The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency “button pusher” who sent a bogus missile alert that triggered panic across the islands on Jan. 13 is not cooperating with either a Federal Communications Commission investigation nor two internal investigations. 
 
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 The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency “button pusher” who sent a bogus missile alert that triggered panic across the islands on Jan. 13 is not cooperating with either a Federal Communications Commission investigation nor two internal investigations. 
 
 “We are quite pleased with the level of cooperation we have received from the leadership of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency thus far,” Lisa Fowlkes, the FCC’s Homeland Security Bureau chief, testified today at a Senate hearing on the missile alert incident. “We are disappointed, however, that one key employee, the person who transmitted the false alert, is refusing to cooperate with our investigation. We hope that person will reconsider.” 
 
 The FCC sent two investigators to Honolulu but got no cooperation from the HI-EMA employee, Fowlkes said. 
 
 The unidentified “warning officer” — an exempt, union employee — also is not cooperating with two internal HI-EMA investigations, one looking into the events of Jan. 13 and another probing the agency’s overall operations, according to Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, spokesman for Hawaii’s Department of Defense, which overseas HI-EMA. 
 
 The employee has since been reassigned to an unspecified job at HI-EMA but has not returned to work since the incident, Anthony said. 
 
 The employee gave a written statement on Jan. 13 but is no longer cooperating, Anthony said. 
 
 “Initially he did provide a statement of his actions that day, but now he is not cooperating,” Anthony said. “He’s choosing not to have further engagement with other employees at the Emergency Management Agency who have attempted to reach out to him.” 
 
 The employee has not been disciplined but faces the possibility of punishment, which could include termination, Anthony said. 
 
 At the start of today’s hearing in Washington, D.C., before the Senate Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said he plans to introduce legislation giving the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security the responsibility to notify the public of an incoming missile attack instead of HI-EMA. 
 
 “A missile attack is federal,” Schatz said. “A missile attack is not a local responsibility. Confirmation and notification of something like a missile attack should reside with the agency that knows first and knows for sure, in other words the people who know should be the people who tell us. That is why I’m introducing legislation with Sens. Harris, Gardner and others to make it clear that the authority to send missile alerts should rest with the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. These agencies have to work with the state and local Emergency Management Agencies when they get the word out so that the public is safe and informed. 
 
 >> For the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s full coverage of Hawaii’s missile alert scare, go to http://808ne.ws/Hawaiimissilescare. 

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 / Updated By Phil Helsel 
 
 The person who transmitted a false missile alarm that terrorized the state of Hawaii this month is not currently cooperating with the Federal Communications Commission investigation, an FCC official said Thursday. 
 
 "We hope that person will reconsider," Lisa Fowlkes, chief of the FCC's Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in Washington. 
 
 The Jan. 13 alert of a ballistic missile alert sent people seeking shelter, some in basements or crammed inside bathtubs. The false alert came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which has conducted nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and has claimed a missile can reach the continental United States. 
 
 Fowlkes called the false alert "absolutely unacceptable" and said that the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency is working with its vendor to put in place technical safeguards, and has since required that two people sign off on any tests or alerts. 
 
 She said the FCC is "quite pleased" with the level of cooperation from the leadership of the state emergency management agency, but that “we are disappointed, however, that one key employee — the person who transmitted the false alert — is refusing to cooperate with our investigation." 
 
 Related: Hawaii false alarm: Ensuing chaos is teachable moment, experts say 
 
 The panic from the false ballistic missile alert was compounded by the relatively lengthy amount of time it took for the warning to be rescinded. It took around 40 minutes for the error to be corrected, Fowlkes said. 
 
 Some officials raced to Twitter to notify residents there was no threat. Hawaii Gov. David Ige knew within two minutes it was a false alarm, but said Monday he was delayed in sharing the news on his Twitter account because he didn't know his log-in information. 
 
 Fowlkes told the Senate committee that, while the investigation is ongoing, "based on current information it appears that the false alert was a result of two failures: First, simple human error. Second, the state did not have safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the human error from resulting in the transmission of a false alert." 
 
 Related: Hawaii Gov. David Ige slow to correct false missile alert because he couldn’t log onto Twitter 
 
 Fowlkes said that despite the false alert in Hawaii, wireless emergency alerts have "greatly enhanced public safety" overall, and that they were used in 2017 wildfires in northern and southern California, and in areas affected by last year's hurricanes. 
 
 Because they can be targeted, the alerts are "extremely effective" at reaching those affected by emergencies, Scott Bergmann, vice president for regulatory affairs for the wireless communications association CTIA, told the committee.
– The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency worker who caused panic by accidentally sending an incoming missile alert earlier this month has clammed up, officials say. Lisa Fowlkes, the chief of the Federal Communication Commission's Homeland Security Bureau, told a Senate hearing Thursday that the "button pusher" responsible is no longer cooperating with the FCC's investigation, NBC News reports. "We hope that person will reconsider," she said. Hawaiian officials say the employee was reassigned to a different role after the Jan. 13 false alarm but hasn't returned to work since, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. Fowlkes said other HEMA employees have been very cooperative. "Initially he did provide a statement of his actions that day, but now he is not cooperating," says Hawaii Department of Defense spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony. "He's choosing not to have further engagement with other employees at the Emergency Management Agency who have attempted to reach out to him." Anthony says the employee has not been disciplined, but punishments including firing are still possible. The agency's executive officer said last week that the employee has received dozens of death threats and "is not doing well." During Thursday's Senate hearing, Sen. Brian Schatz said he plans to introduce legislation to put the Pentagon and Homeland Security in charge of missile alerts. "A missile attack is federal," he said. "A missile attack is not a local responsibility."