01-16-2018, 10:55 AM
US Official Defends Early-Warning Systems After Hawaii 'Failure'
![[Image: US%2BTOP%2BOFFICIAL.jpg]](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lor_5aCFsXQ/Wlwa51E3ywI/AAAAAAAARkk/jsN28SXpJsIgZRPA6AZ7GVn8dHLwt8wbwCLcBGAs/s400/US%2BTOP%2BOFFICIAL.jpg)
US top official on Sunday defended government early-warning systems after a false missile alert terrified Hawaii, in what a congresswoman called an epic failure that emphasized the need for talks with North Korea.
The Pacific archipelago was already on edge over fears of a North Korean attack when the phones of residents and tourists blared the alert just after 8:00 am (1800 GMT) on Saturday.
Emergency management officials later admitted "the wrong button was pushed" during a shift change. But it took them nearly 40 minutes to issue a corrected message. Hawaii's governor said there was no automatic way to cancel the false alarm, meaning it had to be done manually.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii issued her own advisory of the false alarm much earlier after directly checking with civil defense officials, she told ABC television's "This Week."
"It's an epic failure of leadership," said Gabbard.
"It was unacceptable that this went out in the first place, but the fact that it took so long for them to put out that second message, to calm people, to allay their fears that this was a mistake, a false alarm is something that has to be fixed, corrected with people held accountable."
The alert, which read "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL," sent people rushing for safety, whether in a bathtub, a basement, a manhole or cowering under mattresses.
"False alerts undermine public confidence in the alerting system and thus reduce their effectiveness during real emergencies," said Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which is responsible for Emergency Alert System procedures and is investigating what happened.
"It appears that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert," Pai said in a statement.
The erroneous message came after months of soaring tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, which claimed it had successfully tested ballistic missiles that could deliver atomic warheads to the United States, including the Hawaiian islands popular with tourists.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen urged people "not to draw the wrong conclusion" from the Hawaii incident.
"I would hate for anybody not to abide by alert warnings coming from government systems," she said on "Fox News Sunday."
"They can trust government systems, we test them every day. This was a very unfortunate mistake, but these alerts are vital; seconds and minutes can save lives."
(AFP)
![[Image: US%2BTOP%2BOFFICIAL.jpg]](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lor_5aCFsXQ/Wlwa51E3ywI/AAAAAAAARkk/jsN28SXpJsIgZRPA6AZ7GVn8dHLwt8wbwCLcBGAs/s1600/US%2BTOP%2BOFFICIAL.jpg)
US top official on Sunday defended government early-warning systems after a false missile alert terrified Hawaii, in what a congresswoman called an epic failure that emphasized the need for talks with North Korea.
The Pacific archipelago was already on edge over fears of a North Korean attack when the phones of residents and tourists blared the alert just after 8:00 am (1800 GMT) on Saturday.
Emergency management officials later admitted "the wrong button was pushed" during a shift change. But it took them nearly 40 minutes to issue a corrected message. Hawaii's governor said there was no automatic way to cancel the false alarm, meaning it had to be done manually.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii issued her own advisory of the false alarm much earlier after directly checking with civil defense officials, she told ABC television's "This Week."
"It's an epic failure of leadership," said Gabbard.
"It was unacceptable that this went out in the first place, but the fact that it took so long for them to put out that second message, to calm people, to allay their fears that this was a mistake, a false alarm is something that has to be fixed, corrected with people held accountable."
The alert, which read "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL," sent people rushing for safety, whether in a bathtub, a basement, a manhole or cowering under mattresses.
"False alerts undermine public confidence in the alerting system and thus reduce their effectiveness during real emergencies," said Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which is responsible for Emergency Alert System procedures and is investigating what happened.
"It appears that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert," Pai said in a statement.
The erroneous message came after months of soaring tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, which claimed it had successfully tested ballistic missiles that could deliver atomic warheads to the United States, including the Hawaiian islands popular with tourists.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen urged people "not to draw the wrong conclusion" from the Hawaii incident.
"I would hate for anybody not to abide by alert warnings coming from government systems," she said on "Fox News Sunday."
"They can trust government systems, we test them every day. This was a very unfortunate mistake, but these alerts are vital; seconds and minutes can save lives."
(AFP)