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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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October
2004
Volume 7
- Number 1 |
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Perspective on the Risk of Terrorism in the United States Jeffrey L. Shackelford
At least one theory of personal perspective suggests that one’s outlook is in large part representative of one’s totality of experiences. In my case, my own perspective on terrorism in the United States has evolved from over four decades of personal experience (44 years to be precise). In 1964, at four years of age (Osama bin Laden was 7 at the time), I was growing up in rural Georgia. Terrorism was not a word or concept that was discussed at the time. As a four year old boy in Georgia, I can honestly say that nothing in my experience shaped my attitudes to hate anyone the way that many modern-day terrorist organizations appear to hate today. I sometimes wonder what they were doing when they were only four years old that would cause them to have such hate forty years later. By 1974, things had begun to change at the international level with the (1972) Munich Olympics hostage crisis. However, in rural Georgia at age fourteen, Munich, hostages, and terrorism, were still truly “foreign” concepts. My friends and I concerned ourselves with worrying about how to hit a curve ball and sneaking out to drive our Dads’ car when no one was around. I can’t recall a single instance of worrying about terror threats. The same cannot be said for the fourteen year olds of today. By 1984, I had graduated from college and was an Officer in the Navy. The Cold War was in full swing. However, our “enemies” were well defined and hardly considered to be terrorists. Notwithstanding our propensity to destroy them, they were still respectable foes that could be counted on to fight in an honorable manner. “Hate” wasn’t really an accurate description of our attitude toward our enemy. By 1994, the Cold War (and the Navy for me) were things of the past. I had become a husband and father and was pursuing a career in the commercial nuclear industry. During this time period, the World Trade Center was bombed by Islamic extremists and shortly thereafter, an American terrorist bombed the Federal building in Oklahoma City. Terrorism had officially arrived in America. However, even then, while world terrorism was on the rise, domestic terrorism was a relatively low priority and even the now paranoid nuclear industry was not particularly concerned with the terrorist threat. My “worries”, if that is what they were, were associated with getting a promotion, going on vacation, and improving my golf swing. Looking back, I can’t remember hating anyone. Finally, by 2004, terrorism is an everyday word – even in my old hometown in rural Georgia. Our former enemies, still respectable, are now among our staunchest allies. Our new enemies are more difficult to define, but are more intensely hated than the ones I remember two decades ago. Twenty years ago, at the height of the Cold War, I can’t recall feeling unsafe anywhere that I traveled, and I traveled afar. However, today, it is difficult to think of a place where it IS safe to travel, so I don’t travel much. The worst part of it all is that I feel it will probably remain this way throughout my lifetime as well as that of my children. I guess to sum it up in a single sentence would be: While I never worried about terrorism as a child growing up, my oldest daughter openly questions the safety of flying on airplanes in fear that they will be hijacked and flown into buildings. |