules by november 30, 2019. The order would adopt new consumer Disclosure Requirements to ensure that members of the public are aware of the availability and benefits of enhanced geotargeting at the pointofsale. The order would require wireless providers to preserve messages on mobile devices for at least 24 hours or until they are debated by the user. Preserving messages on the device will allow members of the public to go back and review lifesaving information such as location of shelters and supply distribution units and emergency hotline numbers. This capability is especially important given the commissions recent adoption of rules allows for long or messages that include clickable clickable links in messages messages. The order but define what constitutes in whole or in part participation in we asked. Wireless providers with purchase to pay if they provide service on all the mobile devices they offer at the pointofsale and the entirety of their Geographic Service area. They would participate in part in some but not all of their Geographic Area or some but not all of the mobile devices that they offer at the pointofsale. These definitions will provide additional clarity to industry Emergency Managers and the public about the availability of the service. Finally the second order on reconsideration would align for implementing spanishlanguage alerting with the deadline for implementing printer 60 or length messages. Doing so we went nice alerts and spammers can require more care theres than english and will allow wireless providers to conduct Software Testing testinr these two features. The bureau recommends adoption of the items and request editorial privileges extending only to technical and performing edits. Thank you. We will now proceed to commissioner clyburn. Wireless location accuracy promoting the reliability of Public Safety communications. When it comes to Public Safety issues it has been shaped to three guiding principles. People with accessibility and access challenges must benefit. We should do all we can to educate consumers about the safety benefits and collaboration among all stakeholders in mitigation. One of the most influential americans of the 19th century has said if there is no struggle there is no progress. With africanamerican History Month just days away i find this to be a particularly fitting quote to aptly describe most of the Public Safety proceedings i have participated in over the past eight years. Typically proceedings start with commissioners setting Ambitious Goals to improve services. Then in many cases the Communications Industry pushes back on certain details followed by the five of us not agreeing on all of the policy details. In the end these struggles and collaboration among stakeholders have resulted in progress and improvement to emergency communications. The same can be said for wireless Emergency Alerts. Wireless carriers voluntarily participate in the system enables authorized alerts originators of the federal tribal state and local levels to warn the public about all levels of emergencies. It was first deployed in april of 2012 and thanks to the collaborative effort by industry and the Public Safety community the system has issued more than 33,000 Emergency Alerts. We have worked over the past few years to more precisely target those alerts to cell phone users located in the exact area where the emergency hit. The risk here is that those who repeatedly get alerts which are not relevant to them may one day ignore an alert that directly impacts their safety and that would he extremely unfortunate. This is why back in september of 2016 we sought comment on requiring the industry to go beyond the current geotarget standard and work in the target area thats an alert originator originator thats person demonstrated that despite the specific policy details my colleagues and i consider the industry challenges and work toward supporting this goal. Todays order marks an important milestone because of the previous demonstrations enhanced geotargeted proposal to meet the enhanced standard by november 30 of 2019. I must admit i had concerns about certain aspects of the draft originally circulated earlier this month but im pleased to report that i can now support the item because we were able to compromise on a few key areas. The order originally stated that a participating Wireless Companies Network Infrastructure could resort to less sacred standard if her work ticket incapable of matching the target area. I was concerned that the term would become my colleagues agree to a request to clarify technically incapable does not include circumstances when it adequately maintains or upgrades its network or devices if unable to meet the standards. The new york city Emergency Management office and others for their strong advocacy on this issue. In addition the original draft did not amend the subscriber notification rule to keep pace with the technical changes where adopting today. Currently consumers must be notified at pointofsale if Wireless Companies do not offer it at all or if they offer only in part. If we really believe that geotargeting alerts are important to keep people safe than we should give all wireless customers the ability to choose more precise geotargeting devices and services. Consumers cannot if they do not have adequate notification. I think my colleagues for bringing the world to make clear that consumers must also be notified about the extent to its Wireless Companies enhanced geotargeting alerts. Finally i was concerned that the initial draft had no mention of multimedia information and wireless Emergency Alerts. The september 2016 sought comment on this issue. The new york city emergency provision made a compelling case that it would have been very helpful if the alert about the Chelsea Bombing in 2015 had included a photo of the suspect. So i asked that the item included further notice on multimedia information and these alerts. Although my colleagues would not agree i am pleased that they are willing to support directing the Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau staff to issue a Public Notice to further develop a record on these subjects. Before they are ready in time frames that dont seem to be outlined in the record. The item along with the commissions Communication Security Reliability Interoperability Council recommended that compliance should occur 42 months after adoption of the commission order. They could then probably do it faster and suggested 36 months. Todays item about an inexplicable timeline based on no record evidence that is actually achievable and also providers stated that they will try to meet this end it will be incredibly challenging basically the stars must align just right to make it happen and this time. They want the targeting now if you cannot switch technology into existence the record reflects further consideration is needed on how to effectuate the targeting including such basic need for software or hardware changes and updated and new standards. This doesnt happen overnight in fact they are still finalizing the changes the commission passed including spanishlanguage messages and alerting requirements. The cities or even completed, it relies on the ability to sen sed these alerts and we are adapting new rules that will add additional requirements for the standards to work out. The alliance recently i did save 25 standards that must be developed or modified to make the targeting possible. Hopefully this will be the end for a while but lets not forget the priority for the standard should be setting standards for five g. I also want to be clear that the industry should be given the opportunity to figure out the best means to implement the targeting. It is paramount that the industry ensures whatever means were technology is tested and works and they shouldnt be forced to cut corners or pick a lesser solution for an aspirational deadline. It didnt work out well, therefore. For this reason im pleased chair and agreed to that request to add language to the item to entertain a waiver of the deadline but the standards process is prolonged and ultimately we must remember that this is a voluntary program for those opting out of the program because it cannot set standards to integrate this functionality in 22 months. I remain skeptical of the value of the metric and while some have made little to no support i appreciate the efforts by the Chairmans Office and staff to improve this part of the item. We should work towards improving costbenefit analysis to ensure that they are based in fact in this actual proof for high probability for the burdens that we impose and i opened u a new office begin work on a framework in which any must be shown to have a statistically significant likelihood of correlation. For devicebased solutions, the coordinate points and the visible within the 360 characters, so i want to thank the staff for all the hard work they dedicated especially given their focus on the other issues in the last many weeks. Emergency managers have sent more than 33,000 alerts aimed at keeping the public safe but in an affected system is no system at all. If an emergency manager cannot deliver the messages on time through the intended area or if the public loses trust, officials and the public will often out in the system that delivers few alerts to a dwindling audience becomes an afterthought rather than a lifesaving tool. Recent events in california, hawaii remind us of the urgency of improving. The massive wildfires that swept through in october caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. The system was designed for precisely this situation. When lives and property are at stake and a large number of americans need to receive instructions and time is of the essence. They chose not to use because it lacks precise targeting they fear the unintended consequences of alerting me to many residences and telling them to evacuate. The false alert resulted in 38 minutes of panic and confusion so we must continue to exercise our oversight authority. Our experience over the last five years in the significant suspicion from the Public Safety community in the record. The public can review and share alerts after on how to comply with the rules and selecting the new deadlines that commission has attempted to balance the urgency we all feel improved the system with the speed of which technology is developed. Im confident the commission will continue to work with all stakeholders. Our Emergency Alert system was first designed for war and then rebuilt for peace. To send the messages to the people of imminent danger 90 characters to the right person at the right time and the right place can mean the difference between life and death. These messages have already saved countless lives and helped diverse many more tragedies. For natural disasters in the United States, california experienced its most destructive wildfire season with 8. 2 million acres of land and killing 46 people. There was more than 4 feet of rain. Puerto rico is still recovering from when Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island of months ago and more than 1,000 people died in the storm and its aftermath. 30 of the island remained without power and they wait for the communications recover from the agency. Wireless Emergency Alerts failed to perform. In california and texas emergency systems were not able to transport these messages because you were not able to target them accurately enough to ensure that they would help those in danger and not cause panic beyond the broad area of concern. Thats troubling and moreover it is a problem when that repeated in precisioimprecision causes to disregard warnings and weve seen this happen before with destructive weather in areas where tornado sirens have been sounded too many times over too large an area overstating the scope if danger. Thats why in november of last year he urged them to act swiftly to require more targeting before the next disaster compels us to do so. For this reason i fully support the actions the agency is taking today and the roles we adopt can significantly increase the precision of why u. S. Emergency alerts. As a result they reduced the danger of overloading making the use were effective, more efficient and more likely to save lives. Its important that we do not stop here. We need to watch the technical issues impacting the targeted availability and to be on guard for ways that they can be resold so that everyone gets the emergency warnings the need. The record on all of these issues is already robust so lets do something bold. Lets take them on now before the next disaster or crisis compels us to do so. Thank you, commissioner. When disaster strikes is essential that americans in harms way get reliable information so that they can stay safe and protect their loved ones. The wireless Emergency Alert system is one important tool for Emergency Managers to quickly convey such information such as tornado warnings to the public on their mobile devices. Since we became operational in 22012 its been used over 33,000 times. Recently it was used four times in response to wildfires in northern california. 16 times more during wildfires around los angeles. It was also used extensively in all areas affected by recent hurricanes including 21 alerts sent in puerto rico alone. But we have heard many jurisdictions are hesitant because it lacks granularity. That is people may receive it even though they are located well outside of an affected area. This can cause public confusion and lead some to opt out of receiving alerts altogether in many instances complicate rescue efforts by unnecessarily causing Traffic Congestion or overloading call centers. People shouldnt miss out on potentially lifesaving information just because the Alert Systems couldnt stroke is to go. This morning we address the problem by bringing a finer brush to bear on the canvas. Todays order requires participating providers to have 100 of the target area so perhaps the providers Coverage Area with an overshoot of more than one tenth of a mile. This will help channel elements to americans who actually need it then and equally important to the rule will give the assurance they need to rely as a valuable tool to save lives. Indeed among the many Public Safety officials have endorsed this approach, Harris County deputy coordinator has said that this rule will be the single most important improvement to ththe nations alerts and warnis infrastructure in years. I understand theres some division over the rules in the implementation deadline some say the schedule is too aggressive. Some say that its not aggressive enough. I think that its just right. On this Public Safety matter i favor an approach that i believe is aggressive and achievable. In my view indicates november 2019 to this test. In short this rule coupled with the other improvements that we adopt today enabling consumers to retrieve alerts for 24 hours after they are received, clarifying the difference between providers participating in part versus at home and harmonizing the deadline for the enrollmenenrollment spanishlane involvement for the hunger 360 character like messages. All of these things will strengthen the system and keep america safer. I like my colleagues would like to thank the staff of the public safetsafety Homeland Security bu for all of the hard work and commitment to serving the public they have shown a. And from the office of general counsel david horowitz, bill richardson. With that we will move to a vote on the item. The item is adopted with privileges granted as requested. I will just have a few comments and be happy to take your questions. Today they took a major step forward in improving the wireless Emergency Alert system. Many in the community have said that wireless Emergency Alerts need to be more precisely targeted areas where there is an emergency. With wildfires in North Carolina last october for instance some authorities chose not to push out a wireless alert