The former Hawaii Emergency Management employee who was responsible for sending out what turned out to be a false missile warning to all of the mobile phones in the islands last month is complaining that he has been “made a scapegoat” by the agency and the State of Hawaii.The man, who spoke with NBC news with the condition of anonymity, says that he has received death threats and is concerned about the well-being of his family. It has been a rough road for the agency since the false alert was sent out to all residents of the state on the morning of January 13th. Two top officials in the agency have resigned in the weeks since the erroneous alert was sent out by the agency. In recent weeks, prior to his firing, the responsible employee began refusing to cooperate with investigators from the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) who were asked to investigate the situation.

According to an article on Time.com:

“Lisa Fowlkes, chief of the FCC’s public safety and homeland security bureau, said she was “disappointed” during a hearing with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

“We are quite pleased with the level of cooperation we have received from the leadership of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency thus far. We are disappointed, however, that one key employee, the person who transmitted the false alert, is refusing to cooperate with our investigation,” Fowlkes said on Thursday. “We hope that person will reconsider.”

Honestly, if I had sent out a false communication which had convinced millions of people that they were about to be vaporized by an incoming nuclear warhead, it simply would not occur to me that not cooperating with the government agency tasked with determining the root cause of the failure was even an option.

The January alert caused pandemonium as tourists all over the state were jamming cell phone networks trying to communicate with loved ones on the mainland, and wandered around desperately seeking shelter. Thankfully no one was injured in the insanity that ensued in the legendary Waikiki area, home to more than 110 hotels that play host to millions of tourists each year and that bring multiple millions into the local economy.

Evidently, the man who issued the missile alert was a 10 year veteran of the agency who had a reputation for being “confused” during drills in the past. He claims that this time he did not hear the announcement that this was a drill. From the Daily Mail:

“‘I heard: “This is not a drill.” I didn’t hear “exercise” at all. I’m really not to blame in this. It was a system failure,’ he told NBC Nightly News on Friday.”

Then, he continued in the interview with NBC by stating that someone else, higher up in the agency deserves the blame since it was due to “bigger, systemic issues”. He finished the interview by stating that the fallout has been tough on him, and his family describing it as “utter hell”. I have to say that as far as I am concerned he deserves every bit of psychological hell that has come to him. His family, not so much. It is not their fault that they are related to one of the stupidest human beings to ever roam the planet. But this guy? Yeah. He earned it. Millions of people were convinced that they were going to die horrible, firey and painful deaths for a full 38 minutes until the “all clear” was sounded throughout the islands. So to this man I say, sir, sit down and shut up. Period.