AEROSPACE & DEFENSE APRIL 10, 2018 / 5:15 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

U.S. report blames Hawaii missile scare on human error, poor safeguards

David Shepardson
2 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government report on Tuesday blamed Hawaii’s false alert of a missile attack in January on a “combination of human error and inadequate safeguards.”

The false alarm, which went uncorrected for 38 minutes after being transmitted to mobile phones and broadcast stations, caused widespread panic across the Pacific islands state.

The Federal Communications Commission final report on the incident followed revelations that the employee who issued the warning mistook a test drill for an actual attack.

The FCC said the primary error was the misunderstanding by the employee who sent the alert but also blamed a miscommunication between two supervisors. It also said Hawaii authorities should not have allowed a single employee to send an alert without requiring confirmation from a second person.

The report found that Hawaii conducted far more drills than typical and did not have a plan to respond and correct a false alert. It also blamed deficiencies in Hawaii’s training.

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