HONOLULU — The state on Thursday released an audio recording of the drill it was running in January when an employee mistakenly sent cellphone and broadcast alerts warning of a ballistic missile attack.
But the 24-second recording the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency released was heavily redacted.
It started with the words “exercise, exercise, exercise,” followed by a prolonged beep, then the phrase “this is not a drill” and another prolonged beep. It ended with “exercise, exercise, exercise.”
Spokesman Lt. Col. Charles Anthony said the agency could only disclose a small portion of the recording because the U.S. Pacific Command would use the exact same or very similar language if it notified the agency of an actual missile threat.
“Somebody could use that verbiage to compose a message then call the state warning point and try to spoof state warning point into thinking there was a real missile alert,” Anthony said.
He said this could be a prankster, North Korea or “something in between.”
The recording isn’t classified, but the material is so sensitive that the emergency management agency treats it like it is, Anthony said.
But Brian Black, the executive director of the Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest, said it’s troubling that the agency is only releasing portions that support their narrative of what happened.
The employee who sent the alert has said he didn’t hear the word “exercise” spoken during the drill and thought the threat was real.
The agency has since fired him.
“The level of public disagreement about this issue raises the interest in this such that they really should have come forward with more and they really should have been more forthcoming about what it was that happened,” Black said.
Black said it sounds like the agency is saying it has no way of verifying the message is coming from Pacific Command other than the language that’s being used.
The agency’s action on Jan. 13 sent push alerts to the cellphones of thousands of Hawaii residents and visitors.
Many panicked, fearing they were about to die in a nuclear attack.
It took the agency 38 minutes to send another cellphone and broadcast message notifying the public the alert was sent in error.
Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Honolulu, said he understands the state’s need to be cautious and is “quasi-sympathetic” to its position on the redactions.
“You don’t want your procedures so clearly spelled out that somebody who could hack in the future could duplicate it and send out a very realistic message that could then create panic once again,” he said.
There are people “both capable and inclined” to do such things today, he said.
What? The Government gave in?
And we’re getting honest documents? Closer to the TRUTH now? Wow.
And all it took was that little article a few days ago, 3 Trusted Press ~working together~ to make this happen? Wow.
I guess this means the Associated Press, Civil Beat and Hawaii Tribune Herald are important after all!! Vital to a FREE Society!!
And all three worked so well together on this….. For We, The People!!
NEWSFLASH FOR SPOOKY HAWAII MEDIA:
So few left are buying this crap anymore, you might as well give it a rest.
Maybe, spend the effort on finding some birth certificate witnesses (I read somewhere the best one you had was in a little plane crash, correct?)
Or scrubbing all traces of the Hawaii Gov / Ulupono / Monsanto Agrathon Hackathon that Qoincidentally coincided with the Incoming Ballistic Missile alert…. you know, that Bill and Hillary (who would Never hurt us, nor our school children) just so happened to be here for? Yeah that one.
Or, IDK, I’m sure you can find something.
But THIS? This nonsense left ridiculous in the rear view mirror about a thousand miles ago.
You’re all in Treason Territory now.
Let THAT sink in.
Wow!!
Just the other day, you claimed all the press was corrupt and that BO & HRC & the CIA had kidnapped the country of NK and that KJU had actually fired a nuke and DT knew about it.
Then you went and deleted all those posts.
Seriously. You need to lay off the crack, FOX news and Breitbart!
PS. Why yes go after that birth certificate thing!!
I think you should spend every waking moment and every penny you have trying to find out if BO’s birth certificate is fake.
Even the orange haired baboon said BO is an American.
But then again he said he did not say that.
So who knows. Maybe you will make history.
Or be the toothless crack head you always have been!
For crying out loud! How stupid do these people think we are?
1. The event was supposedly a drill, not a real alert. How can the wording of a “drill” compromise a real alert?
2. The wording of whatever-it-was was apparently unclear, so it is likely to be changed anyway.
3. What really happened was initially covered up – and continues to be covered up. A low level employee was blamed and fired. Now they have to protect the high-level employees.
The initial alert was an error. Shit happens. The decision not to undo it IMMEDIANTLY was due to poor management, poor thinking, and a concern for the “institution” instead of the people the institution works for.
Everything from that day on has been an effort to cover up an embarrassment (They call it damage control.), not an effort to get to the truth and to come clean to the people of this state.
Do not be silly, we will never get the truth from a demo rat for the truth reveals incompetence, corruption and fraud. Then again it is clear all demo rats are stuck on stupid and can not handle the truth so we can not expect the truth from any demo rat.