On his blog (www.incident.com/blog), EAS expert Art Botterell says while Congress passed The WARN Act before lawmakers left town last Friday to campaign, the bill was drastically changed.
Tacked onto the port security bill, what was the "Warning, Alert and Response Network Act" now reads "Commercial Mobile Service Alerts."
Gone is the proposed National Alert Office and its standards-based, multi-mode National Alert System; this bill is strictly about using cell phones for alerts, he reports. The role of public TV stations is merely "to enable the distribution of geographically targeted alerts by commercial mobile service providers." Other warning technologies and their integration aren't addressed, Botterell reports.
Also gone is the provision that would have allowed the federal government to apply federal resources to the restoration of "essential services" like telecommunications, power or water supply.