President Trump will text 228 million Americans at 2:18pm ET to test the new presidential text alert system.
The text will go out to everyone with a U.S. phone number. FEMA created the text alert system to give the President the ability to notify the entire nation of emergencies in a moment’s notice.
The presidential alert will look and sound like a severe weather or Amber alert notification. There is no option to turn off presidential alerts.
Today, FEMA will also test out the Emergency Alert System, which will broadcast the same message across radio and television.
The message will read:
THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by broadcast and cable operators in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency an official message would have followed the tone alert you heard at the start of this message. A similar wireless emergency alert test message has been sent to all cell phones nationwide. Some cell phones will receive the message; others will not. No action is required.
