False Missile Warning in Hawaii Adds to Scrutiny of Emergency Alert System<br />WASHINGTON — A false alert sent to cellphones across Hawaii on Saturday warning of an incoming ballistic missile is calling attention to an emergency notification system<br />that government officials at all levels say needs major improvements.<br />The Federal Communications Commission said it was opening a “full investigation into what happened”<br />when the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sent the errant alert as a result of what Gov.<br />“We also must ensure that corrections are issued immediately in the event that a false alert does go out,” Mr. Pai said.<br />All wireless carriers participate in the system, and Hawaii’s emergency agency is among hundreds of federal, state, local, tribal<br />and territorial authorities with the power to use them, according to FEMA.<br />“Based on the information we have collected so far, it appears<br />that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert,” Mr. Pai said in a statement on Sunday.
