Preparing America for the Next Disaster

Eight years have gone by since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But we can’t be lulled into a false sense of security.

By Angela Sivak, NCPC Staff

As America reeled after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, planners at all levels of government immediately went to work not only to ensure that we’d never be attacked again, but that if we did, we’d be prepared. These days, unfortunately, some people seem to be getting complacent.

Recently, investigators from the U.S. Government Accountability Office decided to test how good the country’s security really was. They decided to smuggle bombs into ten high-security federal buildings to see how well the security measures in place would prevent the entry of explosives. The security failed the test. The investigators were able to carry bomb-making materials into the ten buildings, including the Departments of State, and, ironically, Homeland Security, assemble them into bombs in the bathrooms, and walk around inside undetected. Some reached the most secure executive offices. U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, declared bluntly, “It is simply unacceptable that federal employees working within buildings under the Federal Protective Service’s protection, and the visitors who pass through them, are so utterly exposed to potential attack by terrorists and other enemies."

The smuggled weapons could have been dirty bombs carried by a foreign agent or perhaps even a disgruntled American citizen. After all, the second worst attack on American soil—the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995—was a case of domestic terrorism.

Moreover, the country’s lack of preparedness for a disaster of any kind was highlighted after 9/11. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, submerging 80 percent of New Orleans. Hundreds of thousands of people had to flee for their lives, and some didn’t make it. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was widely criticized for its response to the crisis. Now, restructured, better funded, and moved to the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA has stood the test of massive Midwestern floods for two years in a row.

But FEMA can’t respond to every type of disaster. Take our unprotected farms, for example. Our food supply is vulnerable to agroterrorism, the malicious use of germ warfare to infect crops and animals and interrupt the food supply. Agroterrorism is also intended to destabilize the economy and spread starvation and fear among citizens. So far, few solutions have been proposed to deal with this possibility, although an article in the June 2007 NIJ Journal titled “Agroterrorism: Why We’re Not Ready,” suggested that individual travelers and vehicles in infected zones be decontaminated to prevent the spread of diseases.

With the knowledge that bombs can be concealed and carried into federal buildings past what is supposed to be state-of-the-art security, it is a good guess that some local, state, and federal officials need to review their plans for dealing with terrorism or other types of emergencies.

Some emergency preparedness tips from NCPC that law enforcement agencies and other crime prevention practitioners can use or pass along to local officials include those below.

• Define the role of the first responder organization.
• Ensure that each member of the organization fully understands his or her individual role within the organization’s plan.
• Ensure that all equipment needed for the organization’s role is ready for use at any time.
• Ensure that communications equipment is working at all times and that a communications protocol exists with other first responder agencies and local, state, and federal authorities.
• Work with other first responder agencies in the area to ensure that all parties agree on their roles, amend roles as necessary, and develop a comprehensive first responder area plan.
• Welcome local civic groups and others active in the community to take part in planning exercises.
• Ensure that all citizens know what to do in case of an emergency.
• Designate shelters and first aid locations in advance in conjunction with local and national agencies and religious groups that provide appropriate services.

Thinking about emergency preparedness and the terrorism or natural disasters that make it necessary is essential. It would be nice to think the country will never be threatened again, but we can’t afford to be complacent.