The attacks of 9/11 in 2001 shed a light on many different weaknesses relevant to the security of the United States regarding communication, and disaster response. On every level of government— federal, state, and local— substandard communication methods contributed to the deaths of nearly 3000 people, as well as the growing number of people dying from illnesses that resulted from participating in the cleanup at Ground Zero. There were many communication challenges faced by agencies tasked with responding to the incident, and particularly in the case of law enforcement, these problems likely resulted in more fatalities than would have occurred had better systems been in place. This paper will discuss the communication problems that surfaced during the 9/11 disaster, the results of those problems, and the measures that have been taken to respond to those inadequacies.
On September 11, 2001, two airplanes originating in Boston were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in New York City. Initially, it was unclear that the impact had been intentional, but when the second plane hit, it was evident that this was a terrorist attack. Ultimately, the two buildings collapsed because of the heat of the fire that ensued from the plane crash. Within the next hours, another plane hit the Pentagon and a fourth plane that was hijacked crashed before it reached its destination because the passengers had been able to take control of the plane. They prevented the hijackers from reaching their target, believed to be either the Capital Building or the White House, but the plane crash landed and all aboard were killed.
The 9/11 Commission Report indicated that there were several fateful failures of communication at the level of the federal g...
... middle of paper ...
...anslates into virtual remote offices in the vehicles of the NYPD and the FDNY.
The events of 9/11 were a tragedy, and resulted in thousands of losses and injuries of first responders, civilians, airline pilots and crew, and many other groups of people. The event also resulted in the loss of a sense of security previously held by people in the United States, and the scope of the incident required the entire infrastructure and security system of the country to be reevaluated and enhanced. Although certainly all that occurred on that day must be considered devastating, it served as a wake-up call to federal, state, and local officials regarding the need for coordination and communication between relevant agencies. It appears that there have been significant advances in these areas since 2001, but the whole issue of communication is a work in progress that must continue.
Susan Lindauer: Courageous 9/11 Whistleblower Jailed Without Trial, Now Speaking Out. Able Danger: Multiple Major Media Reports on 9/11 Commission's Failure and Deception
On the morning of September 11/2001, 19 terrorist working for the Al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked four commercial planes. They attempted to fly them into multiple U.S targets. One of the planes, American Airlines, flight 11, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:50 a.m. Another plane, United Airlines, flight 175, crashed into the south tower at 9:04 a.m. These tragedies took the lives of nearly 3000 people and affected the lives of millions.
Soon after, Flight 175 attacked the South Tower. By the end of the day, both towers had collapsed and other hijacked flights had caused damage. The amount of lives lost on September 11 was substantial; 2,749 people from eighty-three different countries died from the attacks (Facts about the attacks., n.d.). All in all, America has changed forever. Research Many conspiracy theories have been developed concerning what happened to the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001, but there are a select few that, similar to the truth, cannot be disproved without quite a bit of effort.
The Department of Homeland Security faces challenges of failure to coordinate and cooperate in the latest fight against computer crimes as well as more general intelligence-gathering operations. (...
When a giant explosion ripped through Alfred P. Murrah federal building April 19,1995, killing 168 and wounding hundreds, the United States of America jumped to a conclusion we would all learn to regret. The initial response to the devastation was all focused of middle-eastern terrorists. “The West is under attack,”(Posner 89), reported the USA Today. Every news and television station had the latest expert on the middle east telling the nation that we were victims of jihad, holy war. It only took a few quick days to realize that we were wrong and the problem, the terrorist, was strictly domestic. But it was too late. The damage had been done. Because America jumped to conclusions then, America was later blind to see the impending attack of 9/11. The responsibility, however, is not to be placed on the America people. The public couldn’t stand to hear any talk of terrorism, so in turn the White House irresponsibly took a similar attitude. They concentrated on high public opinion and issues that were relevant to Americans everyday. The government didn’t want to deal with another public blunder like the one in Oklahoma City. A former FBI analyst recalls, “when I went to headquarters (Washington, D.C.) later that year no one was interested in hearing anything about Arab money connections unless it had something to do with funding domestic groups. We stumbled so badly on pinpointing the Middle East right off the bat on the Murrah bombing. No one wanted to get caught like that again,”(Posner 90). The result saw changes in the counter terrorism efforts; under funding, under manning, poor cooperation between agencies, half-hearted and incompetent agency official appointees and the list goes on. All of these decisions, made at the hands of the faint-hearted, opened the doors wide open, and practically begged for a terrorist attack. So who’s fault is it? The public’s for being
On September 11, 2001, the Islamist terrorist group known as al-Qaeda launched a series of terrorist attacks on the United States of America, specifically in the New York City and Washington D.C areas. Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes with the intention of using them as suicide attacks that would crash those planes into designated buildings, or targets. Two of the four passenger jets were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, both of which collapsed entirely within two hours of being hit. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the west side of the building, which is the Headquarters of the US Department of Defense, partially collapsed. The fourth hijacked plane was intended for the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C, but instead crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers of the plane interfered with the hijackers. The attack on September 11th was devastatingly fatal—almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including all of the al-Qaeda hijackers and every passenger aboard the four planes.
The United States has endured numerous security breaches and high security threats over the past two decades. After the attacks on 9/11, the office of Intelligence became a vital source in retrieving sensitive data and tracking down potential terrorists and their networks which could pose a threat to the American people and then forwarding that vital information to the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies. Intelligence became a key role in “assessing threats to critical American infrastructures, bio-and nuclear terrorism, pandemic diseases, threats to the borders to the nation, and radicalization within American society” (Randol, 2009, p. 7). The sharing of homeland security intelligence has become a precedence for Congress and the government. Our nation must be one step ahead of any potential terrorists that want to harm our turf. Within this text the capabilities and limitations of both domestic and foreign intelligence in supporting homeland security efforts will be explained;
“Hey mom, look how low that plane is flying!”. “Oh my, that is dangerously close! Wait, that can’t be right. Why is it flying so low... and fast? Something must be wrong! Oh my God! It looks like it's about to crash into th…”. Ever wondered what the sound of anguish was like? If you were walking the streets of downtown New York City on September 11th, 2001, then you heard the sound of the desolation of a nation. On that day of despair, the US went through a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by 19 members of the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda (9/11 Attacks). Over 3,000 civilians were killed as a result from two hijacked planes flying into the World Trade Center in NYC, and another hijacked plane flying into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. (9/11 Attacks).
On September 11, 2001, terrorists savagely attacked the United States of American. Thousands of individuals lost their lives as two airplanes crashed into the two World Trade Center 1`buildings and the Pentagon. This brutal act shook the world. This terrorists’ attack has changed many aspects of people’s lives worldwide. It not only affected the US but everyone around the world. During the aftermath, we learned that we lost one of our native virgin islanders. US Army, Staff Sargent Maudlyn A. White, 38, born on St. Croix died on active duty in the Pentagon. She was described as a quiet person who was independent. Not only were the Virgin Islands affected by her death, but also the financial decline the islands started to experience. After September 11, the Caribbean was dramatically impacted; security levels rose, tourism levels dropped, and people became more hesitant about travelling.
On September 1, 2001, terrorists associated with the Al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against the United States that forever impacted American’s lives. It was the deadliest event in U.S. history for first responders: 343 firefighters and 72 policemen were killed. In addition, 2,996 civilians were killed, and it led to over $3 trillion in total costs. The attacks explained by the cause of the attacks, the description of the attack, and the impact it had on the U.S.
When it comes to 9/11, we learned that the number of casualties could have been mitigated if only we had more communication and security between agencies. During the tragedy the police and fire department did not communicate effectively, they had their own emergency response procedures, so they did not have a coordinated response plan to this major incident. Also, the fire evacuation procedures only required mandatory evacuations of the floors surround the fire, and when tower one got struck, those in tower two were told to stay in the building. We learned a lot from this event, we learned that they are heroes everywhere, that we must protect our airlines cockpit, that terrorism comes in many ways and forms, that America is vulnerable, that
On September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush addressed the nation regarding the terrorist attack on the United States of America. Through his speech, he briefly described the horror that tremendously effected people coast to coast. He addressed the nation as a whole, while he also gave his condolences to those who’s families were directly impacted. In hopes to ease the minds of American citizens, President Bush discussed the actions taken by the government to secure and prevent any future attacks. He wanted to make sure the public understood that he would not sit passively, but seek out who attempted to weaken the U.S. altogether.
BENAC, N. (2011). National security: Ten years after september 11 attacks, u.s. is safe but not
Effective communication in its various forms is the substratum of crisis management. Internal and external communication is essential during times of crisis if a successful outcome is to prevail. In a crisis, people’s lives are often at risk, these are lives that can be lost or protected; however, their fate lies in the hands of information. A breakdown in communication during times of crisis will interfere in dispensing pertinent and time sensitive information to the target audience, thus placing them at a gross disadvantage in protecting their health. During a crisis, it can be extremely costly to falter in delivering accurate, detailed, and informative information.
Since the September 11 terror attacks, the world’s security has been greatly heightened. From increased security checkpoints in airports, to intensified militaries around the world, the international community was thrown over the edge after 9/11. Nations sharing intelligences through extensive communication has played a vital role in keeping the public safe and reducing the threat of global terrorism through the use of media and various telecommunication technologies (Nacos, 2006). Brigitte L. Nacos is a reliable source, given that her work was published in and for the United Nations Global Seminar. This shows that her writings are expressive of the views of the entire international community, not solely her opinion. Therefore, we can confirm her reliability