HONOLULU (AP) — Nearly 40 terrifying minutes passed between the time Hawaii officials fired off a false bogus about an incoming missile over the weekend and the moment the notice was canceled.
The state flailed to contain the situation, waiting 23 minutes to call officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get approval to send a retraction.
The confusion — and panic — have raised questions about whether any state should be solely responsible for notifying the public of such an event — especially as Washington and North Korea trade insults and threats.
Hawaii is the only state in the nation with a pre-programmed alert that can be quickly sent to wireless devices if a ballistic missile is heading toward the U.S.
U.S. Reps. Colleen Hanabusa and Tulsi Gabbard, both of Hawaii, have asked the House Armed Services Committee to hold a hearing on the issue.
They said in a letter to the committee Tuesday that it’s understandable for states to have primary jurisdiction over warnings for floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters.
“However, when it comes to matters of national security, including whether a ballistic missile has been launched against the United States, one must question whether any state emergency management agency is best suited for that role,” the letter says.
The debate comes as North Korea claims it is testing weapons that could deliver a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile to Hawaii, Guam and even the U.S. mainland.
The two networks activated in Hawaii were the Wireless Emergency Alert and the Emergency Alert System, both of which use a federal system to send messages to people in certain geographic areas.
The systems can be used by state and federal agencies for weather events, natural disasters, law enforcement notifications and alerts issued by the president.
Signal carriers allow people to block alerts from state and law enforcement agencies, but not those issued by the president.
“The decision to send a national alert directly to the public rests with the president,” FEMA spokeswoman Jenny Burke told the Associated Press in an email.
FEMA has the ability to send alerts to targeted audiences but has not yet taken on that responsibility, said Daniel Gonzales, a senior scientist at RAND Corp. who was contracted by Homeland Security to study the Wireless Emergency Alert.
Gonzales said under the current system, it makes sense for states to handle alerts because they may be more familiar with local needs. But he acknowledged since no state except Hawaii has a prepared message, it could take other states as long as 30 minutes to create, enter and distribute one.
In addition, there is uncertainty about how long it takes for an alert to make its way to all cellphones since the nationwide system for mobile devices has never been tested, Gonzales said.
He said the process could add another five minutes, further cutting into the time that people have to prepare for a disaster.
Sending a national alert could cause more problems than a targeted alert, he said.
“I think you want to be careful about not causing panic everywhere,” he said.
There has never been a national emergency warning sent to mobile devices, radio or television, FEMA said. The agency has conducted three tests of the national public warning system for radios and television only.