The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) tomorrow, Oct. 3.

What’s happening?
On Oct. 3 at 1:18 p.m., FEMA and the FCC will conduct a nationwide test of both WEA and EAS. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of national emergency or disaster messages and determine whether technological improvements are needed. This is the first national WEA test to cell phones. The message will be a Presidential Alert and will read “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” The WEA test will be sent through IPAWS as part of the nation’s alert and warning infrastructure that automatically authenticates alerts.

These test notifications are occurring outside of our Bulldog Alert (Rave Alert/Rave Guardian) platform, Drake is not initiating or using our systems for the alert. However, as this is the first time FEMA is testing a Presidential Alert, it is likely that all or a majority of the campus community will receive this alert (there is no way to opt-out of the Presidential Alerts). It is our hope that this does not cause confusion as to the origin of the alert.

If Drake University initiates a Bulldog Alert tomorrow, as always the alert will start with the statement “Bulldog Alert” and then the appropriate information will follow.

Questions on the national test can be sent to FEMA-National-Test@fema.dhs.gov.

Scott Law, Public Safety and Operational Services