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Hawaii missile alert: How one employee ‘pushed the wrong button’ and caused a wave of panic
Washington Post ^ | 01/15/2018 | Amy B. Wang

Posted on 01/15/2018 8:46:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday, 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.

“In this case, the operator selected the wrong menu option,” HEMA spokesman Richard Rapoza told The Washington Post on Sunday.

Around 8:07 a.m., an errant alert went out to scores of Hawaii residents and tourists on their cellphones: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” A more detailed message scrolled across television screens in Hawaii, suggesting, “If you are indoors, stay indoors. If you are outdoors, seek immediate shelter in a building. Remain indoors well away from windows. If you are driving, pull safely to the side of the road and seek shelter in a building or lay on the floor.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: hawaii; hawaiimissilealert; missilealert
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To: SeekAndFind
And then there was the INTENTIONAL sounding of air raid sirens by the Daley administration in 1959 to celebrate the White Sox pennant:

"Fire Commissioner Robert J. Quinn ordered a celebratory five-minute sounding of the city's air-raid sirens. The late-night wail, at a time when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's threat to bury America was still fresh, frightened tens of thousands of area residents. Many rushed to the streets. Others herded hysterical children to shelter. "We had seven children under 9 and woke them all up when the sirens screamed," said Mrs. Earl Gough of the South Side. "We said Hail Marys together in the basement." Quinn apologized but also argued that the incident provided "a very good test" of the area's readiness, which he found wanting. Mayor Richard J. Daley claimed Quinn acted in accordance with a City Council proclamation that "there shall be whistles and sirens blowing and there shall be great happiness when the White Sox win the pennant."

61 posted on 01/15/2018 10:02:59 AM PST by Charlemagne on the Fox
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To: Lou L

You point is probably EXACTLY what happened. They brought up the wrong event and just “okay” buttoned their way through.

One of the things my system does, for example, is that it will make deletions a positive action. This means that if you are just clicking through you will answer the “hold” question incorrectly and the data will not be deleted.


62 posted on 01/15/2018 10:04:23 AM PST by Vermont Lt (Burn. It. Down.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Confused by Test missile alert” and Missile alert.
Why you never hire by the quota system.


63 posted on 01/15/2018 10:07:10 AM PST by Vaduz (women and children to be impacted the most.)
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To: SeekAndFind; All
"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."

Hmm?

Given the explanation is honest, the problem with the Hawaii incident may not be user error per se, but an “ergonomically” incorrect computer graphics user interface (GUI) design.

More specifically, depending on if the missile options in the drop-down menu are next to each other, sometimes, when the computer has better things to do than to closely track mouse movements in a drop-down list, I actually have to momentarily pause for the computer to catch up and hilite the selection under the cursor before clicking.

Otherwise, another option may get selected.

Other times, when I’m in a hurry, and the selections in the drop-down menu have somehow moved closer to each other, I clumsily click the wrong option.

Again, I wonder if the missile alert options in this case are next to each other in the drop-down menu?

There are several options for programmers to make the right selection fail-safe, employing optional modifier keys for example. But if GUI ergonomics are where the problem really is then this issue may be a root GUI design problem.

64 posted on 01/15/2018 10:10:18 AM PST by Amendment10
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
Hawaii is completely under the control of Democrats - how will they account for this case of gross incompetence on the state level?

Oh, yer one o' those judgmental conservatives, huh?

65 posted on 01/15/2018 10:19:30 AM PST by savedbygrace
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To: SeekAndFind

Democrats cannot even trusted to push the right button.


66 posted on 01/15/2018 10:20:34 AM PST by Rannug (When you're dead, you're dead. Until then fight with everything you have.)
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To: dirtboy

My guess is the person simply did not read what they were doing. They just pushed the button.

In our “drills” every message starts with “ this is a drill.” And, no buttons are pushed to avoid this crap.


67 posted on 01/15/2018 10:22:35 AM PST by Vermont Lt (Burn. It. Down.)
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To: SeekAndFind

A Dem fuctionary in a Dem state just ‘War of the Worlds’ their entire statewide voter base.

At least they are now NOT in charge of more important buttons.


68 posted on 01/15/2018 10:29:27 AM PST by Hiryusan
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To: z3n

It’s harder to order an On Demand movie.


69 posted on 01/15/2018 10:30:16 AM PST by ebshumidors
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To: SeekAndFind

This story can’t be true. Jamie Lee Curtis said it was Trump’s fault and that’s all that matters.

I wonder if that dimwit walk that back yet on Twitter?


70 posted on 01/15/2018 10:31:43 AM PST by DAC21
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To: jimjohn

So I hear they reassigned that Miyagi characters nephew who pushed the button.

They put him in charge of Honolulu rail project.

(an inside joke for the kamaaina)

zig


71 posted on 01/15/2018 10:34:17 AM PST by zigmeisterxiv
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To: semaj

No.


72 posted on 01/15/2018 10:37:52 AM PST by doorgunner69 (Give me the liberty to take care of my own security..........)
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To: SeekAndFind

Apologies to any freepers who may be competent government employees, but I have to say that I have almost NEVER encountered a competent government employee and I deal with them all the time. Blithering fools in most cases.


73 posted on 01/15/2018 10:37:56 AM PST by Newtoidaho (Proud member of Trump's army of online trolls)
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To: SeekAndFind

The employee was breaking Walnuts and hit the button by mistake , TWICE


74 posted on 01/15/2018 10:38:42 AM PST by butlerweave
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To: pepsionice
if this had occurred in Alabama or Mississippi...the weather guy for the local station would have looked at the mess going on about three minutes into this and stopped the feed from going out from the station.

That's sort of what happened with the 1971 false alarm I posted earlier. The vast majority of TV and radio stations looked at it and decided it HAD to be a mistake. They did not broadcast it on the air.

This of course caused the Feds to have a cow about them doing the same during an actual attack. Bottom line is they replaced the EBS with the new EAS. At the flip of a switch Uncle Sam now gets to interrupt their programming with a broadcast directly from Washington.

All you transmitters belong us.


75 posted on 01/15/2018 10:39:19 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Vermont Lt

If they shot a rocket and it hit a dolphin would it have been on porpoise?


76 posted on 01/15/2018 11:11:16 AM PST by 9422WMR
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To: SeekAndFind

“Wave of panic????????????????????


77 posted on 01/15/2018 12:05:11 PM PST by faucetman (Ju"st the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
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To: redgolum

You are not alone.


78 posted on 01/15/2018 12:11:51 PM PST by 353FMG
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To: Parley Baer

George Webb comments...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg_yE89Nx94


79 posted on 01/15/2018 2:17:57 PM PST by smileyface (Things looking up in RED PA! I love President Trump!)
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