To say that much of the world is on edge these days would be an understatement. Donald Trump’s presidency has brought us closer and closer to global war as time has gone on, with him finding it nothing to endlessly antagonize interests like the heavily armed state of North Korea.
In that light, there’s been talk of how best to prepare for an attack from North Korea, with a smattering of reports spread over the months of Trump’s presidency about steps being taken by the military to prepare for such a conflict.
On Saturday, it momentarily looked as though these preparations were going to have to be turned into action. Residents of Hawaii received an alert of an incoming ballistic missile — but the alert was a fake, sent in error.
There was an unsurprising temporary wave of panic across the islands, but officials quickly moved to quell those fears.
Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard posted an all caps message to Twitter to that effect, writing:
‘HAWAII – THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII. I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH OFFICIALS THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE.’
HAWAII – THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII. I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH OFFICIALS THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE. pic.twitter.com/DxfTXIDOQs
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) January 13, 2018
Gabbard later spoke about the alert in a phone interview on CNN, saying:
‘The people of Hawaii just got a taste of the stark reality of what we face here with a potential nuclear strike on Hawaii… This is a real threat facing Hawaii.’
Hawaii’s U.S. Senator Brian Schatz was scathing in his take on the situation, writing on Twitter that there must be immediate steps taken to get to the bottom of the situation and to keep a similar one from unfolding again.
He wrote on Twitter:
‘There is no missile threat. It was a false alarm based on a human error. There is nothing more important to Hawai‘i than professionalizing and fool-proofing this process… What happened today is totally inexcusable. The whole state was terrified. There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process.’
There is not yet any apparent exact information as to why or how the false alert was sent out.
Featured Image via Kyodo News via Getty Images