[SBE] My personal take on yesterday's EAS Summit...

[Richard Rudman]

The following comes from notes I took during the Summit. It does not  
cover the meeting we had at NAB HQ. after where the attendees agreed  
to support a meeting in Chicago on July 10 where manufacturers would  
sign off on a CAP EAS Profile they would all follow. More on that  
later. I fully support this meeting and intent, as long as we can  
assure that ALL manufacturers are invited and have an opportunity to  
have their say in the time leading up to the meeting. This pro-active  
action was a result of mutual frustration felt by all who attended the  
morning Summit meeting.

REMARKS ON THE SUMMIT ITSELF:

Opening remarks were made by Derek Poarch, Chief, FCC's Public Safety  
and Homeland Security Bureau. Noted that representatives of the  
Canadian government were present. He introduced FCC Chairman Martin  
who made some generalized comments about making sure that EAS evolved  
to a true 24/7 warning system employing CAP. He hoped for a "fruitful  
exchange" for the Summit. He left soon after making his remarks.  
Commissioner

Commissioner Tate pretaped remarks centering on her concerns for  
better warnings for campus emergencies. She has a daughter in college  
who travels roads near the recent Virginia State tragic event. She  
wants us to have a "wold class" EAS, whatever that means.

Commissioner McDowell had taped remarks that were pretty bland, but  
supportive.

Tom Beers opened Panel One saying that the goal should be maintenance  
of the current EAS and a transition to an enhanced system using the  
"portal" of CAP 1.1. Interesting use of the word, "portal" since  
that's close to the nickname for the building the FCC is currently  
housed in, The Portals.

Poarch introduced Ann Arnold who recounted her bad experience in Texas  
as SECC Chair and prior to that with EBS with a Department of Safety  
that simply did not want to get involved with making emergency public  
information work. She bluntly said that most of her problems, and the  
problems we all face, stem from no federal agency taking  
responsibility to bring the "locals" in.

Next was Dale Gehman. He recounted how Amber helped EAS. He also said  
that he is seeing a lot of non-compliant EAS issues in his  
inspections. For one, he mentioned that clocks in EAS devices were off  
63% of the time. He said that future devices must tie in to clock  
updates. He mentioned that FIPS never was a good geo-targeting method  
and that CAP will allow for specific geo-targeting. He pointed out  
that CAP will allow for text-to-voice that will get rid of the SAME  
"canned" scrolled messages being at odds with audio messages. He  
talked about costs and that some delays in implementing enhanced EAS  
will be worth it if the result is a system that is truly better than  
what we have now.

Steve Johnson spoke on behalf of the cable industry and outlined some  
the challenges that cable face to implement EAS properly. He cited the  
limited amount of text capability and the lack of geo-targeting that  
leads to a lack of credibility for EAS messages that can hopefully be  
addressed in the open FCC proceeding. He also cited the lack of  
consistency in EAS plans across the country that makes life for cable  
operators more difficult.

Mark Manuelian spoke about PEP. Mark is currently an advisor to PEPAC.  
PEPAC has undergone a name change now that it is mainly responsible  
for PEP infrastructure maintenance and build-out. The new acronym is  
Primary Entry Point Administrative Council. PEPAC now has a full time  
employee responsible for maintenance, Watt Hairston who some of you  
may know. PEP enhancements include new stations, and a tie-in with XM  
for distribution. All State EOC's will have XM receivers. (I imagine  
that any LECC could write XM into their plans once this happens, too).  
Mark talked about the accidental live code test that uncovered one EAS  
box manufacturer who did not implement EAN properly. That, he says, is  
being resolved. PEPAC also acquires EAS boxes and is doing bench  
testing now.

Pat Roberts from Florida was scheduled to speak but was a no-show.

I asked a question: Regarding the legal responsibility to warn, where  
does it reside in law if indeed such a duty in the legal sense exists?  
Silence and no answers offered.

William Lane moderated Panel Two.

Leading off was Marlena Barzilai with APTS who talked about DEAS. My  
take: DEAS is a pet project of DHS that they are putting a lot into --  
probably more effort there than on really productive work such as  
meeting all the terms of  Executive Order 13407. She is a lawyer and  
knew next to nothing about the workings of DEAS.

Art Botterell talked about his current job with Contra Costa County, a  
hotbed of chemical and oil company activity leading to good training  
through experience. They have a lot of activations and their geo- 
targeting warnings using CAP really works. A  memorable line: "Every  
warning received (should be) a warning that matters." He observed that  
too many SECC's and LECC's were running on old plans -- literally on  
autopilot. He also talked about the importance within CAP of digital  
signatures to authenticate messages properly -- something totally  
lacking in EAS/SAME.

Lance Craver is FEMA's director for the IPAWS program. He talked in  
govspeak about "deconflicting with our federal partners"  "IPAWS  
interoperability", a "robust EAS", and that they would conduct a  
"straightforward and inclusive process." He did mention they are  
standing up a test center for EAS devices.
He also said their job was to "Support the FCC Order". He highlighted  
a "summer pilot program for DEAS". My take: A lot of govspeak that did  
not say very much.

Clay opened by telling he got his assignment chairing our committee by  
being a leading EBS critic. He talked about how, as Washington stat's  
SECC Chair, he brought about a different SECC plan based on local  
relay networks and tie-in with NOAA/NWS. He challenged other states to  
do the same and not wait for further FCC action - "Go beyond Part 11",  
he said. He credited the Mt. St. Helens incident with getting needed  
government support. He highlighted the lack of Federal leadership and  
the need to set standard practices and institute best practices. Clay  
talked a bit about SBE draft strategy white paper that he distributed  
at the Summit.

Suzanne Goucher (NASBA former President) wanted to know where  
training, leadership and funding were going to come from to make  
possible enhanced EAS. She posited that we, the people at the Summit  
and our cohorts, are the core group that can make it all happen. She  
also said that her state, Maine, has not yet made up its mind on what  
direction they would go in implementing enhanced EAS.

Craig Hodan stood in for Mark Paese from NOAA. He mentioned that  
85-95% of EAS activations are weather related. He stated that NOAA's  
policy was to cooperate with its federal partners in implementing  
Executive ORder 13407. He outlined NOAA's responsibility for NWR and  
talked about its strengths and weaknesses stemming from old equipment  
and single point failure issues. He also said that NWS is not fully  
CAP-compliant yet, but "will be".

Art in his closing comments let Lance Craver have it with both  
barrels. I cannot due full justice to what he said in my notes, but I  
will quote his tag line to DHS: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."  
That induced a healthy round of applause from the audience.

My general impressions:

1. DHS has slowed down or stalled forward progress for whatever  
reasons they have to do so.
2. FCC is frustrated with them.
3. The "elephant in the room", as Art puts it, has been talked about
4. The SBE White Paper was very well received. People were asking for  
extra copies. I expect to see some press coverage.
5. Lastly, we must review and release Gary Timm's draft profile ASAP  
to aid the upcoming meeting in Chicago*. Gary's work goes well beyond  
the White Paper the Board approved for release.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Rudman