Hawaii False Missile Alert: What 38 Minutes Of Panic Looks Like

HONOLULU, HI— Matt Nelson was making eggs for breakfast when, halfway through, two of his phones buzzed: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

He didn't know what to do. He had never been faced with such a dire situation. What did he have time for? How long did he have left? He turned the stove off, threw on a pair of shoes and a hooded sweatshirt, texted his parents and headed for the elevator (the fire escape door wouldn't open).

Nelson was one of many people across the island chain to receive the alerts Saturday morning. Hours after the ordeal was over, he tweeted out what he called a stream of consciousness on a Google document with his recollection of what happened. Much of his story is quoted below with some minor editing for clarity.

Getting off the elevator downstairs, Nelson saw people gathered at the front of the building. Some got the alert, others didn't. They headed to a parking garage and quickly evaluated their options of where to seek shelter. Go into the stairwell? Stay in the parking garage?

"I don't know which is better," he wrote later. He racked is brain, trying to remember what the county civil defense agency had said about what to do in the event of an incoming nuclear missile.

"But I got s---," he wrote.

He followed others into the garage stairwell and noticed they're calling their loved ones. Nelson calls his mom and gives her his address. All the while, he listens for that fateful blast that would end life as he knows it.

"Someone says it’s real. I don’t check social media because I think I only have a few minutes left, maybe. Want to stay on the phone with my folks until the last second."

Suddenly, he noticed everyone disappeared. Nelson, confused, briefly ventures outside.

"I’m scared. I think f---, it’s going to go off and I’m in the worst possible spot," he wrote.

He sprinted back to the parking garage and a couple people saw him freaking out. Finally, someone tells him: It was a false alarm. Nelson nearly breaks down.

He then headed back up to his apartment and turned the stove back on to finish what he started: the eggs.

"They are the best godd---ed eggs I’ve ever had," he writes.

You can't blame Hawaiians for panicking. The dire warning that buzzed their phones and radios came just months after reports that North Korea may have a ballistic missile capable of reaching the state. For 38 minutes, many waited in horror and fear until, mercifully, a second alert came: someone messed up and hit the wrong button that sent the first alert. There was no missile.

"Today is a day that most of us will never forget," Hawaii Gov. David Ige said when the ordeal ended. "A day when many in our community thought that our worst nightmare might actually be happening. A day when many frantically tried to think about the things that they would do if a ballistic missile launch would happen."

Now, many people want to know why it took so long for civil defense to correct the alert and why they decided to tweet it before sending out a mobile push alert. Many people who got the alert had taken shelter and knew nothing about the correction until later. They didn't have computers; they had their phones.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency confirmed there was no ballistic missile threat and said no one hacked the agency's system. It was, in fact,"human error," the state Department of Defense said in a release.

The agency has taken steps to make sure that the mishap never happens again, officials said, and has started reviewing procedures to avoid a repeat of the mistake and how to correct it more quickly should one go out.

"We understand that false alarms such as this can erode public confidence in our emergency notification systems," the agency said in a release.

“I know first-hand how today’s false alarm affected all of us here in Hawaii, and I am sorry for the pain and confusion it caused. I, too, am extremely upset about this and am doing everything I can do to immediately improve our emergency management systems, procedures and staffing,” said Gov. Ige.

The following is a timeline of what happened during those moments of panic:

8:05 a.m. – A routine internal test is initiated during a shift change, involving the emergency alert system and the wireless emergency alert system. It did not include warning sirens.

8:07 a.m. – A warning test is triggered statewide, which Nelson and others receive.

8:10 a.m. – State Adjutant Maj. Gen. Joe Logan confirms with U.S. Pacific Command that a missile has not been launched. Honolulu police are alerted.

8:13 a.m. – State emergency officials shut down the test so warnings don't go out to phones that might not have received it the first time, including phones that were turned off, out of range or in airplane mode.

8:20 a.m. – State emergency officials alert the public of the cancellation via Facebook and Twitter.

8:24 a.m. – Gov. Ige retweets that cancellation notice.

8:30 a.m. – Ige posts the cancellation alert to his Facebook page.

8:45 a.m. –Thirty-eight minutes after the initial warning test is triggered, state emergency officials send out an alert via text, TV and radio to those who initially got the alert: it was a false alarm.

Emergency officials have suspended all future drills until a full investigation is completed. Officials have instituted a two-person activation rule for tests and real missile launch alerts. Furthermore, an automatic cancellation command — which can be triggered within seconds of an error — has been installed.

Emergency officials are also looking at expanding alert processes for the state's congressional delegations, county mayors, and vital staff.

A preliminary report of findings and corrective actions is expected to be issued this week.

Politico reported, citing a senior administration official, that President DonaldTrump's cabinet has not tested formal plans for how to respond to a missile attack. The news outlet said that Gen. John Kelly had planned to conduct the exercise when he served as secretary of Homeland Security, but left the position to become White House chief of staff before it was conducted. Acting Secretary Elaine Duke never carried it out, the outlet said.

I just did a stream-of-conscious what I went through this morning. Not ready to write about it yet, but I'm willing to share it, so people can get a sense of how scary/serious this was. This type of mistake is unacceptable. https://t.co/S3JzwmJ1wo
— Matt Nelson (@Maddoxnelson) January 13, 2018

Photo credit: Caleb Jones/Associated Press