As you know by now, residents of Hawaii and tourists visiting the islands received an emergency alert over the weekend warning of an incoming ballistic missile. It took 38-minutes, but eventually the local government declared the alert a false alarm.
People panicked as they ran through the streets, with parents lifting manhole covers and putting their children into the sewer for protection. Shelters were nowhere to be found.
But according to the Daily Signal the worker who pushed the wrong button and sent the alert has simply been reassigned, not fired.
The Hawaii government employee who caused mass panic by accidentally sending out a statewide warning that a ballistic missile was incoming has been "temporarily reassigned" pending an internal investigation into the blunder, officials said.
The worker, employed by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, pressed the wrong button — twice, in fact — during a shift change Saturday. Officials said the employee, using a drop-down menu on a computer, selected a missile launch warning instead of one that conducts an internal test alert.
Compounding the error, the employee, a 10-year veteran who has still not been named, then clicked "yes" when the computer prompt appeared asking whether to he'd like to continue. "The worker realized the epic proportions of his error after receiving the same frightening missile alert on his own phone," the Associated Press reported.
Government accountability at its best.
Meanwhile lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who are dealing with the headache of North Korea on a daily basis, are demanding answers and accountability so this "mistake" doesn't happen again.
