01-31-2018, 04:47 PM
(CNN)The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employee who triggered the false ballistic missile alert earlier this month has been fired, the state adjutant general said Tuesday.
The unnamed employee said he didn't know it was an exercise, even though five other employees in the room heard "exercise, exercise, exercise, which indicates that it is a drill," an investigating officer told reporters.
Retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira said, "When it became apparent that the real-world alert was issued," the employee who pushed the button "seemed confused, he froze and another employee had to take over his responsibilities."
The employee "had a history of confusing drill and real-world events," Oliveira said.
The firing was the latest fallout after an internal investigation found "that insufficient management controls, poor computer software design and human factors contributed" to the alert and a delayed correction message on January 13.
Maj. Gen. Joe Logan, Hawaii's state adjutant general, said Vern Miyagi, administrator of the state emergency management agency, resigned Tuesday.
Miyagi accepted full responsibility for the incident and the actions of his employees, Logan said. Another employee is in the process of being suspended without pay and a third employee resigned before any disciplinary action was taken, Logan said.
Logan said he appointed Brig. Gen. Moses Kaoiwi, director of joint staff with the Hawaii National Guard, as interim agency administrator.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/us/hawaii...index.html
The unnamed employee said he didn't know it was an exercise, even though five other employees in the room heard "exercise, exercise, exercise, which indicates that it is a drill," an investigating officer told reporters.
Retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira said, "When it became apparent that the real-world alert was issued," the employee who pushed the button "seemed confused, he froze and another employee had to take over his responsibilities."
The employee "had a history of confusing drill and real-world events," Oliveira said.
The firing was the latest fallout after an internal investigation found "that insufficient management controls, poor computer software design and human factors contributed" to the alert and a delayed correction message on January 13.
Maj. Gen. Joe Logan, Hawaii's state adjutant general, said Vern Miyagi, administrator of the state emergency management agency, resigned Tuesday.
Miyagi accepted full responsibility for the incident and the actions of his employees, Logan said. Another employee is in the process of being suspended without pay and a third employee resigned before any disciplinary action was taken, Logan said.
Logan said he appointed Brig. Gen. Moses Kaoiwi, director of joint staff with the Hawaii National Guard, as interim agency administrator.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/us/hawaii...index.html