Hawaii’s missile alert system has a confusing interface


After the false missile alert in Hawaii on Saturday morning, a new image from government officials reveals how confusing the alert system is. Instead of pressing a button, operators of the alert system have to select a link on a list of choices with obscure names like “1. Test Message.” The option that the employee mistakenly clicked on was “PACOM (CDW) - State Only.” The link that should have been clicked on was similarly named “Drill - PACOM (CDW) - State Only.”

Many of the names are similar to each other, so it’s easy to see how an employee (either without proper training or caffeine), could click on the wrong link and send off a warning to the public of a ballistic missile threat. On Saturday at 8AM, the employee was simply supposed...

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via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2mDtW6u"

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