Hawaii officials fire officer who triggered false missile alarm
On January 13th, an officer of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) triggered a missile alert that plunged residents statewide into temporary chaos before the alarm was called off as a mistake. While news emerged yesterday that the employee actually believed the attack was real after misinterpreting a message, and therefore didn't trip the alarm in error, that wasn't a good enough reason to panic the nation. The officer has been fired and the emergency management leader responsible for the agency, Vern Miyagi, has resigned. Another unnamed HI-EMA official has quit before facing disciplinary action and a fourth employee was suspended without pay, but it isn't clear yet what either of their roles were in the fiasco. As state and FCC investigations into the vents of January 13th have revealed, the fired officer wasn't required to check with a colleague or get managerial approval before sending the emergency blast to mobile phones, TV and radio stations acr...