1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats Act of 2018 . 2. Definitions In this Act— (1) the term Administrator means the Administrator of the Agency; (2) the term Agency means the Federal Emergency Management Agency; (3) the term public alert and warning system means the integrated public alert and warning system of the United States described in section 526 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 321o ); and (4) the term State means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession of the United States. 3. Integrated public alert and warning system subcommittee Section 2 of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015 ( Public Law 114–143 ; 130 Stat. 327) is amended— (1) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (6)(B)— (i) in clause (i), by striking and at the end; (ii) in clause (ii)(VII), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and ; and (iii) by adding at the end the following: (iii) recommendations for best practices of State, tribal, and local governments to follow to maintain the integrity of the public alert and warning system, including— (I) the procedures for State, tribal, and local government officials to authenticate civil emergencies and initiate, modify, and cancel alerts transmitted through the public alert and warning system, including protocols and technology capabilities for— (aa) the initiation, or prohibition on the initiation, of alerts by a single authorized or unauthorized individual; and (bb) testing a State, tribal, or local government incident management and warning tool without accidentally initiating an alert through the public alert and warning system