This was not the topic planned for this week, but stuff happens. It case you missed it: Jan. 13 an inbound ballistic missile wiped Hawaii of the face of the earth. Well, not quite, actually not even a little bit. The missile did not miss, splash in the ocean, burn up on reentry or fail to detonate. In fact, there was no missile at all. Not even little one.
This simple fact did not deter the HI-EMA bureaucracy from scaring the shishi out of us. A human pushed the wrong button on an early warning system the actual need for which is doubtful. But with two unstable presidents comparing pee-pees some politicians in Hawaii felt we were threatened. Actually, Seattle would be a more probable target; it is closer, bigger and has big defense installations. Seattle has not installed such a system.
The Hawaii State government hastily slapped together a ballistic missile warning system on top of the notoriously unreliable tsunami warning system. Then, carelessly, HI-EMA sent a warning that an inbound ballistic missile would hit in 15 minutes. Some important safeguards were left out of the system, such as requiring two separate and distinct actions to activate; simple things like two buttons that have to be pushed at the same time. My dad showed me that safeguard on an old punch press almost 70 years ago. Another ancient method is to put such a button behind a door that you have to open to access the button. A simple safeguard on your home computer is a separate “are you sure” or undo button on the screen in case you click something that might be irreversible like trash, quit or end all life on earth.
Engineers accept that humans make mistakes and that is why an intelligently designed system has safeguards. Why then did it take 38 minutes to realize the mistake and try to unring the bell? Apparently, the system could only send pre-programmed messages and that was another oversight. Fortunately, Tulsi Gabbard was alert and only took 15 minutes to reassure her Facebook and Twitter followers that all was well. By then most of us had figured out on our own that we were still alive. It was helpful to turn on a radio and hear the normal programming instead of Civil Defense instructions. Did our electrical engineer governor sleep through the control systems course?
Hawaii seems to have a need to reassure the federal government of our loyalty. Perhaps this is due to our mid-ocean isolation or a leftover from the last territorial days when Hawaii campaigned for statehood. There are some dummies on the mainland and especially in government that forget: Hawaii is a full-fledged state. The USDA inspects Hawaii produce like we’re an infested, Third World s…h… country. When the president decided to scare us with the possibility of nuclear attack which he says: he and only he can prevent; by not causing. Hawaii alone, though not the likeliest target, reacts. The first tactic of politics is to keep the public alarmed!
Congress in the post 9/11 hysteria passed the real ID act. Hawaii was one of the first states to implement it, with a half-baked program that still does not work 17 years later. Renewing a driver’s license can take two or more trips to the license bureau, with an average two-hour wait each time. Now they want to add another step and make everyone go through it again.
At every public gathering in Hawaii we pledge allegiance. This is an act I can only recall doing once between junior high (1958) and moving to Hawaii (2006). Are we that insecure? We have two representatives; seven states only have one. And two senators, just like every other state. We even birthed a president, unlike half the states.
We’re all grown up now, let’s act it, and not cry, “Wolf … Woooolf.”
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Email obenskik@gmail.com