Aloha, Hawaii - is this a test or a live message or a mistake?

On Friday morning, June 13, Hawaiians were startled by a statewide WEA. It indicated that it was a TEST - in fact it was some sort of "proficiency demo cog testing" - but this test was sent to a live environment and every WEA-enabled phone in the state lit up.

The June 13, 2025 TEST message issued statewide by Hawaii Emergency Management

This seemed to be a replay of the December 2018 WEA issued errantly for an incoming ballistic missile. We all remember that one, right? It was the event where the world waited for 38 long and agonizing minutes to learn that it was false; we weren't at war with North Korea and the good people of Hawaii could come out of their make-shift hiding places. Hawaiians were safe.

Reporters in Hawaii reached out to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to inquire why a test message was sent to the entire state, if it was an accident, and what the contents "proficiency demo cog testing" meant to the general public that received the message. The PIO was not generous with their response. They indicated that it was a test and moved on. Other reports from HEM suggested that this was planned and "harmless" test. The definition of harmless is relative here - trust in agency competence was harmed once again.

What should have happened? With EVERY test message that is sent to the LIVE environment, organizations should coordinate and make use of the media to announce the planned WEA before it is issued. This is an opportunity to increase public awareness of the system, how it works, and to demonstrate organizational competence and capability. You can read more about the FCC recommendations here. When these steps aren't followed, as we've seen in several poorly planned examples recently, public trust diminishes as people come to understand that they have been tricked, mislead, or believe they are the butt of a joke. It's not a good look if you want to keep the public engaged and willing to follow in the future.

If, however, it was an accident - as this message appears to be (we can tell because of the language in the message and the additional description available on PBS.Warn, which says "Thanks IPAWS") - doing some quick crisis control would go a long way. Recognizing what went wrong and accepting responsibility shows that the organization is aware of their failure, is making amends, and is doing something to fix it. In this case, their response to public frustration is akin to gaslighting, making it appear that this is just business as usual and Hawaiians should get used to it.

One EM reached out to share their test message text as an example of a good practice:

TEST TEST TEST: Ingham County is performing a test of our alerting process. This is only a test of the county's Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. No action is required. More information is available at emergency.ingham.org TEST TEST TEST

We agree - this is a good example that clearly states that the message is a test, identifies the sending organization, the event, the guidance to follow, and where to get more information. They also coordinate with the media beforehand to ensure their publics are aware of the live system test.

For more recommended contents, be sure to download The Warning Lexicon - it's free and offers step-by-step instructions on how to write a better warning message.

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