Could this whole blunder get any worse? Apparently the fact that someone hacked the Hawaii governor's account and sent everyone a hoax missile attack warning wasn't enough since it apparently took the governor a full 17 minutes to tweet that it was fake because... he didn't know his account password.
In summary, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency filed the ballistic missile threat at 8:07 a.m. Pacific time on January 13, while Ige tweeted the four words “there is no missile threat” at 8:24 a.m. the same day. The second alert sent to phones came 38 minutes after the false alarm.
Ige said he set up Twitter on his phone so he could post faster, though hopefully he won't have to refute another hoax missile warning.
“I have to admit that I don’t know Twitter account logins and passwords, so that’s definitely one of the changes I made. I put that on my phone so we can have instant access to social media,” he said, before adding that his response time could be increased because he also called local authorities.
Shortly after the tweet, Ige released several statements, including an apology to Hawaii residents, all on Twitter, presumably trying to show everyone that he had recovered his account password.
“On behalf of the State of Hawaii, I deeply apologize for this false warning that created anxiety and fear of a crisis among our residents and visitors,” the governor said. “I can personally assure every resident and visitor that steps have already been taken by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to ensure that such a situation never happens again.”.
Currently, both Twitter and Facebook accounts are managed by Ige's staff, but apps have also been installed on his phone so the governor can post personally on social media.
Let's just hope it doesn't take long for another missile warning to be delivered to Twitter... Luckily it only has 7,000 followers.
