The EAS, and more broadly IPAWS, allows federal, state, and local authorities to efficiently broadcast emergency alert and warning messages across multiple channels.

The ubiquity of news coverage in these situations, such as during the September 11 attacks, has been credited to making usage of the system unnecessary or redundant.

[3] In practice, it is used at a regional scale to distribute information regarding imminent threats to public safety, such as severe weather situations (including flash floods and tornadoes), AMBER Alerts, and other civil emergencies.

It contains information about who originated the alert (the president, state or local authorities, the National Weather Service (NOAA/NWS), or the broadcaster), a short, general description of the event (tornado, flood, severe thunderstorm), the areas affected (up to 32 counties or states), the expected duration of the event (in minutes), the date and time it was issued (in UTC), and an identification of the originating station.

[55][56][57] Beginning with WJR Detroit and WLW Cincinnati in 2016, FEMA began the process of constructing transportable studio shelters at the transmitters of 33 PEP stations, which feature broadcasting equipment, emergency provisions, a rest area, and an air filtration system.

EAS decoders compare the received headers against one another, looking for an exact match between any two, eliminating most errors which can cause an activation to fail.

Under a 2006 executive order issued by George W. Bush, the U.S. government was instructed to create "an effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive" public warning system.

[61][62] Under an FCC report and order issued in 2007, EAS participants would be required to migrate to digital equipment supporting CAP within 180 days of the specification's adoption by FEMA.

[63] The FCC has established that IPAWS is not a full substitute for the SAME protocol, as it is vulnerable to situations that may make internet connectivity unavailable.

[65][61] The rules were enacted in September 2022, with a deadline of December 12, 2023, for compliance;[62] the FCC later granted an extension to some broadcasters due to a delay in the release of associated software updates by EAS decoder vendor Sage.

In practice, television stations with local news departments will usually interrupt regularly-scheduled programming during newsworthy situations (such as severe weather) to provide extended coverage.

RWTs are scheduled by the station on random days and times, (though quite often during late night or early afternoon hours), and are generally not relayed.

In July 2018, in response to the aftermath of the false missile alert in Hawaii earlier in the year (which was caused by operator error during an internal drill protocol), the FCC announced that it would take steps to promote public awareness and improve efficiency of the system, including requiring safeguards to prevent distribution of false alarms, the ability to authorize "live code" tests—which would simulate the process and response to an actual emergency, and authorizations to use the EAS tones in public service announcements that promote awareness of the system.

[73][74] The Federal Communications Commission found that only half of the participants received the message via Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, and some "failed to receive or retransmit alerts due to erroneous equipment configuration, equipment readiness and upkeep issues, and confusion regarding EAS rules and technical requirements", and that participation among low-power broadcasters was low.

[85][86] The sixth NPT was postponed to 2021 amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic "out of consideration for the unusual circumstances and working conditions for those in the broadcast and cable industry.

[93][94][95][96][97][98] 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 president cannot get to the media", it can easily be made redundant by the immediate and constant 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.

[3][99] Following the tornado outbreak of March 3, 2019, Birmingham, Alabama NWS meteorologist Kevin Laws told CNN that he, personally, wished that alerts could be updated in real-time in order to reflect the unpredictable nature of weather events, noting that the storm system's unexpected change in trajectory towards Lee County resulted in only a nine-minute warning (the resulting tornado would kill 23 people).

[93] The trend of cord cutting has led to concerns that viewers' lessened use of broadcast media in favor of streaming video services would inhibit their ability to receive emergency information (notwithstanding availability of alerts on mobile phones).

[93] EAS equipment has been the subject of various cyberattacks, caused primarily by participants using insecure or factory default passwords on their encoders and decoders, and outdated software containing unpatched vulnerabilities.

On multiple occasions, federal government departments have warned that failure to employ secure passwords and keep software updated made EAS equipment vulnerable to such attacks, which could result in disruptions such as false alerts.

[118][119][120][121] To protect the integrity of the system, and prevent false activations, the FCC prohibits the use of actual or simulated EAS/WEA tones and attention signals outside of genuine alerts, tests, or authorized public service announcements, especially when they are used "to capture audience attention during advertisements; dramatic, entertainment, and educational programs" (even if the footage is documentation of an event where an actual alert was issued).