Resignations, sacking over Hawaii false missile alert

The top two civilian officials of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency have resigned in a personnel shakeup stemming from the false ballistic missile alert earlier this month that stirred mass hysteria across the state.


The individual who admitted to mistakenly issuing the alert has been fired.

An investigation found the system for activating a missile alert and conducting emergency drills was deeply flawed, lacking sufficient clarity, fail-safe controls or even a pre-programmed way of issuing a false alarm notice to the public.

Those shortcomings came into play the day a supervisor decided to initiate a drill during a weekend shift change, leading a warning system officer to mistakenly transmit a live missile alert.

The message, issued amid heightened tension over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, stated: "EMERGENCY ALERT BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
 (RTE)
 31/1/18
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• False Ballistic Missile Alarm in Hawaii Caused by Employee Mistake: Pushing "the wrong button"