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False Hawaii Missile Alert Sent After Drill Recording Said 'This Is Not A Drill' (npr.org)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

A false ballistic missile alert in Hawaii was sent on January 13 because an emergency worker believed there really was a missile threat, according to a preliminary investigation by The Federal Communications Commission. From a report: The report finds that the false alert was not the result of a worker choosing the wrong alert by accident from a drop-down menu, but rather because the worker misunderstood a drill as a true emergency. The drill incorrectly included the language "This is not a drill."

5 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. So the worker did their job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Funny, it said it wasn't a drill, so the worker treated the alert as the real deal.

    I'm glad we have that person ready to save Hawaii from a missile strike. If anything they deserve a raise for doing such a standup job.

    Captcha: grenade

    1. Re:So the worker did their job by arth1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One would presume that someone who was paying attention at the time would at least seek clarification on the mixed message before sending a whole state into a panic.

      When there are mere seconds between thousands of lives being saved or lost, I would hope that they do not seek clarification, but err on the side of caution. I would commend this person and fire the idiot who approved the text "This is not a drill" in a drill.

    2. Re:So the worker did their job by T.E.D. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Quite. If a human listener cannot trust the phrase "This is not a drill" to be an indicator that this is not a drill, then the phrase itself has no meaning whatsoever and shouldn't be included in either case.

  2. Hawaii takes "this is not a drill" seriously ... by perpenso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Funny, it said it wasn't a drill, so the worker treated the alert as the real deal.

    For some reason people in Hawaii take the phrase "this is not a drill" seriously.
    https://www.archives.gov/bosto...

  3. When did Americans become so INSANELY afraid?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a trend I have noticed for the last 10 years: Americans have become so ridiculously afraid of literally everything... Constantly on the edge, flipping by a hair trigger. Everything is OMG this, and creepy that, and don't dare or try anything that could even remotely make one imagine it might possibly cause dreams where one might dream of dreaming of imagining that there might be a chance it might be imaginable that there might be a risk.

    It's mad, to see it from the outside.

    Is it the fearmongering? Is it psychotropic drugs given to livestock and then in the meat? Is it the constant fearmongering of the news? Is it because intelligence has actually gone up and everyone now being better at coming up with possible ways it could go wrong?

    I just know, this won't end well.
    Or maybe I'm just affected by it too.