HomeMy WebLinkAboutEBS: Will it really work in an attack? 1980 a-rut .. uvca YYnat nas to nappen
for the public to hear the president?
Wherever the president goes, he is accompanied by a
military aide carrying the "button" for the U.S. nuclear
arsenal. With him is a communications specialist who
The Houston Post /Sun., May 18, 1980/ 7B would take the first crucial step of getting through to
one of two government control points.
The primary control point is at a classified location
outside Washington; the backup is at NORAD. Officials
are understandably reluctant to discuss exactly how the .
IABS: Will It president's aide contacts a control center.
The rest of the process, though, works like this:
At the control center, an employee of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency activates a special
work teletype network connecting 27 points, including major
reall Vrk networks and the Bell system, sending a message de-
y daring an alert.
He then picks up a special phone connecting him with
the two major wire services, The Associated Press and
^ United Press International, providing verbal confirma-
i n an attack. Bon of the alert. The phone hookup stems from the
f alse
alert that went out over the o wires in February 1971.
Since then, broadcasters, the news networks and the AP
1 and UPI have been provided with special red envelopes
WASHINGTON (AP) — In 1971, a mistake activated containing code words, known as "authenticators." If
the nationwide Emergency Broadcast System for the the networks and wire services receive an action alert
without the right authenticators, the message is consid-
first and only time. ered false. Likewise, if an alert hits the wires without
It was not a deliberate test; yet half the nation's the proper code; words, individual broadcasters are sup -
broadcast stations ignored the EBS signal and contin-
ued normal programming. posed to ignore It.
Nearly everybody is familiar with the EBS test an- Once an alert is authenticated, it is up to the net-
works and individual radio and TV stations to complete
nouncement: "This is only a test. For the next 60 sec- the hookup, broadcast the EBS two-tone alert signal
onds, this station will be conducting a test of the
Emergency Broadcast System. In the event of an actual and ask the public to sta by.
From this point on, the system's operation depend
emergency . . ." on "what cities are still around," says Seddon.
In the event of an actual emergency — meaning nu- R Washington remains on the map, the FEMA officer "
clear war — Americans would depend upon EBS for
feeds the president's voice to a special switching center ,
instruction as well as information. at WTOP -AM in Washington, which connects all the net
Few realize, however, that: works so they receive the broadcast simultaneously.
If the facilities in Washington are not available, EBS
• The EBS is a totally voluntary system among falls back on a similar switching plant in Harrisburg,
broadcasters. Pa. If that's not working, the "last resort" calls for the
control center to use any one of Bell Telephone's major
• It is not designed to provide the first warning of a switching centers to reach the networks.
nuclear attack or other grave national emergency. The president's message then goes out over the net-
works to their subscribing stations, which must make
• There is no guarantee a president would have the sure it is goes directly onto the air. Seddon estimates
time or inclination to activate EBS, and only the press- 6,700 of the country's 8,700 radio stations would be
dent can activate the system rationally. reached simultaneously through the networks.
Stations which are not affiliated with any network
The EBS should not be confused with the National would have to listen to a special monitoring device re-
Warning System, a network of interconnected phone quired by the FCC. That device is tuned to a "primary"
lines to public officials across the nation who would be radio station affiliated with a network, and the inde-
responsible for setting off air raid sirens. pendent station must relay the president's message.
The National Warning System is controlled from the The 3 percent of the stations which have refused to
North American Air Defense Command headquarters at join EBS are required to go off the air. Most of the non -
Cheyenne Mountain, Colo. If Soviet missies are detect - joiners are college stations or small operations limited
ed, the system is automatically activated even as the to daytime broadcasting.
president is notified. The Emergency Broadcast System is tested at least
Although there is no guarantee, most emergency every three months and most federal officials are con-
planning officials think the president would then want vinced that for the forseeable future it is the fastest
1 to activate the EBS and speak directly to the public. way to deliver emergency information directly to the
"The EBS has one purpose: to allow the president of public.
the United States to address the American people on That has been proven, the officials say, by the in-
very short notice," says Raymond W. Seddon, whose of- creasing use of the system by state and local officials
fice at the Federal Communications Commission over- during times of natural disaster — more than 1,200
sees technical arrangements for the system. times last year.
It would take at least 8 minutes, and perhaps as long
as 14 minutes, before the president has an open mike to
the nation.
Television stations would display a special slide while
broadcasting the president's emergency message.
There are four priorities for the use of EBS, and the
second priority behind "presidential" is "local" — the
broadcasting by local emergency officials of what to do