Government emergency alerts are short messages sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial public alerting authorities to warn the public of an impending natural or human-made disaster. These alerts are sent through the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system, which is a public safety system that allows customers who own compatible mobile devices to receive geographically targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. The WEA system enables government officials to target emergency alerts to specific geographic areas. The types of alerts that can be sent through WEA include Presidential Alerts, Imminent Threat Alerts, Public Safety Alerts, and Americas Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alerts.

In addition to WEA, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) is another national public warning system that allows state and local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as weather and AMBER alerts, to the public. The EAS is designed to allow the president to speak to the American people within ten minutes during a national emergency via specific outlets such as radio and television.

Overall, government emergency alerts are an important tool for public safety officials to warn the public of imminent threats to safety and provide immediate, life-saving information during emergencies.