Hawaii man who sent alert says he was "100 percent sure" attack was real

HONOLULU – A former Hawaii state worker who sent a false missile alert last month said Friday that he’s devastated for causing panic but was “100 percent sure” at the time that the attack was real. He says the on-duty call he received on Jan. 13 didn’t sound like a drill, although state officials say other workers clearly heard the word “exercise” repeated several times.  

“I don’t think they’re prepared for missile notifications,” he said, CBS affiliate KGMB reports. “I think the military should handle that, but the point is — no, we weren’t ready and we could have been trained more. It’s just a big failure of the system.”  

The man in his 50s spoke to reporters on the condition that he not be identified because he fears for his safety after receiving threats. 

The state’s internal report on the false missile alert, released Tuesday, said that drill started as previous ones had: A recorded Pacific Command message was played over a loudspeaker at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency that began “exercise, exercise, exercise,” then warned of an incoming ballistic missile and said, “This is not a drill.”

The drill then ended with “exercise, exercise, exercise.”

In its own report, the FCC said the employee who sent out the false alert heard “This is not a drill,” but didn’t hear “exercise.”

“I was convinced that it was real,” the ex-worker said. He called that the emergency management agency’s “state warning point”  “chaotic” in the seconds after the drill started — minutes after a shift change. “I was 100 percent sure that it was real.”  

The ex-worker said it felt like he had been hit with a “body blow” when he realized it was just a drill and he has had difficulty eating and sleeping since.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency fired him. He described his life as “utter hell” since sending the alert, according to KGMB. 

The man’s superiors said they knew for years that he had problems performing his job. The worker had mistakenly believed drills for tsunami and fire warnings were actual events, and colleagues were not comfortable working with him, the state said.

His supervisors counseled him but kept him for a decade in a position that had to be renewed each year.

The ex-worker disputed that, saying he wasn’t aware of any performance problems.

While working at the state warning site in a former bunker in Honolulu’s Diamond Head crater on Jan. 13, the man said, he took a call that sounded like a real warning from U.S Pacific Command. He said he didn’t hear that it was a drill.

But the problems at the agency went beyond the one employee.

Federal and state reports say the agency had a vague checklist for missile alerts, allowing workers to interpret the steps they should follow differently. Managers didn’t require a second person to sign off on alerts before they were sent, and the agency lacked any preparation on how to correct a false warning.

Those details emerged Tuesday in reports on investigations about how the agency mistakenly blasted cellphones and broadcast stations with the missile warning.

It took nearly 40 minutes for the agency to figure out a way to retract the false alert on the same platforms it was sent to.

“The protocols were not in place. It was a sense of urgency to put it in place as soon as possible. But those protocols were not developed to the point they should have,” retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira, who wrote the report on Hawaii’s internal investigation, said at a news conference.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi resigned as the reports were released. Officials revealed that the employee who sent the alert was fired Jan. 26. The state did not name him.

The agency’s executive officer, Toby Clairmont, said Wednesday that he stepped down because it was clear action would be taken against agency leaders after the alert.

Another employee was being suspended without pay, officials said.

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Uma Thurman Accuses Weinstein of Sexual Assault and Claims Tarantino Almost Killed Her in Stunt Gone Wrong

Uma Thurman has finally come forward to speak out about her alleged experience with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, accusing him of trying to force himself on her and exposing himself in hotel rooms.

Months after going viral for a tense interview in which she carefully declined to speak about Weinstein until she was “ready,” the 47-year-old actress told her story in an interview with Maureen Dowd published on The New York Times on Saturday.

She alleged Weinstein first whipped out his now infamous bathrobe during a meeting in his Paris hotel room during the afterglow of 1994’s Pulp Fiction. There, she claimed he led her down a hallway to a steam room, where she asked him “This is ridiculous, what are you doing?” before he ran out.

“I didn’t feel threatened,” she recalled. “I thought he was being super idiosyncratic, like this was your kooky, eccentric uncle.”

The first alleged “attack” happened at London’s Savoy hotel. “It was such a bat to the head,” she said of the alleged encounter, the exact date of which she did not give. “He pushed me down. He tried to shove himself on me.”

“He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things. But he didn’t actually put his back into it and force me.”

The next day, she claimed Weinstein sent her a bouquet of yellow roses as a way to apologize. She returned to the hotel to confront him, this time taking with her a male friend for protection who waited downstairs as she went up to his room with his assistants.

“If you do what you did to me to other people you will lose your career, your reputation and your family, I promise you,” she said she told him. In response, she reportedly told her friend afterwards that he had threatened to destroy her career.

A rep for Weinstein told The Times, “She very well could have said this” in response to her threats to expose him. But the rep denied ever delivering an ultimatum about her career.

“Mr. Weinstein acknowledges making a pass at Ms. Thurman in England after misreading her signals in Paris,” the rep said in a statement to The Times, claiming that up until the Paris steam room, they had had “a flirtatious and fun working relationship” and that “he immediately apologized.”

Elsewhere in her chat, Thurman alleged that Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino — who worked closely with her and Weinstein on both projects — forced her to do a stunt in Kill Bill that left her neck “permanently damaged” and her knees “screwed-up.”

She alleged no sexual misconduct against Tarantino, but said the two fought for years before he finally provided Thurman with the footage of the crash.

Thurman also told The Times she felt guilty for all of Weinstein’s alleged victims who followed suit.

“I am one of the reasons that a young girl would walk into his room alone,” she said, explaining how Kill Bill became a symbol of female empowerment. “All these lambs walked into slaughter because they were convinced nobody rises to such a position who would do something illegal to you, but they do. … I stand as both a person who was subjected to it and a person who was then also part of the cloud cover.”

A spokesperson for Weinstein said in a statement to PEOPLE that while Weinstein made “an awkward pass” at Thurman in the past, the producer denied ever physically assaulting the actress.

“We have pulled a number of images that demonstrate the strong relationship Mr. Weinstein and Ms. Thurman had had over the years and we wish the New York Times would have published them, the spokesperson said in a statement. “Mr. Weinstein acknowledges making an awkward pass 25 years ago at Ms. Thurman in England after misreading her signals, after a flirtatious exchange in Paris, for which he immediately apologized and deeply regrets.

“However, her claims about being physically assaulted are untrue,” the rep continued. “And this is the first time we have heard those details. There was no physical contact during Mr. Weinstein’s awkward pass and Mr. Weinstein is saddened and puzzled as to ‘why’ Ms. Thurman, someone he considers a colleague and a friend, waited 25 years to make these allegations public, noting that he and Ms. Thurman have shared a very close and mutually beneficial working relationship where they have made several very successful film projects together.”

“This is the first time we are hearing that she considered Mr. Weinstein an enemy and the pictures of their history tell a completely different story,” the rep said.

Reps for Thurman and Tarantino did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The actress collaborated with Weinstein on seven movies, including her Oscar-nominated role in Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill series. Late last year, she hinted at misconduct claims in an Instagram post on Thanksgiving Day where she promised she would be speaking further soon.

H A P P Y T H A N K S G I V I N G I am grateful today, to be alive, for all those I love, and for all those who have the courage to stand up for others. I said I was angry recently, and I have a few reasons, #metoo, in case you couldn’t tell by the look on my face. I feel it’s important to take your time, be fair, be exact, so… Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! (Except you Harvey, and all your wicked conspirators – I’m glad it’s going slowly – you don’t deserve a bullet) -stay tuned Uma Thurman

A post shared by Uma Thurman (@ithurman) on Nov 23, 2017 at 12:58pm PST

“I am grateful today, to be alive, for all those I love, and for all those who have the courage to stand up for others,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of herself in Kill Bill. “I said I was angry recently, and I have a few reasons, #metoo, in case you couldn’t tell by the look on my face. I feel it’s important to take your time, be fair, be exact, so… Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! (Except you Harvey, and all your wicked conspirators – I’m glad it’s going slowly – You don’t deserve a bullet) -stay tuned.”

RELATED: Uma Thurman’s Chilling Response to Harvey Weinstein Scandal

When asked about her thoughts on the sexual harassment allegations against him in October, the star was visibly upset as she declined to speak in that moment.

“I don’t have a tidy soundbite for you, because I have learned — I am not a child and I have learned that… when I’ve spoken in anger, I usually regret the way I express myself,” Thurman told Access Hollywood, carefully choosing her words. “So I’ve been waiting to feel less angry… and when I’m ready, I’ll say what I have to say.”

Weinstein, 65, has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 60 women including Cara Delevingne, Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow since The New York Times and The New Yorker documented decades of alleged sexual misconduct and sexual assault involving a number of women in detailed articles last fall.

A spokesperson for Weinstein previously told PEOPLE in a statement that “any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”

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