Using the FBI’s definition of terrorism I think Bin Laden must be credited with setting the bar and leaving us to ensure the living legacy of his work.
“The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
Our government has apparently convinced us that the Bogeyman is real and hides among us waiting to pounce at a moments notice. Only government has the answers for our safety, like TSA’s recent announcement that automobiles are dangerous. Who knew?
In order to help protect us from the Bogeyman we’ve agreed as citizens we can’t be trusted. We open our lives and digital identity up to government voyeurs. Take off our shoes at airports and get patted down if we beep. We’re supposed to believe that TSA screening and reinforced cockpit doors will prevent another 9-11 style airplane attack. I beg to differ. The passengers, (who weren’t to be trusted when went through screening) will not sit for another such attack and will do something about it.
Our annual spending on the Bogeyman( aka terrorism) seems to be doled out based on headlines, not facts. I’m sure I’ll jinx myself but I will not die of an attack by the Bogeyman. Roughly 300 American deaths occur annually from terrorism. Twice that number die from bicycling accidents. We spend about $500,000,000 per victim of terrorism every year. Heart disease kills about 700,000 Americans annually and government spends about $3,000 per victim.
I’m not suggesting that improving our security posture was a bad investment after 9-11. I am suggesting that by continuing to be abnormally terrorized by the threat of the Bogeyman all we’re doing is ensuring Bin Laden is never forgotten. In addition we show every other wanna-be Bogeyman that we are scared to death of them and willing to do just about anything not to have them pop out of our closet or from under our bed.
I grew out of being afraid of the Bogeyman long ago. When will we as a nation do the same? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. How much focus is enough? How much money is enough? How much privacy and freedom surrendered is enough?
Jan, Bravo! I wish others would bring a more balanced approach to this issue. One of very few advantages of being elderly is I usually do not have to take off my shoes. This is little compensation for the many indignities we have to suffer because of a continuing over zealous response of our government.
Parker
Jan,
You did an excellent job of expressing this problem. I agree, that Bin Laden has created a legacy that the politicians have utilized to continue to get elected as they raise their voices on the War on Terror. I agree, there were things we needed to do to protect this country and address the issues it created. I am all for prevention, but although the FBI and others have been somewhat successful in foiling plots for terrorists and other groups and individuals to carry out an attack, what about the one they miss and an attack is carried out. For some reason, this country does not and unless something changes, will not fund training or equipment for the responders whose job is to respond and sort all the mayhem out and make it manageable. Is there not enough political attraction to improve response. I just don’t understand it. Response needs to be funded, trained equipped.
I am with you Rick on the need for responders to have the knowledge, skills and abilities regardless of how much money we put into prevention, you can’t stop them all, especially the lone individual. The response community needs to have their act together to manage the consequences of major events. I don’t care if the event is an accident, an act of nature or criminal act…we need to manage the consequences quickly and efficiently. I think the news stories after an event are all looking to point a finger at how did this needle in the haystack not get found. They don’t focus on patient outcomes and did we do as good as we could have.
Just to prove my point. This occurred Monday May 15, 2017.
Link to article here. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/05/17/toronto-bound-air-canada-flight-diverted-after-passenger-attacks-crew-tries-to-open-door-officials.html?platform=hootsuite
I agree.
I applaud your comments, Jan. While we have made good efforts at prevention / mitigation, I am concerned at the level our first responders have leveled out at for preparedness (planning, training, equipment and exercise). So many assets have been allocated to prevention / mitigation, but the levels of preparedness have deteriorated since 9/11.
I teach in an upper-division Emergency Management and Fire and Emergency Services Administration program and have seen the student demographics change. More of my students were not in emergency services at the time of 9/11; most were in middle and high school that day. The urgency we experienced in 2000-2004 to improve preparedness has become stale. The proximity and urgency have declined and the skills, if presented at all, have atrophied.
We have had some good examples of high quality preparedness and response; the Boston Marathon being the best. But, had that not occurred during the race, with all antennas up, would the response have been equal? The first responders of Boston are among the best, but if this had been during a regular working day, would the assets have responded as quickly or with as much skill and focus?
We have to find a ‘happy medium’, leaning toward preparedness, because it is only a matter of ‘when, not if’ the bad guys get lucky.
Larry Nelson, MS RN NMCEM
Portales NM
You remind me Larry that I often reflect on how many hundreds if not thousands of students I have had over the last 15-20 years and yet every year is a new crop of people who have no idea. The loss of institutional knowledge has always bothered me. We may capture some of those lessons we should learn in policy but then policy loses meaning when people can’t remember the rationale for it in the first place.
Well, the bogeyman struck again, killing more children, this time Western children. To believe this is just a lone murderer is naive. I refuse to accept the message from rich elites that this a way of life, a nuisance we need to embrace, equip & train for while being more understanding, thoughtful & offering education & jobs to ward off mass murderers.
Bin Ladin is dead but Radical Islam & the evil it purports is a growing cancer in need of aggressive treatment. Every time there’s a mass murder for Allah, we respond with new tactics & training while murderer recruitment for evil grows & new tactics appear.
It’s time eradicate the cells of the fish before they destroy our way of life & the West can’t do it alone. Peace
Yup. Couldn’t have said it better.
The training part is the tricky part. From an EMS and\or ICS prospective there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of difference between the response for a lone terrorist attack, vs a network terrorist attack, vs a mentally unbalanced local, vs a tornado, vs a hazmat incident, vs a civil unrest incident, vs an earthquake or tsunami:
– Safety (relative) of responders needs to be established.
– Resources need to be activated.
– PTs need to be triaged, collected, treated, and transported.
– Investigations need to be completed.
– A mess needs to be cleaned up.
– Mental health issues need to be addressed.
I don’t suppose it much matters if we get training that relates to a Manchester style incident vs a crash between a school bus and a casino bus. Enough high quality training, in various conditions, over time, leads to being prepared for any incident that comes our way.
Always good to read your thoughts. =)
I would agree on the similarity of many events Randy. I like to prepare to manage consequences and care less about the what happened. It makes no sense to have 14 plans for 14 different events where 10 of them cause similar consequences for us.