The New York Times reports:
An early-morning emergency alert mistakenly warning of an incoming ballistic missile attack was dispatched to cellphones across Hawaii early Saturday morning, setting off widespread panic in a state that was already on high emotional alert because of escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea.
Officials recalled the alert about 40 minutes after it was issued in a scramble of confusion over why it happened. Outrage was immediately expressed by state officials and among people who live in what is normally a famously tranquil part of the Pacific.
Officials said the alert resulted from human error and was not the work of hackers or a foreign government. At no time, officials said, was there any indication that a nuclear attack had been launched on the United States. “The public must have confidence in our emergency alert system,” the governor, David Ige said. “I am working to get to the bottom of this so we can prevent an error of this type in the future.”
Let’s think of this absurd false alarm as a warning about having an unfit, unstable man in charge of the nuclear arsenal. Let’s stop pretending congress has their hands tied.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 13, 2018
CNN producer @lorenzaCNN describes receiving the false alarm in Hawaii: “We got alerts on our phone… we opened our sliding glass door to look out onto the beach, we saw probably 10 different families running, not walking, running back to their room.” https://t.co/iBTS3gVX0y pic.twitter.com/Xhi5W70Mx6
— CNN (@CNN) January 13, 2018
Relieved that the Hawaii missle alert was a false alarm because I would have been so pissed if my last act on earth was buying a single ticket to “Paddington 2.”
— Frank Pallotta (@frankpallotta) January 13, 2018
Just be thankful that had this been a real missile attack, Trump would have been on the golf course
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 13, 2018
HAWAII – THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE. THE ALERT WAS SENT OUT INADVERENTLY. I HAVE SPOKEN TO HAWAII OFFICIALS AND CONFIRMED THERE IS NO THREAT. pic.twitter.com/hwRGct2aTa
— Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiPress) January 13, 2018
Who is being fired for mistakenly sending out an emergency alert of an incoming ICBM headed towards Hawaii? What if the President had been scrolling through Twitter and saw that?
We could all be dead by now because someone messed up and POTUS decided to Twitter-Order a response
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) January 13, 2018
What just happened in Hawaii is really, really bad. A disastrously wrong warning isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s life-threatening, because people will be less likely to trust future warnings. https://t.co/sbpQisxcE6
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) January 13, 2018
U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Cmdr. David Benham said in a statement that PACOM “has detected NO ballistic missile threat to #Hawaii” and that an “earlier message was sent in error.” https://t.co/wCoCPf1McG
— Nick Short ?? (@PoliticalShort) January 13, 2018
It took nearly 40 minutes for residents of Hawaii to receive a second alert informing them that a ballistic missile was not incoming.
40 minutes.
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) January 13, 2018
Reading replies from people in Hawaii & CA, the sheer terror that is still going on, is heartbreaking.
And if you don’t see a problem in someone unhinged & unstable with their finger on the button, imagine the moment donald was on the 6th hole and told there’s a missile coming.
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) January 13, 2018
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: “The people of Hawaii in this country should not have to go through something like this before leaders in this country start to take this threat seriously” pic.twitter.com/iAsw0wq1XQ
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) January 13, 2018
BREAKING VIDEO: Footage shows children being placed into storm drains immediately after Emergency Ballistic Missile Warning was sent to residents in Hawaii.pic.twitter.com/GVDyVEARgR
— Jemisha (@JemiSHaaaZzz) January 13, 2018
JUST IN: Hawaii Governor David Ige tells CNN that someone “pushed the wrong button” during an employee shift change, sending out the false alert about an incoming ballistic missile https://t.co/FD1vl6fCzh pic.twitter.com/2zhXLApLcr
— CNN (@CNN) January 13, 2018
So if you were watching Spurs v Everton in Hawaii….
Wouldn’t sh** yourself much, would you? ????
It was a false alarm.
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) January 13, 2018
Hawaii EMA administrator: “It’s my responsibility so this would be my fault…we’ll take action to prevent this from ever happening again.” pic.twitter.com/rYZixUptQP
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) January 13, 2018
“I was sitting in the bathtub with my children, saying our prayers,” says Hawaii state representative Matt LoPresti in emotional interview after false missile alert https://t.co/iBTS3gVX0y https://t.co/EBRyDLQa9q
— CNN (@CNN) January 13, 2018
.@Cernovich on #Periscope: Deep State sends Hawaii into state of panic over ballistic missile warning https://t.co/zfbB70ppJJ
— Joe Palmer ✘ (@JoeSPalmer) January 13, 2018
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: “Our leaders have failed us. Donald Trump is taking too long. He’s not taking this threat seriously … This is literally life and death that is at stake.” pic.twitter.com/mSYY92sm8P
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 13, 2018