Posted on 02/02/2018 5:14:14 PM PST by mdittmar
HONOLULU (AP) — A former Hawaii state worker who sent a false missile alert last month said Friday that he’s devastated for causing panic but was “100 percent sure” at the time that the attack was real.
The man in his 50s spoke to reporters on the condition that he not be identified because he fears for his safety after receiving threats.
He says the on-duty call he received on Jan. 13 didn’t sound like a drill. However, state officials say other workers clearly heard the word “exercise” repeated several times.
He said it felt like he had been hit with a “body blow” when he realized it was just a drill and he has had difficulty eating and sleeping since.
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency fired him.
The man’s superiors said they knew for years that he had problems performing his job.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Hitlery supporter?
I was a Command & Control Specialist for 24 years in the USAF. Most of that time I was as a member of Two Man Emergency Actions Team in Command Post/Command Centers. I recall events where alert messages were accidently upchanneled all the way to the situation room in the White House because a controller failed to enter “Exercise Exercise Exercise” in the message header/preamble. It surprises me that Hawaii EA procedures allow a single individual the ability to transmit an alert message. I would suggest that management is as much or more at fault for failing to see the need for a second individual to confirm that the action being taken is appropriate.
Hundreds of thousands of citizens in terror for over 30 minutes because of this, but no one loses their job.
Really?
As part of it, a recording was played through a speakerphone at the State Warning Point which included the words ‘this is not a drill’.
That was not meant to be played but it was played alongside the drill recording which said ‘exercise’ six times.
The employee said he did not hear ‘exercise’ and only focused on ‘this is not a drill’ so pushed the button to send out the alert.
Incompetent for years and they just put up with him, like illiterate kids being passed from grade to grade in school. I bet he’s on heavy psych drugs and should never have been in that role.
With all this emoting, probably a homosexual.
Can’t fire the first one,why the hell would I want to hire another one?
I disagree. The last time Hawaii second guessed a threat was Dec 7, 1941.
My wife was a manager for a utility before retiring. A worker was pawned off to her team from another group, and she was told he was a problem worker. All the other managers were afraid of firing him despite a failure to do work for years. The problem behavior soon became apparent to her, she counseled him, giving him a warning and a fair chance to correct his work habits. She then worked with HR to document everything and keep exact logs. This went on for half a year with followup warnings. Then, with the blessing of HR, she fired him, detailing all his failures to comply with the warnings. Guy went ballistic. She had company security guards present, along with HR reps. The security then had to call SFPD cops, who wrestled him and dragged him from the building. He later sued the company, but the company and my wife prevailed and the bad worker lost the lawsuit. My wife gained the reputation of being the dragon lady boss for having the guts to fire the guy that other managers passed along for many years.
Lots of weak bosses out there who won't deal with problem employees that cause problems and drag down the company.
Devastated that the trick didn’t work and Trump didn’t launch on the Norks, depriving the party of Mad Max beyond the Capital dome the impeachment they so desperately want!
If no one else will, I will: it was a mistake; no one died; no one was injured; you are forgive.
Perhaps he’s was a gay, indigenous, dyslexic, Hawaiian which is why they allowed him to retain his job so long. After all, he checked all the correct boxes at the bottom of the job application.
any other Navy guys out there ever hear this 1MC announcement, “Rapid ringing of the bells, rapid ringing of the bells.......belay my last” ding ding ding ding ding ding
Really?
Someone post his voting record and history of donations. I have my suspicions.
... atheist divorced transsexual liberal ...
I have worked in radio for well over 35 years and have performed hundreds of weekly and monthly EAS test alerts over the air. It is quite a procedure to perform a real alert, with many buttons punched, and passwords logged in, to put it over the air. I just can’t fathom how this incident happened by mistake.
I agree bro.
given his work background and the issues hardly mentioned concerning his job abilities, this idiot should have been fired a long time ago.....
My brother from Kauai, heard the warning and called to leave my mother a message saying, “I guess this is goodbye, I’ll see you on the other side.”
This had a pretty significant impact on people in Hawaii and their loved ones, scattered around the world.
Pretty dang serious, if you ask me.
emotionally unfit for the job
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