"We need to link our first responders, emergency managers, and local law enforcement with the technology to broadcast these warnings to the public," says Arizona Congressman John Shadegg, chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness and Response. The Committee held hearings last September on problems with the existing Emergency Alert System (EAS). "The AMBER Alert Portal has been extremely successful in doing that. It is now time to look at how we can replicate that success for all emergency warnings."
NASCIO, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, will take the lead to integrate the system in each state. "The state CIOs see this as a clear migration path for moving public warning into the digital age using the AMBER Alert portal as the springboard," says Tom Jarrett, president of NASCIO. "NASCIO is honored to be leading this effort and grateful to Congressman Shadegg and the entire Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness and Response for understanding the importance of and acting on this issue."
"The underlying concept behind AMBER Alert can readily be converted to an All Alert System" stated Dr. Peter Ward, founding chairman of the Partnership for Public Warning and previous chairman of a committee advising the White House on the warning in 1998. "The Portal has demonstrated for the first time a sound basis for nationwide teamwork ... what we need is to quickly expand this network to all 50 states and in turn we can begin leveraging the Portal and lessons learned for All Alert.
The new system will allow officials to securely input real-time data, locally or nationally, that would then activate dozens of existing networks to broadcast or address voice messages, e-mail, faxes and Short Message Service messages instantly to the public in the appropriate geographic region. The system is even able to activate sirens, public address systems, digital highway signs and message platforms where people gather. Ultimately message receivers could be built into all types of consumer electronics. New technology could be produced and rolled out to take advantage of the official stream of real-time alerts.
All interested government and private organizations will be invited to contribute their expertise to this Public/Private Partnership. The Partnership seeks to implement all available options and will continuously seek new options for delivering critical warning messages to those directly at risk.
The AMBER Alert Portal was developed through a national consortium led by the nation's broadcasters and the states of Washington and Arizona with contributions from many groups and businesses. It was officially launched by 13 states on July 19th, 2004 at the National Governors Association (NGA) conference in Seattle. The Portal has already led to the successful recovery of a kidnapped child.
