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April 2005                                                                            Volume 8 - Number 3

Perspectives...

My Perspective on the Terrorism Risk

by Brian Costlow

September 11, 2001 began for me like it did for many others in Washington. Little did any of us know that the crisp, sunny morning that greeted us as we made our way to work would soon give way to unimaginable destruction and death in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. The following day, as I was still digesting the magnitude of this dastardly act, the tragedy became more personal to me, when I learned that two friends had been killed. One was a colleague working at his desk in the Pentagon, the other was aboard American Flight 77.

What happened that infamous morning has proven to be both a defining moment in American history and an event that has precipitated controversy over our basic safety, security, and civil rights in the United States. Not since Pearl Harbor had we been caught with our guard down by foreign attackers, and for many Americans, this was much more significant than just a violent attack and loss of life. It was a bursting of a bubble, one that had seemed for decades to envelop generations of Americans in a sense of innocence and safety. We have now all become conditioned to think…can it happen again, will it happen, what form will it take?

Consider the toll that one September morning’s events have had on our country, in addition to the loss of life. Consider the financial losses suffered by impacted corporations, insurance companies, the stock market, and directly affected families of victims. Then consider the subsequent human and financial losses suffered in our military quest to hunt down and neutralize the perpetrators, those who support their misguided cause, and those who may be pondering follow-up attacks on our soil. I also reflect on the psychological toll that is taken on all Americans who live in a heightened state of anxiety. Many wonder if the venue for the next attack will be the large sporting event they attend, or the crowded bus or subway they ride on, or the school that their children attend. A generation of Americans now must now absorb the daily homeland security threat level as naturally as they absorb the morning weather and traffic report.

Interestingly enough, out of a tragedy something positive has happened. For one, the tools of emergency response have become a growth industry. Many agencies and corporations are spending millions of dollars to train their employees on evacuation procedures, shelter-in-place techniques, and in the development of continuity of operations processes. Many are investing in assets such as escape masks, ready-to-eat meal kits, bottled water and decontamination kits.

More importantly, the synergy created between response groups since September 11 has also been a positive facet. First responder and law enforcement personnel, while not always on the same page, seem to have cultivated a much more effective relationship than was once imagined. Many of us in the emergency preparedness profession are benefiting from this enhanced relationship during actual emergencies, and during regular tabletop exercises, where all responder and cognizant community officials are brought together to simulate response to postulated threats and attacks.

Another positive aspect to our perception of threat is our collective willingness toward preparation – not just for acts of terrorism, but for all hazards. Many have come to realize that shelter-in-place procedures and drills are not only useful against dispersed chemical attacks, but they are also effective during derailments of freight trains hauling hazardous chemicals, or during hurricanes. And fire drills that used to be dismissed as frivolous are now embraced as potentially life-saving training exercises. Additionally, we have learned that a holistic approach to preparedness represents much more than guards, guns and stand-off.

Will we suffer another attack in America? Given the freedoms that all of our citizens and visitors enjoy, the ease of mobility within our country, and the ways in which soft targets could easily be exploited, my response would be, tragically, yes. But whether we credit luck or vigilance, we have been spared from the indiscriminate and debilitating types of attacks such as suicide attackers and vehicle bombs that have become so commonplace in other parts of the world.

Despite the tragedy that we suffered, my belief is that most Americans have gleaned something positive and have built on that experience to better prepare themselves for facing a variety of threats – acts of terror and acts of nature.