FEMA to Require Compliance with CAP 1.1 Standard

FEMA Announces Intention to Adopt Common Alerting Protocol 1.1

Washington, DC, USA. July 30, 2008.

The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today its intention to adopt during the first quarter of calendar year 2009, an alerting protocol in line with Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) 1.1 as the standard for the Integrated Public Alert and Warnings System (IPAWS).

IPAWS is a network of alert systems through which FEMA is upgrading the existing Emergency Alert System (EAS). CAP 1.1 is a format for exchanging emergency alerts allowing a consistent warning message to be disseminated simultaneously over many different warning systems. Participants in the EAS, including broadcasters and state and local emergency managers, will be required to be in compliance with CAP 1.1 standard within 180 days of its formal adoption by FEMA.

"Arriving at standards and protocols that work for everyone is a complex process," said Martha Rainville, assistant administrator of FEMA's National Continuity Programs Directorate. "But FEMA intends to formally adopt and publish a profile in line with CAP 1.1 early next year. We are working closely with partners across the government, private sector and non-profit community to develop a CAP profile that ensures the interoperability needed to deliver alerts and warnings to more people in more locations through more paths."

"Messaging standards improve information sharing and provide a foundation for data interoperability," said David Boyd, director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division (CID) in the DHS/ Science and Technology Directorate. "The Division's support of public alert and warning message standards is critical to our mission of creating and maintaining a secure and safe nation."

Rainville added, "FEMA looks forward to continuing to work with its partners to make sure that IPAWS supports and is interoperable with the various alert and warning systems developed by the state, local, tribal and territorial emergency managers to protect their residents."

FEMA's partners in developing CAP profiles include the National Weather Service, Federal Communications Commission, the DHS/Science and Technology Directorate's Command, Control and Interoperability Division; Emergency Interoperability Consortium; Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards; and the International Association of Emergency Managers.

About FEMA

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

Contact

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
500 C Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20472 USA
Tel (Disaster Assistance): +1 (800) 621-FEMA, TTY +1 (800) 462-7585
Tel (News Desk): +1 202-646-4600

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See: (1) the news story "OASIS/ITU-T Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Receives Support from FEMA and WMO"; (2) OASIS Emergency Management TC: CAP, EDXL-DE, EDXL-RM, HAVE.

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	FEMA to Require Compliance with CAP 1.1 Standard FEMA Announces Intention to Adopt Common Alerting Protocol 1.1 Washington, DC, USA. July 30, 2008. The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today its intention to adopt during the first quarter of calendar year 2009, an alerting protocol in line with Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) 1.1 as the standard for the Integrated Public Alert and Warnings System (IPAWS). IPAWS is a network of alert systems through which FEMA is upgrading the existing Emergency Alert System (EAS). CAP 1.1 is a format for exchanging emergency alerts allowing a consistent warning message to be disseminated simultaneously over many different warning systems. Participants in the EAS, including broadcasters and state and local emergency managers, will be required to be in compliance with CAP 1.1 standard within 180 days of its formal adoption by FEMA. "Arriving at standards and protocols that work for everyone is a complex process," said Martha Rainville, assistant administrator of FEMA's National Continuity Programs Directorate. "But FEMA intends to formally adopt and publish a profile in line with CAP 1.1 early next year. We are working closely with partners across the government, private sector and non-profit community to develop a CAP profile that ensures the interoperability needed to deliver alerts and warnings to more people in more locations through more paths." "Messaging standards improve information sharing and provide a foundation for data interoperability," said David Boyd, director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division (CID) in the DHS/ Science and Technology Directorate. "The Division's support of public alert and warning message standards is critical to our mission of creating and maintaining a secure and safe nation." Rainville added, "FEMA looks forward to continuing to work with its partners to make sure that IPAWS supports and is interoperable with the various alert and warning systems developed by the state, local, tribal and territorial emergency managers to protect their residents." FEMA's partners in developing CAP profiles include the National Weather Service, Federal Communications Commission, the DHS/Science and Technology Directorate's Command, Control and Interoperability Division; Emergency Interoperability Consortium; Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards; and the International Association of Emergency Managers. About FEMA FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror. Contact U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 500 C Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20472 USA Tel (Disaster Assistance): +1 (800) 621-FEMA, TTY +1 (800) 462-7585 Tel (News Desk): +1 202-646-4600 Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See: (1) the news story "OASIS/ITU-T Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Receives Support from FEMA and WMO"; (2) OASIS Emergency Management TC: CAP, EDXL-DE, EDXL-RM, HAVE.