Emergency alert system deemed 'unreliable'

By Audrey Hudson

A failure to test and modernize the U.S. emergency alert system leaves doubt whether the president would be able to communicate with the American people during a terrorist attack or natural disaster, congressional investigators said Thursday.

A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) described the existing Emergency Alert System (EAS) as "antiquated" and "unreliable" and said that eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has made only "limited progress" in creating a system to replace it.

"Specifically, a lack of training and national-level testing raises questions about whether the relay system would actually work during a national-level emergency," said the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. ....