Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) on Saturday decried a false alert that notified people across Hawaii of an incoming ballistic missile, saying that officials must ensure that such an error “never happens again.”
“Today’s alert was a false alarm. At a time of heightened tensions, we need to make sure all information released to the community is accurate,” she tweeted. “We need to get to the bottom of what happened and make sure it never happens again.”
Earlier on Saturday, an alert was sent to cellphones in Hawaii warning that a ballistic missile was heading toward the state and urging people to seek immediate shelter.
{mosads}
U.S. officials, within minutes, assured the public that no ballistic missile had been fired, and that the mobile alert was sent in error. Another alert was sent out 38 minutes later calling the initial alert a false alarm.
But the alert drew a swift response from lawmakers, who called for immediate fixes to the system responsible for notifying people in the event of an actual missile launch.
The false alarm came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which has claimed that it possess nuclear weapons capable of striking the U.S.