That Presidential Alert you just got? Here’s the deal

Oct. 03--You likely received a special presidential message today: "THIS IS A TEST."

At 2:18 p.m. EST, the Federal Emergency Management Agency tried out the new "presidential alert" system on about 225 million cellular devices nationwide.

The alert -- which is President Donald Trump's brainchild -- could be used in the future to tell Americans about national emergencies. It's similar to the AMBER alert system or weather warning, but with a catch: Rather than reaching a specific population, Trump's presidential message will hit about 75 percent of Americans.

In full, the message reads: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed." The alert lasts about one minute.

Another will follow at 2:20 p.m. to televisions and radio with a longer explanation of the drill.

As the overseer of the Wireless Emergency Alert system, FEMA is coordinating the test with the Federal Communications Commission. A tweet in September from the Department of Homeland Security reminded Americans that their phone numbers will be kept confidential.

Word of the new tool sparked outrage on social media that Trump could use the system to tweet to every American. That myth was quickly dispelled, but it's true that you can't opt out of the system.

Alert systems aren't foolproof. In January, residents of Hawaii received an erroneous alert of an inbound ballistic missile, causing panic and confusion. The mistake wasn't corrected until 38 minutes later.

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