Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by takyon on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the oopsday dept.

A few minutes ago, phones across Hawaii received the above emergency alert about a "ballistic missile threat inbound," but according to state officials it isn't true. US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii's [governor] David Ige and the state's Hawaii Emergency Management Agency all chimed in on Twitter to confirm the alert is false. It took 38 minutes before a second alert reached phones, confirming that the first one was a mistake.

Honolulu police confirmed in a post that "State Warning Point has issued a Missile Alert in ERROR!," while Buzzfeed reporter Amber Jamieson tweets that one EMA employee said it was a part of a drill. US Senator from Hawaii Brian Schatz said the "inexcusable" alert "was a false alarm based on a human error" while the National Weather Service called it a "test message."

The governor said on CNN that "It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift, and an employee pushed the wrong button."

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/13/hawaii-missile-eas/


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @03:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @03:43AM (#622410)

    I wonder if he still keeps around Harry Truman's old sign [wikipedia.org].

    The President is supposed to have ultimate responsibility for even something like this. We'd thought that we put the threat of imminent nuclear annihilation behind us, but then he goes into a dick waving contest with North Korea. Other presidents have dealt with North Korea's posturing in more delicate ways than saying shit that makes them feel like they might just have nothing to lose, and making the threat of nuclear annihilation as credible as it had been in the days of the Cold War.