[earlywarning] FCC & FEMA Announce June 10th Workshop on Public Emergency Alerts and Warnings

[Marc Linsner <[e-mail]>]

 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                       NEWS MEDIA CONTACT
May 20, 2010                                               Robert Kenny:
[phone] 
                                                          Email:
[e-mail]

FCC AND FEMA ANNOUNCE WORKSHOP ON 21st CENTURY EMERGENCY ALERTING:
LEVERAGING MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGIES TO BRING ALERTS
AND WARNINGS TO THE PUBLIC

Washington, D.C. ­ The Federal Communications Commission¹s (FCC¹s) Public
Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency¹s (FEMA¹s) National Continuity Programs (NCP) today
announced they will hold a workshop on 21st Century Emergency Alerting:
Leveraging Multiple Technologies to Bring Alerts and Warnings to the Public.
The workshop will be held on Thursday, June 10, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00
p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room (TW-C305).

 

The workshop will highlight the status of and relevant details related to
the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, including the Next
Generation Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Commercial Mobile Alert
System. This public meeting will also provide FEMA, the FCC and other
Federal partners an opportunity to gather feedback on outstanding issues
related to these systems, the upcoming National EAS test, and the FCC¹s
upcoming inquiry proceeding on next generation alerting. (See detailed
agenda below.) 

 

The workshop will be open to the public; however, registration will be
limited to the seating available. Those individuals who are interested in
attending the forum may pre-register on-line at
http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/event-registration.html. Those who pre-register will
be asked to provide their name, title, organization affiliation, and contact
information. Individuals may also contact Deandrea Wilson at
[e-mail] or 202-418-0703 regarding pre-registration. The
deadline for pre-registration is Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

  
Audio/Video coverage of the meeting will be broadcast live with open
captioning over the Internet from the FCC's web page at www.fcc.gov/live
<http://www.fcc.gov/live> . The FCC¹s web cast is free to the public and
does not require pre-registration. Reasonable accommodations for persons
with disabilities are available upon request. Please include a description
of the accommodation you will need. Individuals making such requests must
include their contact information should FCC staff need to contact them for
more information. Requests should be made as early as possible. Please send
an e-mail to [e-mail] or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs
Bureau: 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).

  
For additional information about the meeting, please contact Susan McLean by
email: [e-mail] or by phone: [phone].

 
WORKSHOP ON 21st CENTURY EMERGENCY ALERTING:  LEVERAGING MULTIPLE
TECHNOLOGIES TO BRING ALERTS AND WARNINGS TO THE PUBLIC

    -AGENDA- 

9:00 am‹Welcome 
>> * James Arden Barnett, Jr., Rear Admiral (Ret.), Chief, Public Safety &
>> Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB), FCC
>> * Damon Penn, Assistant Administrator for NCP, FEMA, U.S. Department of
>> Homeland Security (DHS)
 
9:15 am‹Panel One:  The Path to Next Generation Alerting

This panel will focus on the current state of public alerts and warnings,
discussing the EAS and Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) and integration
into the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).  Specific areas
of discussion will include the National EAS Test and its relevance both to
the legacy EAS and to next-generation systems, the CMAS, and the parallel
efforts of FEMA and commercial wireless carriers, as well as the development
of IPAWS from a Federal, state, territorial, tribal and local perspective.
Discussion will include the changes the FCC should consider in light of
adoption of the Common Alert Protocol (CAP), including how to ensure that
all members of the public can receive and understand emergency alerts. The
panel will discuss the roles of the FCC, FEMA and the National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including the role of NOAA¹s weather
alert system in IPAWS.

Moderator: Antwane V. Johnson, Division Director/PM, DHS/FEMA, IPAWS

Panelists:  

·       Henry D Black, Manager, Communications Branch, Maryland Emergency
Management Agency 
1       Gregory Cooke, Associate Chief, Policy Division, PSHSB, FCC
2       Brian Josef, Director, Regulatory Affairs at CTIA - The Wireless
Association® 
3       Mark S. Paese, Director, Office of Operational Systems, NOAA,
National Weather Service
4       Kelly T. Williams, Senior Director, Engineering and Technology
Policy, National Association of Broadcasters
5       Wade Witmer, Deputy Division Director, DHS,/FEMA, IPAWS

Invited:  

National Cable and Telecommunications Association

        

10:45 am‹Break 

11:00 am-12:30 pm‹Panel Two:  The Promise of Next Generation Emergency
Alerting Fulfilled:  How Leveraging Broadband Technologies Can Create a
Truly Effective Public Alert and Warning System

This panel will focus on how broadband technologies can be used by the IPAWS
to redefine alert distribution technologies like EAS and CMAS, and how using
the full potential of CAP will help in developing a broadband-based,
multi-platform alerting system.  The panel will also examine the role of the
Internet in distributing emergency alerts, via email, websites and social
networking and ways to ensure that all members of the public can receive
alerts and warnings over this broadband-based system.

Moderator: Jeffery Goldthorp, Chief, Communications Systems Analysis
Division, PSHSB, FCC

Panelists:  
>>> * Art Botterell, Public Warning Consultant, Practitioner & Standards
>>> Architect 
>>> * Brian K. Daly, Director, Core & Government/Regulatory Standards, AT&T
>>> Mobility Services
>>> * Darryl Ernst, Owner & Chief Technologist, ErnsTek LLC
>>> * Denis A. Gusty, PMP, Deputy Branch Chief, Office for Interoperability &
>>> Compatibility (OIC); DHS, Science and Technology Directorate
>>> * Mike Nawrocki, Executive Director - Wireline Standards, Verizon Network
>>> and Technology 
>>> * Claude Stout, Executive Director, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard
>>> of Hearing, Inc.(TDI)
>>> * Fran Trentley, Senior Director, Akamai Technologies
        

12:30 pm‹Questions 

12:45 pm‹Closing Remarks