U.S. Government response

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Immediate national response

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September 11, 2001: President George W. Bush at Emma Booker Elementary school with Army Lieutenant Col. Thomas Herman, senior Presidential Communications Officer (White House Military Office); Capt. Deborah Loewer, US Navy, Dir. of the White House Situation Room, and others. On first arriving at Emma Booker, Bush is taken to this Presidential hold and to a secure telephone to speak with Dr. Condoleezza Rice (National Security Advisor) at her request. He is told of an attack against the World Trade Center.

Emergency Alert System

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The FEMA National Radio System (FNARS) "Provides Primary Entry Point service to the Emergency Alert System," acts as an emergency presidential link into the EAS, and is capable of phone patches. The FNARS net control station is located at the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center.[1]

Purpose

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"The Emergency Broadcast System was . . . established to provide the President of the United States with an expeditious method of communicating with the American public in the event of war, threat of war, or grave national crisis."[2] It replaced CONELRAD on August 5, 1963.[3] In later years, it was expanded for use during peacetime emergencies at the state and local levels.[2]

National Level EBS

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An order to activate the EBS at the national level would have originated with the President and been relayed via the White House Communications Agency duty officer to one of two origination points: either the Aerospace Defense Command or the Federal Preparedness Agency--as the system stood in 1978. Participating telecommunications common carriers, radio and television networks, the Associated Press and United Press International would receive and authenticate (by means of code words) an Emergency Action Notification via an EAN teletypewriter network designed specifically for this purpose. These recipients would relay the EAN to their subscribers and affiliates[2]

The release of the EAN by the ADC or FPA would initiate a process by which the common carriers would link otherwise independent networks, e.g. American Broadcasting Company, CBS, etc., into a single national network that even independent (i.e. not ABC, CBS, etc.) stations could receive programming from. "Broadcast stations would have used the two-tone Attention Signal on their assigned broadcast frequency to alert other broadcast stations to stand by for a message from the President."[2] Note that the transmission of programming on a broadcast station's assigned frequency, and the fact that television networks/stations could participate, distinguished EBS from CONELRAD. EBS radio stations would not transmit on 640 or 1240 AM, and television staions would carry the same audio program as AM radio stations.

Bibliographic Notes

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The Defense Civil Preparedness Agency publication The Emergency Broadcast System: The Lifesaving Public Service Program is in the collection of the University of Central Florida Libraries, and may be available at other academic, public, or depository libraries.

The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center or simply "Mount Weather" is a " 'civilian' command facility, the center of operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)." "It functions as a main relocation site for the highest level civilian and military officials, and what is called, seemingly interchangeably, the 'Continuity of Government' and the 'Continuity of Operations Plan' (COOP)."[4] "For decades . . . [ it has ] served as the main relocation site for the White House, the Supreme Court and much of the executive branch."[5] Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains[4], access to the operations center is via "Route 601, also called Blue Ridge Mountain Road, in Bluemont, VA." [6] The underground facility within Mount Weather designated "Area B" was completed in 1959. FEMA established training facilities on the mountain's surface ("Area A") in 1979.[7]A net control station for the FEMA National Radio System (FNARS), a "High Frequency (HF) radio system connecting most Federal public safety agencies and US military with most of the states"[8] is located here. FNARS provides Presidential access to the Emergency Alert System.[9]

Descriptions

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  • Between 1979 and 1981 the National Gallery of Art developed a program to transport valuable paintings in its collection to Mount Weather via helicopter, if adequate attack warning were available.[10]

Mount Weather EOC Names

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  • "High Point Special Facility."[5]

Physical Size

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Area A

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  • The entire complex was described as being 434 acres.[11]

Area B

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Congress

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References

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  1. ^ Merlin, Ross Z. (2004). "Communications Systems for Public Health Contingencies" (pdf). DHS/FEMA Wireless Program Management Team. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  2. ^ a b c d Emergency Broadcast System: The Lifesaving Public Service Program, United States Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, March, 1978 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ "City's Civil Defense Sirens Will Be Tested Tomorrow", The New York Times, New York, NY, p. 30, October 5, 1963 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ a b The Lay of the land: The Center for Land Use Interpretation Newsletter, Culver City, CA: The Center for Land Use Interpretation, pp. 6–7, Spring 2002 http://www.clui.org/clui_4_1/lotl/v23/CLUI_LOTL_spring2002.pdf, retrieved 2008-04-03 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ a b c d Schwartz, Stephen I. (August 9, 2006), "Near Washington, Preparing for the Worst", The Washington Post, p. A16 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ Bedard, Paul (December 4, 2001), "Things That Go Bump In The Night At Cheney's Cave", White House Weekly, p. 1 {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ McGrath, Gareth (January 30, 2002), "Training Site Bunker Used After Sept. 11 Terror Attacks", Morning Star, Wilmington, NC, p. 1B6B {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ "Opportunities With OES ACS Program". OES Auxiliary Communications Service Homepage. Governor's (California, USA) Office of Emergency Services. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  9. ^ Merlin, Ross Z. (2004). "Communications Systems for Public Health Contingencies" (pdf). DHS/FEMA Wireless Program Management Team. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  10. ^ Gup, Ted (October, 10, 1992), "Grab That Leonardo!", Time, retrieved 2008-04-03 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. ^ Gup, Ted (December, 9, 1991), "Doomsday Hideaway", Time, pp. 26–30 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)