FEMA to test a new system that allows the president to send an alert to your phone

Get ready for a new alert coming straight to your phone, this time from the president himself.

On the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 20, FEMA will send two alerts to cell phones across the nation, both of them tests of its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). At 2:18 p.m. ET, there will be a test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which will be followed at 2:20 p.m. ET by the first ever national test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system.

The tests themselves aren't new but, until now the WEA has been focused regionally. The system launched in 2012 thanks to the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act.  Read more...