Hill demands FEMA quickly upgrade aging public warning system

House lawmakers demanded on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency move quickly to upgrade the nation's Cold War-era public warning system so presidential alerts will reach Americans through modern communications, including cell phones.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, asked Mark Goldstein, director of physical infrastructure at the Government Accountability Office, what if the president had to send out a message today, who would and who would not receive it?

"There's no assurance that the message would get very far," Goldstein alleged. "There's been limited testing of the system."

A lack of concrete goals and deadlines have delayed installation of a comprehensive system, called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), that will interface with Web-based and cellular devices, according to lawmakers and GAO.

The existing relay, called the Emergency Alert System, relies on radio and television broadcasts. The public is familiar with this system's periodic interruptions of radio programs and television shows with the message, "This is only a test . . . ."

"Management turnover, inadequate planning and a lack of stakeholder coordination have delayed implementation of IPAWS and left the nation dependent on an antiquated, unreliable national alert system," stated a GAO report that Goldstein authored. "FEMA's delays also appear to have made IPAWS implementation more difficult in the absence of federal leadership as states have forged ahead and invested in their own alert and warning systems."

Goldstein noted that FEMA rarely provides progress updates on reaching specific goals or deadlines. Work on the program began in 2004.

"If a big disaster hit today . . . it's doubtful that message would ever be received by those who need to hear it," said ranking member Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

He sought a commitment from Damon Penn, an assistant administrator of FEMA, who appeared at the hearing, to supply the committee with regular progress reports. In return, Penn proposed the agency submit quarterly reports and meet with committee members at their request.

Penn acknowledged the federal government has never conducted a nationwide test of the EAS, but he said one is in the planning stages. Other plans include a state-level test, most likely in Alaska, during January 2010.

"FEMA is on schedule to achieve our IPAWS vision in fiscal year 2012," with a system that includes standards for compatibility, built-in redundancy, the ability to disperse one message to Americans through multiple communications channels and expanded EAS coverage, he said.

Norton and Diaz-Balart have co-sponsored a bill, H.R. 2951, that would require a timeline and spending plan for modernizing the public alert system. The bill also would establish common protocols and standards for alert operations nationwide.

State and local governments are developing alert systems that are intended to connect to the IPAWS system. But a GAO survey found that a majority of states are moving ahead without regard to the federal government and many of the states' infrastructures are incompatible with the federal government's setup, Goldstein said.

"It's a potential Tower of Babel, in which the states and the federal government would not be able to get out a message effectively," he said. The federal government is building off a standard called the Common Alerting Protocol, a format for exchanging emergency notifications that allows a single message to circulate simultaneously through many different mediums.

Penn urged states that are building their own alert systems to make sure they buy equipment that is compliant with the protocol.

Goldstein called the lawmakers' proposed legislation helpful, adding one reason states have begun assembling systems is that the federal government has not provided direction.

Norton conceded that many of FEMA's current program personnel were not involved with the previous mismanagement. "We hope that with the new administration, the revolving door of staff, shifting program goals, lack of specific plans and timetables, no periodic reporting on progress and lack of performance measures will be a thing of the past," she said.

But Norton voiced concern that the modernization program is too dependent on contract employees. As of June 2009, the program office included 27 contractor staff, according to GAO. Five FEMA staff positions were filled out of the available 11 noncontract positions. Norton said this reliance on contractors could be a sign of deeper program flaws.

"There have been four project managers in two years, high turnover, many contractors and this has affected the program's development," Goldstein said.