With Elevated Terror Activity DeMint Again Calls for Implementataion of the WARN Act

With Elevated Terror Activity, DeMint Again Calls for Implementation of the WARN Act
Senator Tours state with Emphasis on Securing America's Homeland

Kicking off his second annual "South Carolina on the Move" tour, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) called for implementation of the Warning, Alerts, and Response Network (WARN) Act. As Chairman of the Disaster Prevention and Prediction Subcommittee, DeMint introduced this bill earlier this year. The WARN Act has received key bi-partisan co-sponsorship, including that of Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), ranking member of the subcommittee.

"The London terrorist arrests remind us that we are at war with a lethal and determined enemy, and we must continually improve our abilities to respond to new threats. The WARN Act is an important step that will modernize our national emergency alert system to better respond to natural or man-made disasters and terrorist attacks. It will provide a vital tool for first responders and further secure America's homeland," said DeMint. "We know that when disaster strikes, minutes matter. We also know the most effective way to save lives is to keep people out of impacted areas and efficiently evacuate those who are affected."

For decades, the Emergency Broadcast System has largely been our only available tool. But as people increasingly rely on mobile technologies for information, getting word out via television and radio alone is not as effective. As we learned in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, our government needs to do more.

The WARN Act represents a major advance in emergency preparedness, building on the foundation of Emergency Broadcast System and bringing it into the twenty-first century. Under the WARN system, first responders can direct some people to shelter in place. Others can be instructed in what direction to evacuate or be directed how to avoid an impacted area all together, preventing first responders from having to manage new victims. It can also alert evacuees to where the closest shelter with beds is -- where ice is being distributed after the storm -- and what roads are not useable as evacuation routes.

The WARN Act would also:

* Establish a network for the transmission of alerts across a broad variety of media, including cell phones, blackberry, digital, analog, cable and satellite television and radio, as well as non-traditional media such as sirens and "radios-on-a-stick."

* Provide federal, state and local emergency managers with the ability to send out geographically targeted alerts to the communities at risk.

* Establish a grant program to help remote communities install sirens and other devices because of their lack of quality telecommunications infrastructure, ensuring that individuals in communities such as tornado alley, some of which may not have high cell phone penetration, still get warnings about threatening storms.

* Provide at least $250 million for the research, development and deployment of technologies and equipment to operate these alert systems.

"Although we have gotten this important bi-partisan bill out of committee, the Senate must act quickly to bring this to the floor," said DeMint. "I'm proud that, thanks to leadership from President Bush and the Republican Congress we have renewed the Patriot Act, funded the ongoing needs of our troops and provided money for border security, bio-terror and pandemic preparedness. The new system that would be established by the WARN Act is yet another important weapon that we can put in our homeland security arsenal. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure we act on the lessons of past disasters and implement the WARN Act."

http://demint.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=397&Month=8&Year=2006&Type=PressRelease