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The National Warning
System (NAWAS), a major component of the Civil Defense
Warning System (CDWS), was established with the primary
purpose of providing a capability to warn the nation of
a threat of a nuclear attack. The Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1974,
Public Law (PL) 93-288, as amended by PL 100-707,
authorized the President to utilize and make available
the federal component of the CDWS, NAWAS, for the
purpose of providing warning to government authorities
and the civilian population in areas endangered by
disasters. Under this act, NAWAS can be used for
emergencies related to peacetime nuclear accidents,
railroad disasters, downed aircraft, and warning of
potential natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes, floods,
tsunami's, and tornadoes). As part of an overall and
effective warning method, NAWAS was envisioned as being
suited for disseminating peacetime civil emergency
warnings to state and local governments, who are
responsible for further dissemination of warnings to
other communities and the general public.
The National Warning
System supports the nonmilitary actions taken by Federal
agencies, by the private sector, and by individual
citizens to meet essential human needs; to support the
military effort; to ensure continuity of Federal
authority at national and regional levels; and to ensure
survival as a free and independent nation under all
emergency conditions, including a national emergency
caused by threatened or actual attack on the United
States.
The National Warning
System has major terminals at each State EOC and State
Emergency Management Facility. Today, the system
consists of what is effectively a 2200+ telephone party
line. Obviously, it is more than a normal telephone
system. The phone instruments are designed to provide
protection for lightening strikes so they may be used
during storms. The interconnecting lines are provided
some protection and avoid local telephone switches. This
ensures they are available even when the local system is
down or overloaded.
The system is used by
local officials thousands of times a year for emergency
management coordination and response. One typical
scenario is the use of the system during tornadoes. As
storms are sighted, emergency managers in one town or
county can communicate with their colleagues in other
counties who are in the path of the storm, advising them
as to direction, speed, and intensity. The drawback to
this system is it relies on human intervention. If there
is no one there to receive the communications the
warning is not disseminated. This has resulted in missed
tornado warnings. Today modernization and automation are
planned in most telecommunications systems.
Both the National
Warning Center (NWC) and the Alternate National Warning
Center (ANWC) at Olney, MD, are staffed 24 hours per day
and serve as the primary control for the National
Warning System (NAWAS). |
