What Happened to the Employee Who Accidentally Sent the Hawaii Alert and Almost Sent Us into War?

Last updated on: January 16, 2018 at 12:08 am by Martha English

What Happened to the Employee Who Accidentally Sent the Hawaii Alert and Almost Sent Us into War? 2018-01-16T00:08:57-05:00 Martha English

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Hawaii Tropical Landscape Hawaiian Island Kuai

Hawaii Tropical Landscape Hawaiian Island Kuai

For thirty-seven minutes Saturday morning, people in the state of Hawaii believed they were under attack after receiving a Civil Defense alert warning of a ballistic missile threat. At 8 am local time, people’s phones began alarming them of the threat. Also televisions broadcast the warning along with directions on where to position yourself in the house, promising, “This is not a drill.”

The Daily Mail reports:

Hawaii falls within the range of the intercontinental ballistic missiles that North Korea have been testing in recent months as tensions between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un flare.

The initial alert was sent out at 8.08am, sparking hysteria across the state.

Of course, it was all a mistake. Apparently, it was super easy to make that mistake. According to the Washington Post:

Shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday morning, an employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency settled in at the start of his shift. Among his duties that day was to initiate an internal test of the emergency missile warning system: essentially, to practice sending an emergency alert to the public without actually sending it to the public.

It was a drill the agency had started with some regularity last November — around the time Hawaii reinstated its Cold War-era nuclear warning sirens amid growing fears of an attack by North Korea — and so, while the tests were not yet routine enough to be predictable, they were not entirely new either, according to an agency spokesman.

Around 8:05 a.m., the Hawaii emergency employee initiated the internal test, according to a timeline released by the state. From a drop-down menu on a computer program, he saw two options: “Test missile alert” and “Missile alert.” He was supposed to choose the former; as much of the world now knows, he chose the latter, an initiation of a real-life missile alert.

The unnamed emergency-department worker is taking the fall for this, but he won’t be fired. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Richard Rapoza told the Washington Post, “Part of the problem was it was too easy — for anyone — to make such a big mistake. We have to make sure that we’re not looking for retribution, but we should be fixing the problems in the system. … I know that it’s a very, very difficult situation for him.”

I’d say so, but it’s also been very difficult for all those living in Hawaii who thought for over half an hour that they might die. This comic seems particularly relevant:

Relevant comic. pic.twitter.com/iggZRFEbyq

— skyxie (@skyxie) January 15, 2018

Image Credit: MaxPixel

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