back to article FYI: That Hawaii missile alert was no UI blunder. Someone really thought the islands were toast

The individual who sent an emergency text to everyone in Hawaii warning them of an imminent missile attack did not hit the wrong button as first claimed – and was actually convinced a real attack was happening. That's according to a report published Tuesday by America's comms watchdog, the Federal Communications Commission ( …

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  1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Lessons will be learned...

    How come the person who sent the alert could get away with refusing to be interviewed?

    1. Daedalus

      >>> How come the person who sent the alert could get away with refusing to be interviewed?

      Probably a combination of jurisdiction (the Feds have a hard time compelling State govt. apparatus) and civil service rules. Without probable cause to suspect a crime, the Feds can't get a warrant and have to rely on co-operation.

      1. Charles 9

        Plus there's the whole Fifth Amendment thing: protection against self-incrimination, the whole "right to remain silent" bit now mandatory reading due to the Miranda decision.

    2. goldcd

      I'd guess along the lines

      of "You can't legally compel me to do so, and I, my rep and everybody around me is of the opinion they don't want to cock-up on record"

      On the flip side - this is pretty much what drills are designed to iron out, just this one went a little too far.

      1. Professor Clifton Shallot

        Re: I'd guess along the lines

        >On the flip side - this is pretty much what drills are designed to iron out

        Right. Which makes the idea that

        "The decision to run a no-notice live drill on a shift change is also met with raised eyebrows. "

        seem a bit daft. They had problems with their system that this drill uncovered - some of them sound like problems they might have predicted but still it's better to know about them than not.

        1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

          Re: I'd guess along the lines

          They had problems with their system that this drill uncovered - some of them sound like problems they might have predicted but still it's better to know about them than not.

          Agreed. While this isn't the right way to run a drill, it did reveal problems, and according to the reports I've seen there were no related deaths or injuries (which there well could have been, in a panic). As a screw-up, it definitely falls short of classics in the field, such as the Great Disappointment.

          Given a choice between recent embarrassing US government escapades, I'd take the Hawaii Missile Scare over Trump's State of the Union blathering. (Though to be fair the SotU speech is rarely substantive or interesting, regardless of who's in the Oval.)

        2. jelabarre59

          Re: I'd guess along the lines

          seem a bit daft. They had problems with their system that this drill uncovered - some of them sound like problems they might have predicted but still it's better to know about them than not.

          That is my thought on it. This is why we test; not to fill out a checklist that says "we tried this, it worked", but to find where things break. If you haven't broken something by the end, you haven't really tested anything.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Eddy Ito

      How? Easy

      Apparently in Hawaiian they have a saying just for situations like this it's wedu nagivafaka.

    4. pavel.petrman

      Re: Lessons

      Let's hope that in due time we will be reading the all important details in the new collumn "Who, me?" here on Reg.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    wtf was that link to? and I quote,

    "I mean, really: How weird is it that this happened twice within two days? Very. You think this was an accident? You think a fuck-up this epic wasn’t focus tested ahead of time by the lizard cabal that lives at the center of the Earth? Get fucking real."

    I mean seriously, center is spelt centre for fuck sake.

    Back to the story I'm guessing the local supermarkets will be having their "New Baby Event" sales in October this year.

    1. AZump

      Hello fellow USian

      In the rest of the world, centre is used as center. To further confuse you, many folks take the two spellings as separate meanings. Center is treated as the word for a place or institution and centre is considered as the word for the middle point of something.

      ...boots, bonnets, bog rolls, flats.

      Tom-A-toe, tom-AH-toe.

      Aluminum, aluminium.

      ...and the lizard people at the center of the Earth? Most Reg readers are familiar with the concept and are simply waiting to see who rules us in the end; The lizard people or the robot overlords.

      My money's on robotic lizard people.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hello fellow USian

        It will be the lizard robotic people of course due to how we tomato.

      2. Teiwaz

        Re: Hello fellow USian

        My money's on robotic lizard people

        Ah, an original Battlestar Galactica fan!

        Didn't think you models were still in production.

      3. Rich 11

        Re: Hello fellow USian

        My money's on robotic lizard people.

        Pfft. Any fule kno it'll be the shapeshifting robotic lizard people who'll really win.

        1. hplasm
          Devil

          Re: Hello fellow USian

          "it'll be the shapeshifting robotic lizard people who'll really win."

          Until the robotic lizard-shit shifters go on strike...

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hello fellow USian

        "Center is treated as the word for a place or institution and centre is considered as the word for the middle point of something."

        It's exactly the other way around where I live. Circles have a center but I go to a shopping centre to buy things.

      5. Mage Silver badge

        Re: Hello fellow USian

        Fanny and Faggot have unfortunate quite different USA and English meanings. As well as throwing them on the fire, I've eaten faggots in Evesham.

        It's the fault of Puritans?

  3. AmenFromMars

    As a kid we had an early warning siren down the road - used to go off every now and again. My mother used to panic but everyone accepted you get false alarms sometimes.

    1. AmenFromMars

      It wasn't until much later that I learnt that the early warning system wasn't there for the general public but to alert ROC (Royal Observer Corps) officers to get to their ROC posts sharpish so they could monitor fallout...

      1. Joe Werner Silver badge

        Ouch!

        I understand that in my mother nation there were only shelters for about... 5% of the populace. The place I am at now was a bit better (but then the whole country has a low population indeed).

        1. Mage Silver badge

          Re: Shelters

          Loads in Switzerland and Israel, possibly for different threats.

    2. Winkypop Silver badge
      Devil

      Portable air raid shelter

      Method: Place your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye.

      On an aircraft, it's what's known as the Extreme Brace Position.

      1. Aladdin Sane

        Re: Brace Position

        Helps preserves the teeth so your cremated remains can be identified after a crash.

        1. imanidiot Silver badge

          Re: Brace Position

          @Aladdin Sane,

          More like helps preserve your teeth by preventing you from slamming face first into the seat in front of you. And better transferring any forces from a crash through the seat, minimizing injury. There is plenty of research on the brace position, and most of it is public. There is no reason to be spouting crap like that. The "the brace position is designed to kill you so the airlines don't have to pay for disabilities" bullshit conspiracy is believed by enough people already. Let's not add to it.

          1. Aladdin Sane

            Re: Brace Position

            The one time I forget the troll icon.

    3. Rich 11

      Early warning siren

      We had one of those too. Confusingly, it was also used for flood warnings after 1953 (not that our area ever flooded, although the river did get a bit close to the top a few times). They'd test the siren twice a year but most people never saw the notice in the local paper, so it just got ignored. They finally took it down in the late 80s, after the threat of nuclear war was judged to be minimal. Naturally the river burst its banks the year after.

      1. joeldillon

        Re: Early warning siren

        As far as I'm aware, they're used to this day in Michigan for tornado warnings.

        1. Am I really doing this?

          Re: Early warning siren

          Tor-nA-doe or tor-nAH-doe?

          1. jake Silver badge

            Re: Early warning siren

            One's a cut of beef, the other is a violent whirling wind accompanied by a cloud that is shaped like a funnel which moves overland in a destructive, narrow path.

            Peh-cahns are for eating, pee-cans are for truckers.

            And amonds are amonds ... To harvest them, you shake the L out of the trees.

            1. Terry 6 Silver badge

              Re: Early warning siren

              In the UK it's suddenly become OK to pronounce the "l" in almond, with a short a as in the abbreviated name "Al". [Mr. Al Mond]. To my ear it sounds horrible and artificial. Perversely "Ralph" is often now pronounced "Rafe". Celebs who have been known as "Ralph Somebody" all their lives are now mysteriously transformed into Rafes.And while I'm on a mini-rant a macaroon type cake has now become a "macaron" They've been macaroons for the whole of my life, perfectly acceptably so. Suddenly they've been made into mac-a-bloody-rons FFS.

      2. Charles 9

        Re: Early warning siren

        There's a series of sirens in the Middle Neck of Virginia, around the Surry nuclear power station. They have to test those once a month. Thing is, the test siren (a couple long blares) has a totally different pattern from an actual energency siren (which has short blares).

  4. H in The Hague

    EMA - puzzling

    I found this rather puzzling "... the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) starts calling TV and radio stations to get the message out but its phone lines become clogged as the public try to find out what is going on."

    So that means EMA depends on the public networks for emergency communications with the media?!? That seems to be asking for trouble. I appreciate it might not be as easy to set up fixed circuits to a few key media as it would have been in the days of analogue telephony. But surely they could provide some alternative channel - carrier pigeon, if need be (https://www.gchq.gov.uk/features/pigeon-takes-secret-message-grave).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: EMA - puzzling

      Hawaii is a chain of island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and in the tropics: decidedly NOT pigeon territory. Anyway, the circumstances mean nigh any form of communication in Hawaii has the distinct risk of not working.

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: EMA - puzzling

        Semaphore code using brightly coloured grass skirts signalling arm and body movements.

        1. Charles 9

          Re: EMA - puzzling

          "Semaphore code using brightly coloured grass skirts signalling arm and body movements."

          Lost in the horizon due to the distances between islands, unless you're of the Flat Earth cult who honestly believe that's the opposing beach you see across the miles of ocean between islands.

          As for radio, one good typhoon or volcanic eruption will knock out all the power to the radio transmitters (including the backups).

      2. bep

        Um...

        I think you underestimate the ubiquity of our wayfinding avian friends:

        http://www.speedpigeon.com/state_hawaii.htm

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: EMA - puzzling

        Radio?

      4. Allan George Dyer
        Joke

        Re: EMA - puzzling

        The Hawaiian pigeons are immigrants. They are taking jobs from native Poʻouli and ʻAkikiki. Build a wall!

      5. wallaby

        Re: EMA - puzzling

        How about the African swallow ?

        they have a great unladen airspeed velocity, and if they can carry a coconut imagine how many messages they could carry

      6. Warm Braw

        Re: EMA - puzzling

        communication in Hawaii has the distinct risk of not working

        Actually, Hawaii is an elecronic communications pioneer.

      7. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: EMA - puzzling

        Hawaii is a chain of island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

        A chain of volcanic islands - so smoke signal would be optimal

      8. Uffish

        Re: distinct risk of not working

        There is a communication protocol for that called ALOHA. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

        Edit: Oops, WarmBraw got there first.

  5. redpawn

    Just scarier than usual

    The sirens go off here, Oahu, for approaching hurricanes and possible tsunamis. Often there is a sub 1ft wave or a not too destructive storm. Every couple of months our phones blare with flash flood alerts which affect parts of the island. Monthly the sirens go off in tests now including the attack warning. On occasion a local siren or two go off for no reason.

    Our state is often very inefficient. We feel the need to reinvent everything before deploying it even when others have a successful model.

    I was not surprised we would have an error so only thought there was an off chance of casualties other than heart attacks and deaths caused by panic.

  6. Blofeld's Cat
    Mushroom

    Hmm ...

    "... The report goes with the official version – of a misunderstanding – although it inserts a few skeptical notes ...

    "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

    1. TRT Silver badge
  7. vir

    When I used run drills on sensitive equipment, we would have a drill team member stationed by each control station where actual damage could be done. The chain of actions and responses would run its course until the very end when the drill team member would cover the switch or valve with their hand and inform the operator that the switch was now "simulated pressed", etc. If they want, they can hire me to go out to Hawaii and do the same for them. My rates are very reasonable.

  8. Ikoth

    Shame

    P0rnhu8 will be so upset they've fixed the system:

    http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/after-missile-alert-confirmed-as-false-alarm-this-is-how-hawaii-celebrated/

    1. AmenFromMars
      Thumb Up

      Re: Shame

      Fascinating.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shame

      Dam it Man!

      You just gave out the governor’s twitter password... P0rnhu8

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