# Hawaii Ballistic Missile Threat Warning 13 Jan 18 - Big Mistake



## Rifleman62 (13 Jan 2018)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-ballistic-missile-threat-alert-false-alarm-live-updates/

*Hawaii emergency officials say alert of ballistic missile threat was mistake* - Last Updated Jan 13, 2018 1:52 PM EST

HONOLULU -- Hawaii emergency management officials say a push alert that warned of an incoming ballistic missile to Hawaii on Saturday was a mistake. The emergency alert sent to cellphones said in all caps, "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill." 

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Richard Repoza said it's a false alarm and that the agency is trying to determine what happened. 

"State Warning Point has issued a Missile Alert in ERROR! There is NO threat to the State of Hawaii!" the City and County of Honolulu said in a statement Saturday.
_
NO missile threat to Hawaii.

— Hawaii EMA (@Hawaii_EMA) January 13, 2018_

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard tweeted the alert and said she confirmed with officials that there was no incoming missile.

_HAWAII - THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII. I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH OFFICIALS THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE. pic.twitter.com/DxfTXIDOQs_

— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) January 13, 2018
The alert stirred panic for residents on the island and across social media. 
.
This is a developing story and will be updated.

Apparently the warning went on for 35 minutes before it was announced it was a mistake. Scary. to the families.


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## MarkOttawa (13 Jan 2018)

Tweet by Matthew Fisher of Postmedia:



> Matthew Fisher‏ @mfisheroverseas
> 
> Received a "ballistic missile inbound. this not a drill" warning on my phone here at Honolulu airport. So did everyone else here & at Hickham air base/Pearl Harbor naval base next door. 9 minutes later everyonetold that it was false alarm.  1st time i've had such a warning!
> 1:32 PM - 13 Jan 2018
> https://twitter.com/mfisheroverseas/status/952247018235162624



Thank goodness most people today do not remember this December 7, 1941, US Navy message:






https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/fdr.html

Today's false alarm is a real wake-up call and very many systems had better be looked at very, very closely (and made as secure against hacking as possible).

Mark 
Ottawa


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## ModlrMike (13 Jan 2018)

On the bright side, they get to see how people react when it's not a drill... without it being the real thing.

It would be interesting to read the lessons learned from an Emergency Measures perspective.


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## Old Sweat (13 Jan 2018)

This is very odd. Warning of a missile launched and inbound should come from a national source.

During Gulf 1 the NDOC would get warning of a launch, followed within a very short period of time by a report of area of launch and predicted impact. We had a system operating that allowed us to pass this to our HQ in the Gulf almost instantly. And the HQ would pass it on faster than I can type this.


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## Quirky (13 Jan 2018)

Had to end sometime. The traffic on Oahu is unbearable.


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## mariomike (13 Jan 2018)

MarkOttawa said:
			
		

> Today's false alarm is a real wake-up call < snip >



The first false alarm I recall came during a Partridge Family song,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu4r79l8P8I

"After 40 minutes and six incorrect cancellation messages, the accidental activation was terminated."

Love the creepy piano music they return to after "the accidental activation was terminated".  

1971: "The operator, W. S. Eberhardt, who has worked 15 years at the center, said afterward: "I can't imagine how the hell I did it."

2018: "Someone pushed the wrong button."


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## brihard (13 Jan 2018)

I know I’m not the first to say this, but I’m glad Trump was golfing.


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## SeaKingTacco (13 Jan 2018)

Brihard said:
			
		

> I know I’m not the first to say this, but I’m glad Trump was golfing.



Why? I thought this was Hawaiian State Government mistake, not a NORAD/PACOM mistake.


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## Old Sweat (13 Jan 2018)

SeaKingTacco said:
			
		

> Why? I thought this was Hawaiian State Government mistake, not a NORAD/PACOM mistake.



I'm with you on this. National assets would have determined this was a false alarm and that no response was required.


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## Halifax Tar (13 Jan 2018)

Isn't it amazing how Trump comes up in everything.  I am so tired of hearing his name.


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## Blackadder1916 (13 Jan 2018)

SeaKingTacco said:
			
		

> Why? I thought this was Hawaiian State Government mistake, not a NORAD/PACOM mistake.



Yes, but doesn't the US President get most of his intelligence from social media? [/sarcasm]  And likewise makes most of his pronouncements via same.


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/us/hawaii-missile.html


> . . .
> 
> Officials cancelled the alert, sent out by Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, nearly 40 minutes after it was issued in a scramble of confusion over why it was released — and why it took so long to rescind. Outrage was immediately expressed by state officials and among people who live in what is normally a famously tranquil part of the Pacific, as well as tourists swept up in the panic.
> 
> ...



https://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/files/2017/09/20170921-Preparedness-brief-SEPT-2017.pdf


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## Jarnhamar (13 Jan 2018)

Trump probably told everyone to calm down and not worry since North Korea is opening talks with the South and seem like maybe they're finally getting it.

But like I alluded to in the politics thread nothing combats complacency like a life threatening scare.  I've seen a number of posts from people who allegedly  had family in Hawaii calling them screaming and crying.


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## Bird_Gunner45 (13 Jan 2018)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> I'm with you on this. National assets would have determined this was a false alarm and that no response was required.



Agree. There are enough radar and detection systems to make the authorities aware there was no missile. Trump doesn't factor in.


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## Pieman (13 Jan 2018)

> Had to end sometime. The traffic on Oahu is unbearable.


Oh man! That's no joke!

I happen to be in the area and got to watch the action unfold. The message went out to anyone with a smart phone in Hawaii. They took over 30 minutes to send out a message saying false alarm. 

There were two kinds of reactions I'm seeing, mostly via after action comments on social media. Those who panicked and those who waited for some kind of secondary confirmation.  A couple people noted that planes were still landing at the airport, so that would seem odd if a nuke strike was incoming. People staying in hotels likely had a big fright as a lot of the hotels immediately told everyone to stay in their rooms or seek shelter. Some didn't even buy into that and checked twitter and stayed in bed. People going out shopping dashed into stores before they officially open. Apparently Costco was flooded...which would be a pretty good place to hunker down actually. 

Overall, a lot of pissed off people in Hawaii today, ha!

For myself, I did not notice the alert on my phone for 25 minutes after it went out. So, I was like, slow missile? I then noted the air strike sirens were not going off, which they test once a month here. So, I checked twitter and found it was a fake alarm. I feel like I kind of missed out on the fun.


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## Rifleman62 (13 Jan 2018)

Anyway less than twenty (13 - 15) minutes from launch to bang.

Imagine *waking up* in the morning with your phone buzzing with a text msg which says ......


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## Inspir (13 Jan 2018)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> This is very odd. Warning of a missile launched and inbound should come from a national source.



When I worked in Alberta I had a position that gave me access to the Emergency Public Warning System. I do not recall any similar federal system as I believe each province had their own.

I could literally call a phone number, enter my pin, choose which kind of Emergency it is (weather, disaster, civil, etc), give a voice recording, hit # and it would automatically broadcast. In the event of a national emergency I imagine each province would be contacted to activate their systems.


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## Jarnhamar (13 Jan 2018)

Bird_Gunner45 said:
			
		

> Agree. There are enough radar and detection systems to make the authorities aware there was no missile. Trump doesn't factor in.



Trump always factors in  ;D






Sorry HT!


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## brihard (13 Jan 2018)

I'm being flippant on my Trump remark of course- it's a given that there would be confirmation at a national military level on anything going real. I jsut find this to be a painful reminder of just who the national command authority is, and who we're counting on for sober, considered, deliberate action in the event something escalates for real. Once can hardly mention nuclear weapons in this day and age and not immediately think of Trump and Kim Jong Un. Nuclear conflict feels more 'real' today than it has at any point in my life. Granted, to those of you who were of age during the cold war this is old hat...


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## SeaKingTacco (13 Jan 2018)

Brihard said:
			
		

> I'm being flippant on my Trump remark of course- it's a given that there would be confirmation at a national military level on anything going real. I jsut find this to be a painful reminder of just who the national command authority is, and who we're counting on for sober, considered, deliberate action in the event something escalates for real. Once can hardly mention nuclear weapons in this day and age and not immediately think of Trump and Kim Jong Un. Nuclear conflict feels more 'real' today than it has at any point in my life. Granted, to those of you who were of age during the cold war this is old hat...



This is old hat. I lived the Cold War days as a kid (70s-80s). While a nuclear weapon detonating is no joke, we are currently talking single digit numbers in play between the US and NK- hardly "the end of humanity" stuff. I remember when thousands of weapons were in play. There was no point, IMHO, hunkering down in a shelter to delay dying by a week of two at most. Better to go out at minute one on ground zero, IMHO.


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## Old Sweat (13 Jan 2018)

I was a 22-year-old second lieutenant during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I was pretty sure I was going to die. To make things worse, I was on a course at the RCSA in Shilo and my troops were in 1 RCHA in Gagetown, and if I had to die, I wanted to die with them.


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## Bird_Gunner45 (13 Jan 2018)

Jarnhamar said:
			
		

> Trump always factors in  ;D
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Unfortunately irrationality and opportunism is a trait that knows no political affiliation.  The state of Hawaii issuing a false alarm has no bearing on Trump.  Sad that people can't be rational


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## mariomike (13 Jan 2018)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> I was a 22-year-old second lieutenant during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I was pretty sure I was going to die.



I was 8.

50 years later I read, "During the standoff, US President John F. Kennedy thought the chance of escalation to war was "between 1 in 3 and even," and what we have learned in later decades has done nothing to lengthen those odds."
"The resulting war might have led to the deaths of over 100 million Americans and over 100 million Russians."
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/cuba/2012-07-01/cuban-missile-crisis-50


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## MarkOttawa (13 Jan 2018)

mariomike:

From a review in the _NY Review of Books_ (full text subscriber only, please excuse the length of the excerpts):



> *The Nuclear Worrier*
> Thomas Powers
> January 18, 2018 Issue
> 
> ...



A book I shall read.  The reviewer, Thomas Powers:
https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Powers/e/B003J78VLG

Mark
Ottawa


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## Kirkhill (13 Jan 2018)

I guess my wife is correct.  I must be totally insensitive.

I lived through the Cold War and can honestly say that I never once felt afraid of nuclear obliteration.  Strangely enough I still don't.


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## Old Sweat (13 Jan 2018)

I thought it was a remote possibility, but still one that could happen.

As a nuclear target analyst (I got the qualification four moths after I was commissioned because I had led the threshold test for the 1 RCHA officer professional development programme and got loaded on the course as a reward(?) so I spent a week in Shilo working with gee whizz material) I knew much of the data available to the public was wildly exaggerated, but it still was sobering. It still is.


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## Kirkhill (14 Jan 2018)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> I thought it was a remote possibility, but still one that could happen.
> 
> As a nuclear target analyst (I got the qualification four moths after I was commissioned because I had led the threshold test for the 1 RCHA officer professional development programme and got loaded on the course as a reward(?) so I spent a week in Shilo working with gee whizz material) I knew much of the data available to the public was wildly exaggerated, but it still was sobering. It still is.



Perspective is the operative term, I guess.  I understand yours.  

 :cheers:


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## mariomike (14 Jan 2018)

Chris Pook said:
			
		

> I lived through the Cold War and can honestly say that I never once felt afraid of nuclear obliteration.


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## Journeyman (14 Jan 2018)

There are profits to be made off of the end of the world.  Go capitalism!   ;D

T-shirt


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## daftandbarmy (14 Jan 2018)

Hawaii might be one of the safer places to be in the event of a missile attack:


U.S. conducts missile defense test off Hawaii coast

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense/u-s-conducts-missile-defense-test-off-hawaii-coast-idUSKCN1BA19M


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## jollyjacktar (14 Jan 2018)

I bet he does... 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5266357/Hawaii-receives-ballistic-missile-threat-warning.html


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## Pieman (14 Jan 2018)

One of the responses I've seen in the news here is a guy who popped open a man hole cover and put his kids down below. In a real situation that would likely be a really good spot in a pinch. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5266571/How-Hawaii-gripped-panic-false-missile-warning.html


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## wadewilson (15 Jan 2018)

I'm not live in Hawaii but I still receive this message, scared the shit out of me


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## daftandbarmy (15 Jan 2018)

Pieman said:
			
		

> One of the responses I've seen in the news here is a guy who popped open a man hole cover and put his kids down below. In a real situation that would likely be a really good spot in a pinch.
> 
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5266571/How-Hawaii-gripped-panic-false-missile-warning.html



Until he realizes that the overpressure resulting from a nuclear weapon going off in his vicinity would push all the water upwards in the sewage systems and drown them?

Nothing like a good old deeply dug fire trench, with stout revetting and OHP!


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## Pieman (15 Jan 2018)

> Until he realizes that the overpressure resulting from a nuclear weapon going off in his vicinity would push all the water upwards in the sewage systems and drown them?



Lots of factors coming into play there.  These systems go into the ocean, downhill for the most part. Pressure changes would be very strong but short lived so I don't think the pressure difference would last long enough to pull all the water up. It beats standing in the middle of the road or the basement of a building that's going to very likely collapse. 



> Nothing like a good old deeply dug fire trench, with stout revetting and OHP!



Where are you going to find one of those when you got 20 min or so to get to cover?


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## daftandbarmy (15 Jan 2018)

Pieman said:
			
		

> Be prepared. Dig for Victory!
> 
> http://www.atlassurvivalshelters.com/aboutus/nbc/backyard/


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## Old Sweat (15 Jan 2018)

Lots of luck with that. Most of the energy generated by a nuclear or thermonuclear detonation is in the form of blast and thermal. I fear the best defence is to be somewhere else than the target area, and I mean in multiples of tens of kilometres in the case of major yields.

If you can get below ground in a reinforced shelter, preferably with food and water supplies, you could survive being closer, but it is dodgy.


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## angus555 (15 Jan 2018)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> Be prepared. Dig for Victory!
> 
> http://www.atlassurvivalshelters.com/aboutus/nbc/backyard/



I'd rather get hit by a nuke than pay 40 grand for that.

It wouldn't withstand a near hit anyways. If it's to protect from fallout, you'd get a good face full of it as soon as you open the hatch.

No thanks


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## Pieman (15 Jan 2018)

This is also assuming you have time to make it to your bunker.


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## Pieman (15 Jan 2018)

> I'm not live in Hawaii but I still receive this message, scared the crap out of me



What is your general location? If you are outside Hawaii that is pretty odd.


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## jollyjacktar (15 Jan 2018)

One of the guys here in the Section said his daughter and her husband were in Hawaii over the weekend.  I guess it was a total Benny Hill event with people understandably panicking and freaking out.  Abandoning vehicles on the highway and running into the bush, trying to figure which kid to hold onto at the end etc.  I can only imagine.


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## Halifax Tar (15 Jan 2018)

I wonder how many people confessed sins, thinking the end was nigh, only have to face the music when it all came to settle lol


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## mariomike (15 Jan 2018)

Souvenir T-shirts,
https://twitter.com/kellylesick/status/952954315026542592


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## Pieman (15 Jan 2018)

> I wonder how many people confessed sins, thinking the end was nigh, only have to face the music when it all came to settle lol



Heard from a friend here that a group of people went into a parkade and had no cell phone reception. The cleaning woman apparently led them in a prayer. ha. It's comedy gold.


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## jollyjacktar (16 Jan 2018)

Not to outdone, now Japan's public broadcaster wants a piece of the action.

 http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/world/japan-false-alarm-missile-north-korea-1.4489142


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## Rifleman62 (18 Jan 2018)

Going Out With A Bang

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/01/18/pornhub-usage-spiked-in-hawaii-after-false-ballistic-missile-alert.html?cmpid=NL_SciTech

*Pornhub usage spiked in Hawaii after false ballistic missile alert* - 18 Jan 18

Pornhub reported its website's traffic in Hawaii drastically increased on Saturday after residents were told a ballistic missile attack alert was a mistake.

The website tweeted Wednesday a graph of the day’s traffic in Hawaii, and noted page views dropped drastically after the ballistic missile alert was sent out at 8:07 a.m. HST. Pornhub said in a statement the traffic was “a massive -77 percent below that of a typical Saturday.”

Hawaii on alert! https://t.co/JzqpXe5ejz pic.twitter.com/4AeOpDDaZ6

— Pornhub ARIA (@Pornhub) January 17, 2018

However, once residents were notified around 8:45 a.m. HST that the alert was a false alarm and there was no threat, traffic on the porn site shot up, Pornhub reported.

“Those seeking further relief, headed back to Pornhub where pageviews surged +48 percent above typical levels at 9:01 a.m. (local time),” the website said.

The emergency alert blunder caused more than 1 million people in Hawaii to fear they were about to be struck by a nuclear missile.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Richard Rapoza said an employee mistakenly hit the live alert button, which sent out the false message. Rapoza said the worker has since been reassigned.

_The Associated Press contributed to this report._


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