When Houthis fire missiles, these Navy warship officers must make split-second decisions

I spent a couple of years as the intelligence officer in a Patriot Battalion and became very familiar with LM's Aegis system for the Navy. For missile engagements, I understood it to be all automated, just like the Patriot.

With Patriot, the engagements are happening so fast that they took operators out of the loop when it comes to a missile threat (ABT, or Air Breathing Threat, is a different story). The system classifies the threat, determines the optimal engagement, auto-engages, evaluates the engagement, and reengages if necessary.

I thought Aegis ties the entire missile defense system together (from the missiles to the CIWS). If that officer is doing all that for inbound missiles, my question is .. did the Navy skimp and not pay for the upgraded missile defense package? ☺