Hawaii governor to meet with top US officials after false missile alert

Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) said Saturday that he was working to get to the bottom of a false mobile alert that warned residents of an incoming ballistic missile threat to the state.

Ige was set to meet with top State Department and Defense officials on Saturday, after the alert urging people to take immediate shelter was sent across Hawaii. The governor said such errors must be prevented to ensure confidence in the alert system.

“While I am thankful this morning’s alert was a false alarm, the public must have confidence in our emergency alert system. I am working to get to the bottom of this so we can prevent an error of this type in the future,” Ige said in a statement.

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The alert stirred confusion and panic across the state. Within minutes of the notification being sent out, U.S. officials assured the public that no ballistic missile had been fired and that the warning was made in error.

Still, the false alarm drew swift rebukes from lawmakers in Hawaii, who said that the incident highlighted flaws in the system for pushing out such emergency alerts. They called for a quick fix to the process.

The White House said Saturday that President Trump had been briefed on the matter, and that the alert was “purely a state exercise.”

The alert came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which has claimed to have nuclear weapons capable of striking the U.S.