Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) v. 1.2 Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Profile

["Schafer, John" <John.Schafer@dhs.gov>]

FEMA REP Engineering has reviewed and discussed the subject document “Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) v. 1.2 Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Profile”.  Upon Review, FEMA REP Engineering has the comments and observations:

 

The Alert Message Structure in the CAP appears to have pre-defined enumerations for many of the data elements.  The concern is that these pre-defined enumerations do not necessarily align with the existing NUREG-0654/FEMA-REP-1 Appendix 1 Emergency Action Levels (EAL’s) and responses used in commercial nuclear emergency preparedness.  Under emergency situations where the enumerations do not align with the EAL’s, there exists potential for IPAWS to communicate messages inconsistent (or interpreted to be inconsistent) with those already established nuclear power plant emergency alert and notification procedures.  Any inconsistency could lead to miscommunication, conflicting announcement and notification messages, and incorrect response.   

It is recommended that the CAP data elements incorporate flexibility so that the user may incorporate their own values such that the emergency message can be tailored to be consistent with already existing announcement and message processes.    

 

Other discrepancies found include:

 

1. None of the URL’s shown on the front page (page 1) is operational.
2. The page numbers (e.g. “Page 1 of 22”) appear to indicate there exists 22 pages.  However, only 16 pages were found.