Worker thought Hawaii missile threat was real

Drill took place during shift change, used contradictory language

WASHINGTON — The state worker in Hawaii who sent a false wireless alert warning of an inbound ballistic missile on Jan. 13 issued the message intentionally, thinking the state faced an actual threat, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday.

The mistake, which touched off widespread confusion and panic in Hawaii, occurred when an emergency management services worker misinterpreted testing instructions from a supervisor, the commission said. Believing the instructions were for a real emergency, the worker sent the live alert to the cellphones of all Hawaii residents and visitors.

Officials had previously described the episode as an accident. The FCC investigation, which is continuing, revealed a series of missteps that led to the false alert, including big gaps in Hawaii’s protocol for handling public safety alerts.

Beginning at 8:05 a.m., a midnight supervisor in Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency began an unplanned drill during a shift change. The supervisor pretended to be from the U.S. Pacific Command in a phone call placed to day shift workers.

In the call, the supervisor said, “Exercise, exercise, exercise,” language that is required for tests. But the supervisor also erroneously said, “This is not a drill.”

Although other emergency management officials in Hawaii understood that the state was conducting an internal drill at the time, the employee who sent the alert said in a written statement that he or she had believed it was an actual emergency.

The employee, who has not been publicly identified, then chose from options in a dropdown menu that included test and real alerts. When prompted with the question “Are you sure you want to send this alert?” the employee clicked “yes,” according to the commission.

About 38 minutes later, the state corrected the mistake with another alert.

Hawaii “didn’t have reasonable safeguards in place,” Ajit Pai, the commission chair, said.

The mistake has stoked calls by lawmakers and regulators to improve wireless emergency alerts, which are slowly being updated and will include longer messages and Spanish-language versions starting next year.

The episode in Hawaii also revealed major differences in how alerts are sent. In places like Houston, Chicago and New York City, tests and real alerts are not kept in the same drop-down menu, and at least one other person’s approval is required to send an alert, according to public safety experts.