Members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation told Rear Adm. Patrick A. Piercey, U.S. Pacific Command director of operations, that they want the military to take responsibility for alerting the public about any incoming ballistic missile which would be an act of war.
“We want the origination of a notification of a missile alert to start with people who know,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said at today’s congressional hearing on the Jan. 13 false alarm at the East-West Center in Honolulu.
U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said there are too many layers for notification and verification that would be improved if PACOM, which has verification responsibility, also sent out the alert from a drop-down computer menu.