On Saturday January 13th, mobile phone users received the text above reading, "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." According to the CNBC news channel, the alert "momentarily put recipients into a state of frenzy, with scores reportedly running for shelter". People tried to find outside shelter and this caused clogged highways and scenes of terror. Others stayed home and seeked shelter in their bathtubs. Travelers staying in hotels were gathered in the lobby and brought to underground parking garages for safety.
However, within around 30 minutes the alert was deemed as a false alarm. Although it was only a false alarm, people were really shaken up from this event. “What happened today is totally inexcusable,” Senator Brian Schatz said. “The whole state was terrified. There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process.” It was said to be sent out on accident by human error.
North Korea's missile and nuclear program is seen as a growing threat to America and Hawaii is one of the US states closest to North Korea. It is because of its location that Hawaii has been threatened by the escalating tensions and the risks of war, more than any other part of the United States. Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of the United States Pacific Command, said “While the possibility of a nuclear strike is slim, we now live in a world where we must be prepared for every contingency.”
Questions:
1. Do you think the sender of the emergency alert should be the only one punished for this mistake?
2. With false alarms like this, do you think there will be a "boy cring wolf" situation if an actual missile were to come along?
3. Do you think this event could trigger actions from Kim Jong Un or President Trump that could lead us closer to war?
4 comments:
More details have come out since the publishing of this article. According to CNN, an officer in Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency mistakenly selected an incorrect messaging template during a routine drill. This was a simple amateur mistake within a state agency.
Thus, I believe that people are making this out to be more than it is, and it's a little disquieting to see how they're making this a statement against the president, with Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) stating that she has been "calling on President Trump to directly negotiate with North Korea, to sit across the table from Kim Jong Un...to remove this threat." I won't deny that the president golfing during the crisis and later admonishing the alarm systems (thereby removing himself from any wrongdoing) looks bad-not am I denying that this crisis isn't at least indirectly related to a series of events exacerbated by the President. However, I feel that the establishment directing fire towards the president is a little unfair, given the exact details of the crisis, and what led to it.
I Believe that if the sending of the emergency alert was indeed a mistake, which does in fact seem to be the case, then there should not be any major repercussions on the person who sent it out. Although I do believe measures should be taken to ensure that it does not happen again. Also I highly doubt that America's response to a nuclear threat will ever dumb down due to false threats such as a boy crying wolf, especially since the possibility is very real right now with tensions with North Korea. Even though the threat is still extremely low, in accordance with North Korea being all talk, is that while small in probability, the threat of a nuclear strike is creeping higher as tensions grow. Which brings to the fact that if Trump got this sort of an alert, and did not know it was false, with his impulse control we might have all our missiles firing at North Korea by the time Trump found out it was a false alarm. And what then? Though I doubt he will have much of an intelligible or even threatening response to what happened in Hawaii, the fact that trump has the nuclear codes is something scary and who knows what the future will hold for our relationship with North Korea.
While this seems to have been an honest mistake, it is still a severe one. The person who sent out the alert should face some form of consequences and I would even suggest an apology video to those directly affected by this. It is clear that such an alert instills panic in the people and puts them in a state of unease. Because this turned out to be a false alarm, this could potentially result in a "boy cries wolf" situation OR it could also just make individuals much more prepared if this is to happen again in the future.
I do believe that the person who accidentally sent that message out should be punished. While this situation was an accident, it still did cause many individuals to fear for their lives and loved ones. I don't think this will become a "boy cries wolf" situation because the people in the United States are aware that a ballistic missile strike on the U.S. is something that is definitely possible, even though it is unlikely to happen. I also believe that this situation did not lead to further tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. This is simply a situation in which someone made a big mistake. We fix the mistake, and move on.
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