Schatz Plans April 5 Honolulu Hearing on January Hawaii False Missile Alert Incident
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, plans an April 5 field hearing in Honolulu on the January false alarm about a possible ballistic missile headed for that state (see 1801160054), as expected (see 1801170050). The hearing will focus…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
on the failure of Hawaii’s state emergency alert system during the incident, the Senate Commerce Committee said. “This hearing is about moving forward and fixing the emergency alert system,” Schatz said. “By bringing together state and federal officials, we can understand what happened, what resources are needed to make it right, and how we can improve.” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, U.S. Pacific Command leader Adm. Harry Harris and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Arthur Logan are among those set to testify. FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes, Federal Emergency Management Agency Continuity Communications Division Director Antwane Johnson and Hawaii Association of Broadcasters President Chris Leonard will also testify. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. at the East-West Center’s Keoni Auditorium. The FCC determined the false missile warning stemmed from a lack of safeguards and human error, including a now-fired HEMA employee who confused drills with alerts (see 1801300053). Schatz later filed the Senate version of the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act (HR-4965/S-2385), which would give the federal government sole authority to issue missile threat alerts and pre-empt state and local governments' role in issuing such warnings (see 1802070052). Senate Commerce and the House Homeland Security Committee have held hearings on the incident (see 1801240046, 1801250061, 1802050046 and 1802060055). The House Communications Subcommittee is also expected at least to partially focus on the issue when it holds its next FCC oversight hearing, after postponing a planned February hearing (see 1802050025). House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us the committee has a future FCC hearing “on the books.”