2018 Hawaii false missile alert

On the morning of January 13, 2018, an alert was accidentally issued via the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert System over television, radio, and cellular networks in the U.S. state of Hawaii, instructing citizens to seek shelter due to an incoming ballistic missile. The message was sent at 8:08 a.m. local time and the state had not authorized civil defense outdoor warning sirens to sound.

Occurring during the 2017–2018 North Korea crisis, the alert was widely interpreted as a nuclear attack launched from North Korea. In a subsequent survey, 28% of respondents initially believed the alert, 45% were unsure, and 27% did not believe it. Of all respondents, 27% did not check any other sources following the alert. Some residents, not hearing sirens or seeing widespread media coverage, discounted the alert. Others found apparent confirmation in their area's activated sirens and local TV stations that had received the alert. According to the study, "the urge to call loved ones interfered with the practical need to shelter", frantic driving was common, and the "broader social contract was, in that extreme situation, at least to some degree, put into abeyance in favor of the closest social sphere".

38 minutes and 13 seconds later, state officials blamed a miscommunication during a drill at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency for the first message. Governor David Ige apologized for the erroneous alert. The Federal Communications Commission and the Hawaii House of Representatives launched investigations into the incident, leading to the resignation of the state's emergency management administrator.