Public trust lost by bureaucratic errors exacerbating system with no safeguards

For many people in Hawaii, one of the most harrowing hours of their lives started just a few minutes after 8 a.m. two Saturdays ago. As cell phones across the state lit up, warning that a ballistic missile attack was imminent, both residents and visitors began to panic.

For the next 38 minutes, people were terrified as they scrambled to get in touch with loved ones. I know, because I was home in Honolulu, brushing my teeth on an otherwise ordinary Saturday morning. I started getting dozens of texts with screenshots of the push alert, asking me what was happening.

Meanwhile, officials at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency had spoken to the Pacific Command and confirmed there was no missile attack. Only nobody told the rest of us. Looking at the timeline between the false alarm and the correction, it seems that state officials lacked a sense of urgency about communicating with the public. They failed to quickly share information with the people or each other, during a time when every minute felt like an hour.

Frankly, the idea that the government knew there was no attack but didn’t tell everyone as soon as possible still makes me upset. The people of Hawaii may be relieved about the false alarm, but they are also angry. All of this was avoidable, from the false alarm itself, to the series of mistakes made at multiple junctures surrounding the incident.

Bureaucratic errors made the crisis worse, but, on a number of levels, the system was destined to fall short.

First and foremost, many people were unprepared and did not know what to do when they got the alert. Public officials couldn’t reach each other, and 911 was overwhelmed with calls, including 2,500 that didn’t get through.

A missile alert system needs safeguards to prevent unauthorized warnings, but Hawaii’s had none — not a two-person approval process, and not a passkey sent from PACOM.

Hawaii must rebuild this system to be reliable, trustworthy and secure, and we need the resources of the federal government to do it. So in the U.S. Senate, I’m working on legislation that will require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop best practices for state and local emergency managers. And earlier last week, I convened a meeting with senior officials and the Hawaii congressional delegation to ensure the federal government provides oversight, expertise and support as the state works to fix this process and restore the public’s trust.

The Federal Commu- nications Commission (FCC) has launched a public safety investigation to determine what happened and help fix the problems. FEMA committed to conduct an after-action review, and I’ve asked the Department of Defense to look into their lessons learned as well. These agencies can help Hawaii and other states establish proper controls for emergency alert systems.

We expect these reviews to be ready within the next couple of months. That way, the state Legislature will have time to consider any recommendations during the 2018 session.

Remember: Our state has world-class resources for natural disaster emergency preparation, response and recovery. This ought to be the backbone for whatever the state government does next.

But a disaster notification system only works with the public’s trust. There is a real danger that people will second guess or even ignore an alert in the future.

The public’s trust was lost, and must be regained.