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It's all about context. It might be fine if that's a list of your website bookmarks and if you click the wrong one you just click a different one. But when the consequences of clicking the wrong one are such high magnitude, it's bad design.

And I don't even think it's up for debate. If the design of the page just made someone accidentally alert a whole state of an incoming missile, then it's bad.

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I think someone will always be able to click the wrong link, especially if given the wrong information or confusing information "Give the message for PACOM CDW, ... Oh sorry you did the DRILL PACOM, right?" The larger problem was not having a quick system in place to redact an erroneous message.

But I've read a lot of suggestions like spreading items across multiple pages, adding passwords, or big warning colors and lines around the live options that are not just obfuscating/distracting/annoying but are bound to cause errors and open the door for even worse design.

And remember that when you need to click it, you will be 100% entirely terrified by the incoming missile. Parsing through the list will itself be challenging under those circumstances.

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