U.S. Government to start sending emergency alerts to cell phones

Is the new mantra reach out and frighten someone?

Wireless devices to get emergency alerts: Discusses plans cooked up during the "Cold War" but never used. These plans are that cell phones will become a device to which the government can send warnings of national emergencies.

It does sound useful, doesn't it? If there's an emergency, the government needs to send out instructions. For example where shelters are, escape routes from hurricanes, etc. It would be like the emergency broadcast system on the radio, but more ubiquitous. It's known that people carry their cell phone with them all the time, basically as often as they carry their keys. A warning system that reaches cell phones should be more effective than other kinds of warnings.

But the current administration has a history of sending out frightening messages that have little real content. It seems the current administration wants to frighten the populace rather than inform us.