Thread by @RadioFreeTom

Because I actually take being a teacher seriously, I'm gonna walk everyone - one last time - through this Hawaii alert thing, and why it's not a Trump or POTUS issue. Listen carefully, do not @ me with dumb interjections, and try to breathe through your nostrils. /1

If a US military system had detected a missile launch - and had been in error - and needlessly informed Hawaii officials, and panicked everyone, yes, that's a POTUS issue. Because that alert would go to him and he'd see it. That's not what happened. /2

Instead, a guy in Hawaii who mans the computer that would tell Hawaiians about an attack (or a tsunami, or a whatever) was testing the system and ignored the "do you really wanna send this one?" warning, and clicked "send." No one in DC sees that. It's a local thing. /3

Apparently, PACOM - located in Hawaii - saw it, and said "Uh, guys, that's not actually happening." So did NORAD. They said so publicly. So did Hawaii EMA. /4

None of this would go to the level of the President, because there was no "this" to send to him. This is something that would make his briefing, maybe, later in the day: "Hey, someone in Honolulu scared the shit out of everyone for a half hour." No action needed or possible. /5

This would be like me tweeting out IMMINENT CHINESE SUBMARINE THREAT TO NEWPORT RI and then expecting that within minutes, the President has been alerted to the presence of the Yangtze off the coast of Middletown.
/6

To summarize:
-Had the alert been generated by the military, and sent to the Hawaii EMA, then yes, that's a DC level issue.
-A local official hitting the "oops" button on a test message is not a DC level issue. That's a Hawaii state govt issue.
The End. /7x