Hawaii Governor Couldn’t Warn of False Missile Alert Because He Didn’t Know His Twitter Password
January 23, 2018Hawaii Gov. David Ige said that he was delayed in notifying the public about a missile alert false alarm because he could not log into his Twitter account.
“I have to confess that I don’t know my Twitter account log-ons and the passwords, so certainly that’s one of the changes that I’ve made,” Ige told reporters on Monday, according to the Star Advertiser. “I’ve been putting that on my phone so that we can access the social media directly.”
The governor’s communications director, Cindy McMillan, previously told BuzzFeed News that staff members handle his social media accounts. She added that Ige’s Twitter and Facebook will continue to be managed by staff aside from emergency situations.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Residents of the Aloha State were woken up by their mobile phones on the morning of Jan. 13 as notifications were blasted telling that a “ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii.” The message added that it was “an extreme alert” and “not a drill.”
Although Ige was notified that the missile alert was a false alarm just two minutes after the emergency message was broadcast, his social media pages were not updated with the information until 8:24 a.m., about 17 minutes after the alert. In addition, followup messages alerting the public of the mistake were sent to phones 38 minutes after the initial false warning.
“I was in the process of making calls to the leadership team both in Hawaii Emergency Management as well as others,” Ige stated, adding. “The focus really was on trying to get as many people informed about the fact that it was a false alert.”
There is NO missile threat. https://t.co/qR2MlYAYxL
— Governor David Ige (@GovHawaii) January 13, 2018
Hawaii’s roughly 1.5 million residents and their visitors went into sheer panic, many — including Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles‘ Josh Flagg — taking to Twitter and Instagram to express their fear.
“It was a false alarm but I spent 40 mins balling my eyes out and praying for my life,” wrote one user.
A post shared by Josh Flagg (@joshflagg1) on
This was my phone when I woke up just now. I'm in Honolulu, #Hawaii and my family is on the North Shore. They were hiding in the garage. My mom and sister were crying. It was a false alarm, but betting a lot of people are shaken. @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/m6EKxH3QqQ
— Sara Donchey (@KPRC2Sara) January 13, 2018
This is my brother. He lives in #Hawaii and this is how his weekend started.#ffs pic.twitter.com/Ti5ataX99x
— Paul (@The2ndEvilExes) January 13, 2018
Loving living in Hawaii so far!!