Comprehensive Reimagining of Emergency Alerting

In June 2017, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) directed the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) to make recommendations on a "Comprehensive Re-imagining of Emergency Alerting". The CSRIC is an advisory committee made up of members from public safety agencies, industry, and academia. A working group of the CSRIC is specifically directed to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of emergency alerting and emerging technologies, such as the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard and 5G, that may result in new alerting capabilities. The working group is tasked with developing recommendations for CSRIC’s consideration on ways to streamline, simplify (by reducing burdens on licensees), and modernize existing systems, including the Emergency Alert System (EAS).

The working group's report is due to the CSRIC in June 2018. Given that EAS was implemented in 1997, or 20 years ago, the CSRIC's recommendations will likely set the direction for FCC mandated emergency alerting over the next couple of decades. Thus, everyone involved in public alerting should make themselves knowledgeable of the CSRIC's activities. This presentation provides a midterm update on the activities and direction of the working group.