On June 17, 2004, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) signed an agreement with NOAA/NWS addressing the transmission of DHS-originated emergency messages over All-Hazards NOAA Weather Radio (NWR).

If DHS becomes aware of a threat in a particular state or area of the country, after coordination with authorities in each involved state, DHS will issue an alert to all NWS offices via a link in the Washington, DC area. NWS offices with NWR coverage areas affected by the threat will broadcast the message on NWR, using the DHS-requested EAS/SAME Event Code. Currently, the alert will not be relayed in text form on NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS), EMWIN, or any other NWS system.

Although many broadcasters have upgraded their EAS Units to the new EAS Event Codes released in 2002, the second step is that the EAS Units must be programmed to react to the new codes. If broadcasters want to relay these DHS alerts, they will need to know the Originator Code and Event Codes to program into their EAS Unit filters. In reviewing NWS documents (NWSI 10-1710 & NWSI 10-518), as well as information provided by Herb White, Dissemination Services Manager at NWS HQ, the following are the recommendations we felt appropriate at this time.

The Originator Code on all DHS alerts will be CIV, Civil Authorities. (Even though the alerts are first broadcast on NWR, they are originated by Civil Authorities and thus will not carry the WXR, National Weather Service Originator Code. These non-weather alerts will use the CIV Originator Code.)

One of three Event Codes will normally be used. CEM (Civil Emergency Message) or CDW (Civil Danger Warning) will be used to activate the alerts. ADR (Administrative Message) will be used to terminate the alerts. If you want to be on the safe side, Herb White advises you also program the following codes for possible DHS use: EVI, HMW, RHW, SPW, FRW, LAE, and NUW. At the present time, NOAA has requested that DHS use only the CEM code, until we can get the word out into the broadcast community to add these other codes into our EAS Unit programming. Broadcasters should program these new codes into their EAS Unit filters as soon as possible, and all stations are encouraged to share this information with other broadcasters in their area.

In addition to the DHS alerts, a separate agreement between NOAA and the FEMA National Warning Center (NWC) exists for NWR to transmit warnings of nuclear attack as well as other non-weather alerts. Nuclear attack would use code CDW, and the other non-weather alerts could use any of the additional codes which Herb recommends adding above. Using the guidelines above regarding programming for DHS alerts should then cover you for NWC alerts as well. The NWC alerts are separate from any EAN messages issued by the White House.

NWS is taking the new All-Hazards Radio moniker to heart, and has made changes recently to make NWR more available to local civil authorities. As of June 30, 2004, all the new EAS Event codes were approved for use on NWR. On September 8, 2004, NWS offices began using the new EAS-equivalent Product Codes in text messaging as well (via NWWS, EMWIN, etc.)

NWS has also published a very helpful document, NWS Instruction 10-518, which aids local authorities in establishing a relationship with their local NWS Office for the purpose of sending local emergency alerts. Section 5 of the document, Civil Emergency Message, addresses local alerting. It deals with developing procedures, issuance criteria, and sample scripts. Appendix C of this document is a landmark. Someone has finally defined the new specific EAS Event Codes. The definitions in Appendix C will be used as guidance for federal authorities in issuing alerts, and they can be most useful to local authorities as well. State and Local EAS Plans should be updated at this time to not only include the relay of DHS alerts, but also to incorporate these new EAS Event Code definitions. The link to this document is: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/directives/010/pd01005018c.pdf

Looking to the future, NWS is currently working on a system called HazCollect, which it expects to begin deploying in mid-2005. This would be a secure, centralized interface, with backups, which would be used to collect non-weather hazard messages from local, state, and federal authorities and get them into the NWR system. NWS is really going the extra mile to work with local authorities, and it's great to see.

Gary Timm is a Broadcast Engineer at Journal Broadcast Group, in Milwaukee, and is Broadcast Chair of the Wisconsin EAS Committee. Contact him at: gtimm@journalbroadcastgroup.com . For questions on NWR, contact: Herbert.White@noaa.gov . Herb is Dissemination Services Manager at NWS Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.