Hawaii 'button-pusher' refuses to work with investigators after false missile threat alert, official says
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The infamous “button-pusher” who sent out a false missile alert that caused chaos across the Hawaiian Islands earlier this month is now refusing to work with federal and internal investigators, a top Federal Communications Commission official said Thursday.
The unidentified Hawaii Emergency Management Agency official has backed off working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) -- and also has refused to work with two internal Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) investigations, The Star Advertiser reported.
The FCC’s Homeland Security Bureau chief Lisa Fowlkes confirmed this at a Senate hearing on Thursday saying that while HI-EMA leaders have cooperated, “we are disappointed, however, that one key employee, the person who transmitted the false alert, is refusing to cooperate with our investigation.”
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“We hope that person will reconsider,” Fowlkes added.
On January 13, a civil defense employee at HI-EMA accidently sent out an alert that notified more than a million people in Hawaii that they were about to be struck by a nuclear missile. Some 38 minutes passed before HI-EMA officials sent an alert to people's phones confirming the false alarm.
That employee has since been temporarily reassigned within the agency as the investigation continues.