DHS/NATIONAL SECURITY: “U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen cautioned Sunday [1-14-18] that Americans shouldn’t react to Saturday’s false alarm in Hawaii, warning of a nonexistent ballistic missile attack, by disregarding emergency warnings in the future… Federal, state and local officials continued their efforts Sunday to determine how to prevent a recurrence of the panic that was triggered when a Hawaii state employee hit the wrong button on a computer during a shift change, accidentally sending an alert to many of the state’s cellphones.
‘BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII,’ the alert said to the island chain of about 1.4 million people. ‘SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.’
Authorities canceled the alert six minutes later in an effort to stop it from being sent to people who hadn’t already received it. But it took 38 minutes for a second alert to be sent out canceling the first, and officials at all levels said Sunday the incident exposed significant flaws in the emergency-alert system… Hawaii’s system for sending out emergency alerts has now been changed to a system with two people involved so the same kind of mistake can’t happen again, state officials said.
Some lawmakers said Hawaii’s mishap raises broader questions relating to U.S. policy toward North Korea and what Washington is doing to address the threat that North Korea could launch a missile strike that would threaten Hawaii or other places.”
-Stephanie Armour, “DHS Secretary Calls Hawaii Alert ‘Unfortunate Situation’,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 14, 2018 01:04pm