The government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards in place that would have prevented the transmission of a false alert about an imminent missile strike, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)has said. Officials are gathering facts about how Saturday’s false alert was issued. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi said the error happened when someone hit the wrong button. The emergency alert, which was sent to mobile phones statewide just before 8.10am local time, said: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. The White House said President Donald Trump, at his private club in Florida, was briefed on the false alert.

Source: The Irish Times January 14, 2018 18:56 UTC