The US wants to rebuild its emergency alert systems from scratch

The US communications regulator is starting over on how it thinks about emergency alerts. It wants to know what these systems should actually do, and how to use modern technology to achieve those goals.

The US emergency alert systems, like the ones that send messages to your phone or interrupt TV broadcasts, were designed decades ago. They use old technology and old assumptions about how people get information. This document means the government is finally asking fundamental questions about how to build a warning system for the 21st century. It could lead to a complete overhaul of how the US warns its citizens about everything from natural disasters to active shooters.