[inaudible conversations] good morning welcome to the january 2018 of the fcc secretariats is an empty agenda. Good morning chairman. For todays meeting you will hear six items under consideration. First you will receive a preliminary report Public Safety and Security Bureau on its investigation into the false Emergency Alert in hawaii january 13, 2018. Consider a second report order to enhance effectiveness of wireless Emergency Alert including the geographic access. And considering order with the remaining issues raised from the commissions orders to connect america to auction 903 and compete to receive 1. 98 billion for voice and Broadband Service in highcost areas. With the Public Notice to the connect america find. And not commit to offer Voice Services to those fixed locations in those highcost areas. And order to establish economics and analytics notice of proposed rulemaking to eliminate the requirement with those that submit paper copies of contracts and other documents to the sec has specified section 73. 361 of the commissions rules. Consider the enforcement action. Please note item number seven january 23 Sunshine Notice with the amendment approach 74 and 76 to delete rules made obsolete by the digital transition. And delete from todays agenda. With a preliminary report and chief of the bureau. Good morning mr. Chairman and commissioners. Earlier this month on the morning of january 13, people throughout hawaii were alerted on television, radio and Wireless Phone of an imminent Ballistic Missile attack. From the widespread panic and fear issued by the state of hawaii with the Emergency Alert system and wireless Emergency Alert. But it was a false alert compounding this problem it took 30 minutes for the hawaii eas to issue a corrective alert. As chairman pai stated it was unacceptable and immediately directed that Public Safety and Homeland Security. To investigate the incident with the goal of understanding how it happened and how to help prevent such an incident from happening again. Americas Emergency Alert system provides timely information in these systems remain effective. To maintain the publics confidence when Emergency Alert is issued the public heath the call. Today the bureau has a preliminary report today joining me is that deputy chief and an attorney advisor Cybersecurity Division and the deputy chief of the bureau of operation so these talented full salon with her bureau have produced an incredible amount of excellent work on this investigation the wireless Emergency Alert item considered shortly in the recent testimony before the Senate Commerce committee. All within a very, very very short timeframe. To the team as well as others in the bureau, thank you you have my pride and appreciation and i am grateful you are a part of the Public Safety and homeland Security Bureau family. I would also like to recognize our field agent with the Enforcement Bureau who assisted while we were on the ground in hawaii as part of the investigation. James will present the report. Thank you for your kind words. As said on january 13 those that initiated a false Ballistic Missile alert. Wireless Emergency Alert as well as Emergency Alert system delivering alerts through television and radio. The bureau has the representatives of the Emergency Management agency and in honolulu and a demonstration of the software initiates the alerts. In addition of wireless providers Offering Service to hawaii president of hawaii Broadcasters Association and state communications community. And other state and other Emergency ManagementAgency Stakeholders we have been pleased with cooperation we have received from the hawaii Emergency Management agency that individual has refused to speak with us however late last week the hawaii Emergency Management agency provided a statement which help to improve our understanding of the events leading to the false alert. By way of background for what happened on january 13, actively testing the capabilities over the past year the Ballistic Missile defense drill begins with a call from an officer whose really a specific command and ends with the transmission of a test message to fema. Under the established role procedures it should be sent only for a Warning System should never actually be transmitted to consumer phones or television by november 27 they had memorialized a checklist of procedures look at the Ballistic Missile defense drill defined after months of testing and the agency was running the drill that was commencing them for those that initiate the alerts. The final version of the checklist on january 13 was created january 5. I will walk you through a timeline as we understand them. In the Early Morning hours of january 13 the hawaii Emergency Management agency conducted a troll without incident the supervisor of the midnight shift also decided with no notice version of the drill. The midnight shift supervisor specifically decided to drill a shift change to help train the day shift for a scenario at a time when it would be challenging to properly respond. At 8 00 a. M. They conducted the regularly schedule shift change the supervisor of the midnight shift orally communicated that intention of the drill. But there was a miscommunication the incoming day shift supervisor that the midnight shift intended conducted for the midnight officers only not those for the day shift. As a result he was not in the proper location to supervise when the drill was initiated. At 805 the midnight shift supervisor initiated the drill by placing a call pretending to be a command playing a message that the recording began by saying exercise exercise exercise. After that it did not follow the hawaii Emergency Management system Standard Operating Procedures for the drill. Instead it included language scripted for use for an actual live Ballistic Missile alert. And the recording ended by saying exercise exercise exercise three onduty warning officers received the message simulating a call and according to a statement we heard that is not a drill but did not hear exercise exercise exercise. According to the written statement therefore they believe the missile threat was real so the officer responded by transmitting an alert to the state of hawaii. The day shift warning officer use the software specifically selecting the template from a dropdown menu with test alert templates the Origination Software prompted the officer to confirm if they wanted to send the message. Are you sure . The warning officer who heard the recording new that it did not indicate a missile threat. But keep the beginning of an exercise. Specifically to hear the words exercise exercise exercise. However they reported to the hawaii Emergency Management system after the event their belief that this was a real emergency. Because we cannot interview the officer who transmitted the false alert we cannot evaluate the credible alert if there was a missile threat as opposed accidentally sending it out but it is worth noting to be accurately recall the announcement did say this is not a drill. The warning officer that transmitted the alert with the distinct audible tones from the Emergency Alert. At the actual alert was transmitted to the public. Director of the hawaii mom hawaii Emergency Management system notified they had a false alert. The director of hawaii Emergency Management system communicated to Pacific Command no missile launch. Hawaii Emergency Management system also notified the police department. At 8 12 a. M. Hawaii Emergency Management system use the Origination Software to cancel the retransmission of the false alert. That is the instruction to downstream the equipment for a retransmission. A cancellation message does not generate an all clear message or recall those that were transmitted and displayed on television mobile phones. Through 8 26 a. M. Hawaii Emergency Management system conducted outreach to the county agencies and radio and tv stations to inform them the alarm was false. With the incoming calls asking about the nature of the alert. So long some cost and get through they notified the staff so they could help respond to community increase. At 8 20 a. M. Hawaii Emergency Management system posted on facebook and twitter accounts and was no missile threat and it 8 24 a. M. Hawaii governor tweeted the notice there was no missile threat. The governor stated he could not do this earlier because he didnt know the twitter password. At 8 27 a. M. The agency staff had another message the agency determined a correction of the false alert is one of the event codes. At 8 30 a. M. The agency called fema after 45 seconds all on the call agreed it met the criteria of the event code. At 831 the deputy chief of the hawaii Emergency ManagementSystem Communications branch walked into the Origination Software to create a correction message 38 minutes minutes after the false alert Agency Issued a correction. The beer will use a combination of human error and inadequate safeguards contributed to the false alert. With respect to human error due to a miscommunication with the shift supervisor the drill was run without sufficient supervision and other agencies rushed supervision and it would not be tolerated. Further, the midnight shift provides the initiated the drill that deviated from the script from the procedure including the phrase this is not a drill apparently failed to realize this is an exercise even though those understood is in the real emergence. With respect to inadequate safeguards no procedures were in place to prevent a Single Person from mistakingly sending a missile alert to the state of hawaii. While addressing the utmost gravity there was no requirement for an officer to double check with colleagues before sending such alert. Additionally the state of hawaii appears to have been conducting drills which highend the potential for the error to occur. Has revealed so far while they use no noticed rules it is common practice to schedule them in advance or a set date and time. It is also troubling hawaii software did not differentiate between testing and the live environment. The software allows them to send life and test alerts using the same interface and the same login credentials after clicking a button to say are you sure you want to send this alert . In other words the confirmation prompt contains the same language irrespective if it is a test or an actual alert. The confirmation prompt did not offer the officer another opportunity and further hawaii is reliant on those templates making it easier without a sufficient focus on the actual text of the alert message here she was about to send and in contrast to post that environment at another login screen through a separate application. Then to distinguish the test environment. Including use of watermarks. Then the error was worsened by the delay to correct any information. Hawaii Emergency Management system had not anticipated to issue a false alert and as such dash to help ensure another incident like this never happens again. Creating a new policy supervisors must receive advanced notice of all drills to require two credentialed warning officers to sign in and validate and a false alert for the Wireless Services to be more readily prepared to correct a false alert should one never occur again. And with that software to be improved and then issue a final report to safeguard against false alerts to mitigate the harmful effects. Once we had developed these recommended measures with the stakeholder outreach. Among other avenues with the emergency ecosystem and then to develop with fema to educate the stakeholders. And then to have implement actions. Thank you. Now turn the comments from the branch bed. There is a serious issue because it should be a wakeup call for all stakeholders me cannot simply dismiss this to be the inadvertent mistake that only officials and hawaii needs to address this incident is serving as a catalyst to review the emergency every community should be doing more prevents the issuance of a false alert but if it is ever sent again the capability to immediately a correction should be in place and the protocols how to go about that should be clearly defined. Thank you. I have more questions than a statement but it is astounding that nobody was charged this could be a cataclysmic catastrophe of utmost importance to check on the one point that you made you highlighted regarding the governor we hope it would have waited as they came out from commenting that responding today that that article was not completely accurate the reason he did not respond is because he could not find his password . That is how it was reported in the news. Help me out i watched your testimony in the senate it was very helpful of whose responsibilities were whose but fema has responsibility to oversee the preparation of the notification the state and local and other organizations and hours to make sure those notifications is that consistent with your testimony . The fcc is responsible by the Service Providers fema overseas to aggregate the originators. The state and local government decide when to issue the alert and when they would be issued. So that is when our role kicks in . A lot of the steps seem to be femas responsibility. Is that not accurate . Now the stakeholder roundtable was a possibility that his fema has responsibility. Aside from the Communications Perspective it did get out under the companies themselves. It is not our responsibility. With that perspective. That what we have said in the presentation and what i have said in my testimony is that all the stakeholders involved need to do their part to address these types of issues. The sec is simply performing its part so it has in the past and been to those stakeholders for Lessons Learned we have also taken into account the state and local governments and fema in terms of policies that we adopt. There is a Stakeholder Advisory Committee created that fema operates so they have the authority for convening that as they see fit. It is only 18 months old. Thats right they have a committee dealing with their system. One last question. The supervisor of this entire project was at home at the time . You logged into the system to create the false alert and was at home . Is that accurate . Thank you commissioner. Imagine what you would do at this moment on your phone you receive the following message. Ballistic missile threat seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill. Who would be the first person you call . What do you say . What about the intervening 38 minutes between getting that message and another one to say the first was false . Many residents of hawaii lived through that scenario. Many thought was 38 minutes were there last. That panic and fear and heartache we now believe was due to human air but also insufficient preparation and training. Nobody should have to go through a moment like that especially basic competency the people of hawaii are justifiably moving to demand answers and so do we. I committed the chairman for beginning an investigation the Public Safety for all the work put together through preliminary findings and testifying on this issue so quickly that shed light on what has transpired. Will get to the bottom of this incident it is relative to be certain that this does not happen again. Thank you for your diligent work i look forward to continuing to work with you on this matter. Years ago i had the privilege of working for the people of hawaii serving as counsel so i know the residents are grateful and resilient and also aware like all of us, of new vulnerabilities in the pacific. When this incident occurred i reached out to those i worked with in the past to understand what had happened. They had only harrowing tales to tell. Imagine knowing you only had minutes to live before everything you hold dear could be destroyed. What would you do . I sure those people held their children a little closer. I did the same this system failed miserably we need to improve it and get it right. Amen. Lets get to work that starts with a preliminary port that we produced today for the chairman calling for an investigation which was the right thing to do also thanks to the efforts of Public Safety and homeland Security Bureau. But it could have been avoided we need to take these facts and use them to improve the Emergency Alert system across the board. We can start by considering how this agency could develop best practices at the local state and federal level. We need to incentivize them to the Emergency Alert system which is subject to regular filing and review while youre at it addressing state training to the improved user interface. In addition floor the viability to offer alerts video and streaming services and the possibility to align those practices with those aggregation capabilities but above all act with dispatch with real changes in place on the accelerated schedule to connect right now and right here in place before the summer begins because what happened in hawaii should never happen again. As we have heard the only thing that struck the island was panic and outrage and rightly so. Raising two key questions what went wrong . Those of the two questions i asked the Public Safety to investigate so the bureau has made a lot of progress and also makes clear many things went wrong and i dont say this for the purpose to cast blame but we simply need to identify the problems in order not just to live where they may exist. In my view the two most troubling things hawaii Emergency Management system did not have what was needed in place and they didnt have a plan if it was transmitted. Every state and local government needs to learn from these mistakes. Each should ensure with adequate safeguards at each should have a plan in place how to immediately correct a false alert. This is important because the public needs to be able to trust when the government issues the Emergency Alert it is credible. Otherwise people will not take them seriously or respond appropriately when lives on the line. Todays preliminary report is the beginning of the work on this issue we will produce a final report on this incident and work in collaboration with federal state and local officials to explore appropriate actions and best practices. So to minimize those being issued as well as the impact. I would like to thank the witnesses who have cooperated and senator and congressman on hawaii for speaking with me for the expertise and speed they brought to bear on this important task. Our on the ground investigators have been supported and things to all of you for your hard wor work. So with that madam secretary please announce the next item on the agenda. 217 as part of the rules of the Emergency Alert system presented by the chief of the bureau for the introduction maggie q madam secretary. Good morning again. Chairman pai and commissioners the Public Safety homeland Security Bureau is pleased to present the second report or reconsideration for the t17 monday 17 program launched 2012 participating wireless providers and an alert no larger than affected by the emergency often times it affects an area smaller than the county and to address that all participating providers are required to go to a Geographic Area to approximate theory a even if smaller than a county. So to improve targeting those wireless providers to the area that matches the area specified with the overreach no more than one tenth of a mile. This standard allows Emergency Managers sent only to those affected by the emergency without disturbing others. Recent natural disasters in californian puerto rico have demonstrated the need for Public Safety personnel to communicate lifesaving information in targeted areas including the order to evacuate or shelter in place due to wildfires or hurricanes. Before you today that will allow you to prevent over alerting encouraging the use during the crisis this would make wireless Emergency Alerts a more effective tool Community Safe joining me at the table is nikki, megan henry james for the communication Reliability Division and engineer of the Bureau Licensing division. Also those our colleagues who have provided their expertise throughout the process. Takes important steps to improving the utility of wireless Emergency Alert is a lifesaving tool first requiring participating providers to deliver via messages to match the target area specified. The alert originator. We define matching the target area to deliver the message 100 of percent of the target area with no more than one tenth of 1 mile overshoe. This would apply to all new devices and existing devices capable to be updated to support the standard. We suspect they would match in all instances except if they are not technically capable to do so. In those limited circumstances when a consumer turns off the Location Services on their device wireless providers are required to approximate the target area. Some members of the public tivo only those alert messages to give Emergency Managers those tools to be affected by the emergency. And then to comply by novembe november 30, 2019 the order would adopt tumor requirements that they are aware of the benefit at the point of sale. Second to preserve messages on mobile devices for at least 24 hours or until deleted by the user. Preserving those will allow members of the public to go back and review lifesaving information and emergency hotline numbers that is especially important with the recent adoption those messages that include links and phone numbers. It would define that defiance in whole or in part participation. If they provide a service at the point of sale and with the entirety of their area and participate in some of the service area of the mobile device that the offer at the pointofsale these definitions will provide clarity to industry and the public about the availability of wireless Emergency Alert service so allow the deadline for longer 360 character link messages in doing so we recognize alerts in spanish require more characters to harmonize that deadline will allow wireless providers to have Software Testing at the same time. The bureau recommends adoption of those editorial privileges extending. Thank you. Weather text 2911 or accuracy with the reliability of the Public Safety communications to be chased by three Guiding Principles and we should do all we can to educate consumers about the safety benefits and collaboration among all stakeholders. Frederick douglass one of the most influential americans of the 19th century said if there is no struggle there is no progress with africanamerican History Month days away this is a fitting quote to aptly describe the Public Safety proceedings over the past eight years. Typically proceedings start to set the ambitious goal to improve the services that in many cases it pushes back on certain details followed by the five of us but in the end to result in progress and improvement the same could be said wireless carriers participate with the wea system to authorize alerts at the federal, tribal state and local level to warn the public about all levels of emergencies first avoid april 2012 thanks to the collaborative effort by industry and Public Safety community issuing more than 33000 Emergency Alert we are working to target those alerts located in the exact area so the risk is those that get those alerts may one day ignore the alert to impact their safety and that would be extremely unfortunate this is why we saw comments of the industry to go beyond that standard and more closely match the target area that it transmits so it demonstrated again on specific policy details we consider the industrys challenge is to work toward supporting the school todays order marks a milestone because of the Previous Administration to you targeted proposal requiring the enhanced standard by november 30, 2019. I had concerns of certain aspects that was originally circulated but i am pleased to report i can support the item because we were able to compromise on a few key areas it stated that i wireless Companys Network infrastructure could resort to a standard if technically incapable and is capable to match a target area and it can become a loophole that technically incapable does not include circumstances when its own failure to adequately maintain or upgrade its Network Makes it unable to meet the standard the new york city Emergency Management office and others the original draft ordered did not amend the rule to keep pace with those technical changes we are adopting today currently consumers must be notified if Wireless Companies do not offer wea at all or in part if we really believe more precise geo targeting alerts are needed to keep people safe and we should give all wireless customers the ability to choose more precise geo targeting devices. Consumers cannot make that choice if they do not have adequate notification. Thanks to my colleagues that consumers are notified about the extent to which Wireless Companies enhance geo targeting alerts. Finally i was concerned the initial draft had no mention of multimedia information the further notice sought comment on the issue and the new York City Commission made a compelling case it would have been very helpful if the alert about the Chelsea Bombing in 2016 had included a photo of the suspect. I ask it include a further notice with multimedia information. Although my colleagues would not agree i am pleased they are willing to support directing the Public Safety bureau staff to issue a Public Notice to further develop the subject so for all of these reasons i have stated, this order has my support. Thanks to the dedicated staff from the homeland Security Bureau and my colleagues for working with me on such a critical proceeding. Commissioner clyburn thank you. Everyone should be able to agree providing agencies with the flexibility to pinpoint their wireless Emergency Alert to those areas where there is no threat is in one useful function. They are supportive of such targeting capabilities. I am in favor of todays order but my concerns center on the commission continuously to mandate technology before they are ready with a timeframe not in line. Today the Communication Security interoperability recommended compliance should occur 42 months after adoption of the order. The Wireless Industry said they could do a faster and suggested six months now it has been 22 months with no record evidence it is achievable on the wireless providers said it will be incredibly challenging and the stars must align just right while i understand to have geo targeting now you cannot wish it into existence and let the record reflect further consideration is needed to effectuate geo targeting with the need for software or hardware changes and this doesnt happen overnight. They are still finalizing the last set of wea changes with Spanish Language messages. Before they are completed we are adopting new rules for additional requirements to work out. Based on the draft made public those are recently identified 25 standards to be developed or modified to make geo targeting possible. Hopefully this is the end but dont forget the key priority should be setting standards for 5g so to be clear given the opportunity those means to implement geo targeting the industry ensures whatever means they pick is tested and works is not be forced to cut corners to meet that aspirational deadline. Therefore getting more time to successfully deploy geo targeting and then to add language to the item that the standards process is prolonged is a voluntary program because they cannot set standards with the functionality and 22 months. Why remain skeptical and with little or no support i appreciate those efforts to improve this part of the item to ensure they are based with high probability of those stated benefits of the burdens we him for a impose set we can work on a framework to have a statistically significant likelihood of causation into think that chairman to adding language that was in a 360 characters also to the staff for their hard work especially given their focus on the other issues thank you so very much. From a National WeatherService Warning or to amber alerts Emergency Managers haves that a sense 33000 alerts keeping the public safe. If Emergency Managers cannot count to deliver messages on time to the intended area or if the public loses trust they will opt out in the system that delivers few alerts to a dwindling audience. Recent events in california, hawaii remind us of the urgency of approving wea the Massive Wildfire been through california called the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. The wea system was precisely this type of situation with lives and property estate. A large number of americans need to receive instructions and time is of the essence. If they choose not to use wea because it lacks precise targeting the unintended consequences to alert to many residents to tell them to evacuate. We just heard the false report ended in panic and confusion so we must exercise our authority. Over the last five years with significant submissions, we now acquire to produce the likelihood that messages be preserved for 24 hours of the public can review or share alerts after they have been sent and how Legacy Networks can continue to comply with our rules. The commission has attempted to have that urgency we all feel with the speed of which technology and standards are developed. I am confident that commission will continue to work with all stakeholders to implement the upgrades with the recognition to Work Together to save lives. Into the Homeland Security oakland acuity bureau. Yet 1312 else for war and rebuilt for peace was septembe september 11 reimagined them again through the smart phone and today they are a powerful tool to quickly send messages so 90 characters to the right person at the right time in the right place can mean the difference between life and death they have already saved countless lives and help to divert tragedies. The past year exposed to many shortterm lung shortcomings as we sought quite clearly with the false alert announcing the Ballistic Missile attack in hawaii. Last year was one of the most devastating on record for natural disasters in the United States california experienced the most destructive wildfire season and killing 46 people Hurricane Harvey shouted flooding parts of texas and puerto rico is still recovering from Hurricane Maria four months ago more than 1000 people died in the storm and its aftermath. 30 of the island remains without power and puerto rico was still reporting waiting for recovery from the agency. And in too many cases last year wireless Emergency Alerts failed to perform. In california and Texas Emergency Services could not transmit these messages because they were unable to target accurately to ensure they could help those in danger and not cause panic beyond the broader area of concern. That is troubling. When repeated imprecision has them caught on disregard those warnings in areas where those tornado sirens have been founded over too large of an area overstating the scope of danger