Category Archives: War & Peace

Recalling that 1962 nuclear test

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A Civil Beat article and podcast recall the 1962 atmospheric nuclear test that was visible from Hawaii (“Offshore: When Hawaii Welcomed A Nuclear Blast“).

The U.S. high-level open air atmospheric test was conducted at Johnston Island, some 800 miles from Honolulu.

Civil Beat says there were celebrations of the blast.

People in Hawaii were so excited to witness the blast that hotels in Waikiki planned watch parties, families lined up in parks and on beaches to find a good viewing spot, and newspapers printed viewing guides.

End of the world parties, more likely. Coming at the height of the cold war, with nuclear war preparations very much part of the daily news, it was profoundly unsettling to experience the power of nuclear weapons, even from this safe distance. Life changing? I don’t know, but it’s not something anyone who was here will forget.

I remember staying up late as media–radio or television, I don’t recall–counted down to the blast. We stood in our back yard looking up at the sky, and stood in awe as the night gave way to a bright flash, which slowly faded through the color scale over a number of minutes as the colors slowly mutated and faded. It was awe inspiring for sure. Fear and anxiety inducing also.

I’m looking forward to listening to the Civil Beat podcast.

Did a key phone log in the governor’s office go missing?

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That’s what I’m left wondering after yesterday’s news cycle yielded the fact that Governor David Ige knew within minutes that this was Saturday’s nuclear attack warning was a false alarm.

Hawaii News Now reported:

One of the day’s revelations: The governor knew within two minutes that the alert was a false alarm.

Maj. Gen. Arthur Logan, the state’s adjutant general, said he called the governor at 8:09 a.m. to let him know the message was a mistake.

That was after calling the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency at 8:07 a.m., when the alert went out, and speaking to a supervisor.

This morning, the Star-Advertiser followed up on the same briefing with this addition:

After the governor was informed that the alert was false, he “immediately started his attempt to reach” Communications Director Cindy McMillan, press secretary Jodi Leong said Friday. Ige’s communications team handles the governor’s social media accounts. The call log on the cellphone of Ige’s communication director no longer includes calls from Jan. 13.

That last sentence got my attention. What does it mean? We’re left dangling, waiting for clarification. Does that statement mean the communications director deleted the log for that day? I imagine the call log is limited only by the phone’s available memory, although I could be wrong. And if it’s a government provided phone, isn’t that call log likely a public record?

Why does it seem like this kerfluffle isn’t going to go away quickly?

Moving on from last week’s false alarm

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My column today over at Civil Beat is a partial response to last week’s false alarm and resulting calls for a strengthened civil defense program (Ian Lind: Make Peace, Not War).

When I sat down to work on the column, I had intended to go in a different direction by pointing to our obvious interest in improving relations with North Korea, and then brainstorming the kinds of small, realistic actions that we could take in small groups with friends, in our churches, community organizations or even as individuals. It seems to me that we’re lacking examples of the kinds of direct actions that can build bridges between countries and peoples. We need to think little, rather than thinking only of the “big picture” and then giving up because creating any movement seems a herculean task.

But after scanning a number of other reactions, it became clear that first we need to address the issue of civil defense. And that’s where this column ended up focusing.

Rick Blangiardi at Hawaii News Now came to a similar conclusion in a commentary a few days ago.

Hawaii is never going to spend the billions it would take to build a shelter system and communications infrastructure capable of surviving a nuclear explosion. Especially for what is considered a remote possibility.

So, the Ige Administration built a warning system without giving people anyway to respond with anything other than fear and panic.

The governor says they have made changes to prevent false alarms and how to cancel them. It might be better to just suspend this nearly useless attack warning until it justified by an actual threat.

I’ll just have to return to the topic later for that brainstorming on the kinds of projects we could undertake to tackle the giant issue of relations with North Korea in small and accessible ways.

A call for a different response to the threat of a new Korean War

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For your consideration–a petition received from Hawaii Island activist Jim Albertini.

To: Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency

STOP HAWAII’S MONTHLY NUCLEAR ATTACK WARNING SIREN

Campaign created by
Ann Wright

Petition Text

Governor Ige and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency: Stop the monthly nuclear attack warning siren.

Why is this important?

The State of Hawaii is war mongering and scaring its citizens with its monthly nuclear attack warning siren which began in December 2017.

Hawaii citizens are demanding the State Emergency Management Agency stop the fear-mongering with the nuclear attack warning siren and call on State officials including Hawaii’s Congressional delegation to make a firm stand for diplomacy, not military action, to resolve the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

The sirens heighten the anxiety and stress of impending conflict and devastation, make citizens afraid and in their fear, accept whatever the government feeds them on how great threats to our nation are. We know that successive administrations have lied our country into wars –from Vietnam to Iraq. We do not agree for the need for war with North Korea and refuse to accept the attempted US intimidation of North Korea which could lead to war. The sirens normalize the potential for war.

Certainly, If the U.S. initiates military action against North Korea, militarized Hawaii with its four major military bases on Oahu—the headquarters of the U.S. military Pacific Command that covers half the world, the Army’s 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Marine Expeditionary Force at Kaneohe, Hickam Air Force Base and Pearl Harbor Navy Base, the huge NSA underground listening station near Wahaiwa, the massive practice bombing area called Pohakuloa, on the Big Island and the Pacific Missile Range on Kauai would be a retaliatory target for North Korea and any other nation threatened by the United States.

Therefore, it is in Hawaii’s survival interest that we demand that the U.S. government resolve issues with North Korea in a nonviolent manner.

The national government in Washington, DC does not feel the need to have nuclear warning sirens, so why should Hawaii? One would think the politicians who make the decisions for war and the Pentagon would be bigger targets than Hawaii.

Please sign this petition to the Hawaii Governor, the Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency and Hawaii’s Congressional delegation demanding that the monthly nuclear attack warning sirens STOP.

See the petition here.