Public Safety Bureau Releases Hawaii False Missile Alert Final Report
The FCC Public Safety Bureau's final report on the January false missile alert in Hawaii blames “a combination of human error and inadequate safeguards” for the alerting error, a similar conclusion to that reached by the bureau in a preliminary…
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report the same month (see 1801300053). “Neither the false alert nor the 38-minute delay to correct the false alert would have occurred” if Hawaii had implemented “reasonable safeguards and protocols” to minimize the risk of false alerts and ensure the availability of measures to correct false alerts, the final report said Tuesday. It condemns the use of the phrase “this is not a drill” in a practice alert, as occurred in Hawaii. Test messages should be clearly identified as tests, the report said. “The script and content for actual emergency alerts versus test alerts should be clearly distinguishable,” the document said. Recommendations include that public safety alerting entities conduct tests in “controlled and closed environments,” require validation by more than one “credentialed person” for tests of “high-impact alerts,” create procedures to correct false alerts and establish redundant lines of communication. The bureau will follow up with additional outreach, it said, including a webinar and upcoming roundtable. “Fixing this should be a top priority -- from working to promote best practices to establishing a mechanism for false alert reporting,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “We have our work cut out for us.”