The EAS can only be used to relay audio messages that preempt all programming ; as the intent of an Emergency Action Notification is to serve as a " last-ditch effort to get a message out if the p resident can not get to the media " , it can easily be made redundant by the near-immediate media coverage that major weather events and other newsworthy situations — such as , most prominently , the September 11 attacks in 2001 — receive from television broadcasters and news channels . Following the attacks , then-FCC chairman Michael K. Powell cited " the ubiquitous media environment " as justification for not using the EAS in their immediate aftermath . Glenn Collins of '' The New York Times '' acknowledged these limitations , noting that " no president has ever used the current EAS system or its technical predecessors in the last 50 years , despite the Soviet missile crisis , a presidential assassination , the Oklahoma City bombing , major earthquakes and three recent high-alert terrorist warnings " , and that using it would have actually hindered the availability of live coverage from media outlets
presidential assassination
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Emergency Alert System