15 January 2018 - Ballistic missile threat for Hawaii was false alarm
38 Minutes Of Panic In Hawaii
Tamara Keith (NPR, 14/01/2018)
Hawaiian authorities mistakenly sent an alert, warning of an incoming ballistic missile. It took 38 minutes to let people know it was a false alarm.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: There were 38 minutes of high anxiety in Hawaii yesterday when people there received an emergency alert that there was an incoming ballistic missile. Turns out, it was a false alarm issued by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, and Governor David Ige has apologized. But the event left a lot of people shaken, including our own White House correspondent Tamara Keith, who is on Oahu for vacation. And she joins us now. Hey, Tam.
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Civil Defence Employee
The Hawaii worker who 'pressed the wrong button' has been reassigned
Tara Francis Chan (Business Insider, 15/10/2018)
The worker who sent a false missile alert to Hawaiian residents on Saturday has reportedly been reassigned.
The civil defence employee has been moved to another role, but not fired, according to multiple media reports.
In a press conference on Saturday, the head of Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency, Vern Miyagi, said the worker "feels terrible."
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State Issue
As panic subsides, Trump officials call Hawaii missile scare a state issue
Todd C. Frankel and Amy B Wang (The Wahsington Post, 14/01/2018)
The Trump administration Sunday pointed to the state of Hawaii for answers about a panic-inducing false alert of an incoming missile attack but said it would now get involved after an incident that raised broader questions about the national state of nuclear preparedness at a time of escalating tensions with North Korea.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called the Saturday panic an “unfortunate incident” during her appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” indicating the problem must be handled by Hawaii state officials. And Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai reported that a full investigation was “well underway,” adding that “it appears the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert.”
President Trump, off for a golf weekend at Mar-a-Lago, told reporters that he was pleased that Hawaii officials “took responsibility.” Although he said the federal government would now “get involved,” he did not say how.
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Alert System
Hawaii told to fix its alert system after false missile alarm
(BBC News, 14/01/2018)
The US state of Hawaii has been told it did not have "reasonable" safeguards in place to prevent the false missile alert that caused panic on Saturday.
Ajit Pai, chairman of America's media regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said the error was "absolutely unacceptable".
The 38-minute delay in issuing the correction made it worse, he added.
He called for officials at all levels throughout the US to work together to rectify any vulnerabilities.
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