Did President Trump Create the Presidential Alert?

Getty Trump with Mike Pence and Melania Trump visiting FEMA headquarters.

Although President Donald Trump’s administration is the first one that has tested the Presidential Alert system, he didn’t actually create it. It was actually President George W. Bush who technically created the Presidential Alert.

In 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Warning, Alert, Response and Network Act into law. This created the Wireless Emergency Alert system, which sends out the Presidential Alert, along with regional AMBER alerts and many weather alerts. After it was signed into law, the Wireless Emergency Alerts system was established in 2008 and launched in 2012. Since then, it has been used more than 40,000 times warn people about weather, missing children, and other critical information.

If an alert is needed, it will be sent out at the direction of the President or his designee, and then activated by FEMA, FEMA noted.

Mobile carriers that participate in the WEA do so voluntarily, but people using their system can only opt out of regional alerts and not presidential alerts. The FCC notes: “Wireless carriers may offer subscribers with WEA-capable handsets the ability to block alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life and/or AMBER Alerts; however, consumers cannot block emergency alerts issued by the President.”

Interestingly, back in 2013 people on the right side of the political spectrum were angry about the Presidential Alerts’ potential because of President Barack Obama’s involvement, MSNBC reported. Blogger Jim Hoft wrote on Twitter: “Just in case you want more Obama in your life… AT&T is loading iPhones with emergency alerts from Barack Obama…That you can’t switch off.”

Alex Jones even spoke out about it in 2012 on InfoWars.com. The site noted: “Once installed, AMBER and Emergency alerts are automatically sent to your phone unless you switch them off via Settings. However, should you be tired of Obama, just know that there’s no way to switch off Presidential alerts.”

All these years later, it’s not the left side of the political spectrum that’s worried about the political alerts. But the public can put those worries to rest. Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security chief, told CBS This Morning that the alert is only used for “true emergencies when we need to get the public’s attention.” It’s not supposed to be used for political purposes, and it will only be used very rarely. The political purposes point is especially important, he noted, since people cannot opt out of the presidential alert. There are laws in place and protocols that make sure the use is in accordance with the law, he emphasized. These laws require that presidential alerts only address issues of imminent public safety, like terrorism or natural disasters.