Governor took 15 minutes to announce missile alert was false


Maj. Gen. Arthur "Joe" Logan told state lawmakers that he called the governor at 8:09 a.m. Saturday after confirming there was no threat. Rep. Kaniela Ing asked why the governor didn't immediately address the public, but Ige had left the hearing.

Gov. Ige's spokeswoman Cindy McMillan said the governor had to track her down to prepare a message. She said the communications team handles his social media.

Ige's office relayed an emergency management agency tweet that it was a false alarm at 8:24 a.m. Six minutes later, a notice went up on his Facebook page.

A state employee mistakenly sent an emergency alert to mobile devices and TV and radio stations warning of an incoming missile strike, causing widespread panic and confusion.




Lt. Col. Charles Anthony said that amid the alert's chaos, a telecommunications staffer presented his idea to create a new alert on the same platform that sent out the mistake. The agency checked with federal officials, composed and uploaded the alert to their online system and eventually issued the retraction.




Associated Press writer Caleb Jones in Honolulu contributed to this report.