Text alerts clear hurdle

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A nationwide emergency text-message alert system is one step closer to implementation after media regulators signed off on the plan, but could be delayed because the federal agency intended to administer the system said it doesn't have the authority to do so.

Wireless carriers choosing to participate in the Commercial Mobile Alert System would pass on text alerts to their subscribers about disasters, terrorist attacks and other threats. It also would provide alerts related to missing or endangered children.

The nation's largest wireless carriers — AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. — have said they would take part in the program, which the Federal Communications Commission approved late Wednesday.

With the help of public safety officials and carriers, the commission crafted a plan to provide for three types of text alerts: "presidential" alerts for national emergencies, pre-empting any other alerts; "imminent threat" alerts; and Amber alerts for missing children, which already are offered to subscribers. Both audio and vibration signals would have to accompany text alerts.

"The ability to deliver accurate and timely warnings and alerts through cell phones and other mobile devices is an important next step in our efforts to help ensure that the American public has the information they need to take action to protect themselves and their families prior to, and during, disasters and other emergencies," said FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, a Republican.

About 255 million people in the U.S. subscribe to wireless service, according to industry trade group CTIA.

A national emergency wireless alert system was one of the requirements of the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act, passed by Congress in 2006 as part of a larger port security bill.

Now that the FCC has approved technical aspects of the alert system, a federal agency needs to take charge of sending the alerts. But the federal agency in charge of emergency response has not done so.

"The unwillingness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to fulfill this role is especially disheartening because FEMA representatives were intimately involved in developing the idea of a unified federal gateway/aggregator," said FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, a Democrat. "In fact, not until long after the die was cast did FEMA suggest that it would be unable for statutory and other reasons to perform this key function."

One day after Mr. Copps made his comments, FEMA yesterday issued a statement calling his characterization "unfounded."