Federal Communications Commission FCC 15-154
STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI
Re: Improving Wireless Emergency Alerts and Community-Initiated Alerting, PS Docket No. 15-91.
The first AMBER alert went out over the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system on the 
afternoon of February 20, 2013, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  An eight-month old boy, Carlos Orozco, had 
been abducted.  People across the Twin Cities responded immediately.  One person was at home playing a 
video game when his phone suddenly vibrated and played the WEA attention tone for the first time.  It 
certainly made him take notice.  He said the sudden noise “scared the [expletive] out of me.  But it 
worked.  I got up and looked outside.”  Others responded too, and one teenager who received the alert 
spotted the suspect.  As a result, police caught the kidnapper, rescued the boy, and returned him safely to 
his family.
Whether it’s a missing child, severe weather, or terrorist attack, Americans need immediate 
access to emergency information.  The WEA system is one tool that lets consumers do just that.  So I am 
pleased to support today’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which seeks public input on how we can 
make the system even more effective for those who choose to use it.  
I find three aspects of the Notice particularly deserving of praise.  First, we’re examining ways for 
alert originators to target their information to narrower and more accurate geographic locations.  Second, 
we’re looking into ideas that could help consumers further customize the types of alerts they receive.  
Third, we’re considering expanding the content that can be included in a WEA message, such as phone 
numbers and links to websites—in short, information that can be a lifeline in a moment of need.  Indeed, 
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that it can be very difficult to fit critical 
details into a WEA message given some of the constraints in our current rules, so I agree that we need to 
take a look at updating them.