4 ms·

Any reason why it would take 30+ minutes to rectify the mistake?

subcosmos 9y ago
Gotta wait 30 minutes to see if anything detonates ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
JumpCrisscross 9y ago
Civilian governments would have had to get clarity from a military caught off guard. Something as simple as the appropriate official being in a meeting could introduce delays.
- charlesdm 9y ago
  You'd assume a potential strike by an incoming missile is important enough to interrupt said meeting?
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    If NORAD said “incoming missile strike,” sure. That isn’t what happened. The civilian notification system sent out a false positive. Saying “false alarm” would require, at that point, asking the military for affirmative confirmation nothing is wrong. That is a lower priority than responding to an active threat.
    - anigbrowl 9y ago
      This is irrational. If you know a false alarm has occurred then you are endangering people by allowing them to believe the existence of an active threat. I feel like I'm stuck in a car with someone driving off a cliff because the GPS said so even though the edge of the cliff is perfectly visible though the windscreen.
      - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        You’re bickering over a thirteen minute delay between a mistake and a correction.
        anigbrowl 9y ago
        A mistake that could easily have caused mass public panic and which there was no contingency in place for. That's not OK.
        JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        > could easily have caused mass public panic Could. It didn’t. This was a mistake. You’re being irrational.
        anigbrowl 9y ago
        No I'm not. Imagine the same mistake happening in New York at 9 in the morning on a workday (remind you of anything?), or during some large public event where there was the potential for a stampede - hardly uncommon. Just because you get away with something without serious consequences once doesn't mean it's not problematic.
    - cryptoz 9y ago
      > That is a lower priority than responding to an active threat. No, that is the active threat and anyone in power would know it. A panicked civilian population can do about as much damage as a real bomb and the military knows it. Such a long delay in the all-clear message is incompetent and dangerous.
      - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        > A panicked civilian population can do about as much damage as a real bomb Honolulu was vaporised? Keep your perspective. Responding was a priority. The error was corrected in 13 minutes. It’s just not as high of a priority as an incoming ballistic projectile.
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  You keep trotting out this excuse, but the responsibility is on the people conducting the drill to plan for that possibility and you're letting them off the hook.
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    > the responsibility is on the people conducting the drill Was this a drill? I understood it to be an unplanned mistake. In either case, I agree. This was a fuck-up. I am simply saying the cause for the delay, once the mistake was made, is understandable. > You keep trotting out this excuse This is a shitty thing to say.
    - anigbrowl 9y ago
      What's shitty about it? You posted the same thing a bunch of times and seem indifferent to the downside risk.
      - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        You’ve repeatedly, and wrongly, called it a drill. Lying is also a shitty thing to do. I have seen your user name on HN before. I thought simple etiquette might apply to our discussions. I am sorry for presuming your civility.
        anigbrowl 9y ago
        When news reports quoted the White House saying it was an exercise (which they did) I was naturally inclined to take that at face value. Here is one example. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/368907-white-house-hawaii-false-alarm-purely-a-state-exercise http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/368907-white-hous... Furthermore, allow me to quote from the NY Times story on which we are commenting: Officials said the alert was the result of human error and not the work of hackers or a foreign government. The mistake occurred during a shift-change drill that takes place three times a day at the emergency command post, according to Richard Rapoza, a spokesman for the agency. (emphasis added) Now you're accusing me of lying. Previously you thought my disagreement with your dismissal of the issue was shitty and you accused me of being irrational. You are in no position to complain about civility. Please retract your false accusation.

Gotta wait 30 minutes to see if anything detonates ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Civilian governments would have had to get clarity from a military caught off guard. Something as simple as the appropriate official being in a meeting could introduce delays.

charlesdm 9y ago
You'd assume a potential strike by an incoming missile is important enough to interrupt said meeting?
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  If NORAD said “incoming missile strike,” sure. That isn’t what happened. The civilian notification system sent out a false positive. Saying “false alarm” would require, at that point, asking the military for affirmative confirmation nothing is wrong. That is a lower priority than responding to an active threat.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    This is irrational. If you know a false alarm has occurred then you are endangering people by allowing them to believe the existence of an active threat. I feel like I'm stuck in a car with someone driving off a cliff because the GPS said so even though the edge of the cliff is perfectly visible though the windscreen.
    - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      You’re bickering over a thirteen minute delay between a mistake and a correction.
      - anigbrowl 9y ago
        A mistake that could easily have caused mass public panic and which there was no contingency in place for. That's not OK.
        JumpCrisscross 9y ago
        > could easily have caused mass public panic Could. It didn’t. This was a mistake. You’re being irrational.
        anigbrowl 9y ago
        No I'm not. Imagine the same mistake happening in New York at 9 in the morning on a workday (remind you of anything?), or during some large public event where there was the potential for a stampede - hardly uncommon. Just because you get away with something without serious consequences once doesn't mean it's not problematic.
  - cryptoz 9y ago
    > That is a lower priority than responding to an active threat. No, that is the active threat and anyone in power would know it. A panicked civilian population can do about as much damage as a real bomb and the military knows it. Such a long delay in the all-clear message is incompetent and dangerous.
    - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      > A panicked civilian population can do about as much damage as a real bomb Honolulu was vaporised? Keep your perspective. Responding was a priority. The error was corrected in 13 minutes. It’s just not as high of a priority as an incoming ballistic projectile.
anigbrowl 9y ago
You keep trotting out this excuse, but the responsibility is on the people conducting the drill to plan for that possibility and you're letting them off the hook.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > the responsibility is on the people conducting the drill Was this a drill? I understood it to be an unplanned mistake. In either case, I agree. This was a fuck-up. I am simply saying the cause for the delay, once the mistake was made, is understandable. > You keep trotting out this excuse This is a shitty thing to say.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    What's shitty about it? You posted the same thing a bunch of times and seem indifferent to the downside risk.
    - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      You’ve repeatedly, and wrongly, called it a drill. Lying is also a shitty thing to do. I have seen your user name on HN before. I thought simple etiquette might apply to our discussions. I am sorry for presuming your civility.
      - anigbrowl 9y ago
        When news reports quoted the White House saying it was an exercise (which they did) I was naturally inclined to take that at face value. Here is one example. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/368907-white-house-hawaii-false-alarm-purely-a-state-exercise http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/368907-white-hous... Furthermore, allow me to quote from the NY Times story on which we are commenting: Officials said the alert was the result of human error and not the work of hackers or a foreign government. The mistake occurred during a shift-change drill that takes place three times a day at the emergency command post, according to Richard Rapoza, a spokesman for the agency. (emphasis added) Now you're accusing me of lying. Previously you thought my disagreement with your dismissal of the issue was shitty and you accused me of being irrational. You are in no position to complain about civility. Please retract your false accusation.