Hawaii Missile Alert Wasn’t Accidental, Officials Say, Blaming Worker
The mistake, which touched off panic and confusion across Hawaii on Jan. 13, occurred when the worker misinterpreted testing
instructions from a supervisor, according to the Federal Communications Commission and state officials in Hawaii.
WASHINGTON — The Hawaii emergency management services worker who sent a false alert warning of an incoming ballistic missile this month had a long history of poor performance
and sent the warning because he thought the state faced an actual threat, officials said on Tuesday.
Although other emergency management officials in Hawaii understood
that the state was conducting a drill at the time, the employee who sent the alert said in a written statement that he had believed there was a real emergency.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, the supervisor also erroneously said, “This is not a drill.”
According to Bruce Oliveira, the retired Army general who led the state investigation, the
message spoken by the shift leader did not adhere to the script outlined in the protocol.
Without going into detail, he said the Pacific Command was “using lessons from this event as an
opportunity to improve our internal processes as well as coordination with state authorities.”
Started in 2012, the Wireless Emergency Alert system grew from the decades-old Emergency Broadcast System used for television and radio alerts.
Believing the instructions were for a real emergency, the worker, who has not been identified,
sent the live alert to the cellphones of all Hawaii residents and visitors to the state.
