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Hawaii fires employee who sent false ballistic missile alert

Hawaii fires employee who sent false ballistic missile alert

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Image: Tulsi Gabbard

Hawaii officials said Tuesday that they had fired the emergency management employee who sent a false ballistic missile alert earlier this month. The administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has also resigned in the wake of the incident.

The report said several problems contributed to the event

The state released the details of its investigation into the incident, following an FCC report earlier today that included some overlapping details. The state’s report said “insufficient management controls, poor computer software design, and human factors” contributed to the false alert being sent, and that protocol changes have been made to prevent similar incidents in the future.

State officials also revealed that the employee who was terminated on Friday “has performance issues,” and had confused drills with real-world events in at least two previous incidents. The report said colleagues had complained about such issues in the past.

As the FCC said in its report released earlier today, the employee said in a statement that he believed there was a legitimate missile attack underway. The state’s report noted that statement, but also said several other employees present correctly heard that the drill was not a real attack.