Human error and a lack of adequate fail-safe measures during a civil defense warning drill led to the false missile alert that stirred panic across Hawaii over the weekend, a state emergency management agency spokesman acknowledged on Sunday. Elaborating on the origins of Saturday's false alarm, which went uncorrected for nearly 40 minutes, spokesman Richard Rapoza said the employee who mistakenly sent the missile alert "has been temporarily reassigned" to other duties. The resulting message, issued amid heightened international strains over North Korea's development of ballistic nuclear weapons, stated: "EMERGENCY ALERT BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. US President Donald Trump weighed in on Sunday during a visit to Florida and gave Hawaii state officials credit for admitting their mistake, saying: "I loved that they took responsibility." Criticism of the state emergency management agency from other quarters was swift.

Source: dna January 15, 2018 03:38 UTC