| has gloss | eng: The National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR) is a civilian warning device in the United States. It is a 2-3" square box that is designed to plug into a home power outlet to receive a special signal sent over the electric power transmission lines. Research and testing for the NEAR program was developed in 1956 during the cold war to supplement the existing siren warning systems and radio broadcasts in the event of a nuclear attack. For unspecified reasons, the program went defunct and the devices were destroyed by their respective manufacturers. The publicized policy of mutually assured destruction and other factors helped make the program unnecessary. |
