NEW ANALYSIS OF COUNTIES, CITIES SHOW NATION NOT PREPARED FOR NEXT TERRORIST ATTACK
The following are excerpts from an in-depth interview by David Ross of AP BROADCAST with Dr. Saul B. Wilen of International Horizons Unlimited (IHU). This interview was broadcast live, July 12, 2002 on AP Radio and dealt with the issues of terrorism prevention and the preparedness of American cities and counties to react to a terrorist threat.
Q: Tell us about International Horizons Unlimited and your role in its operation.
A: International Horizons Unlimited is a national think-tank based in San Antonio, Texas, specializing in terrorism prevention. Its guiding principle since 1982 has been Educational Foundations that Support Prevention Strategies to Solve Problems. I am the President and CEO of IHU. My background includes political science, education, medicine, informatics, and systems dynamics.
Q: What do you mean by terrorism prevention?
A: First, we must understand the concept of prevention.
There is a spectrum of actions that can be taken when confronted with a problem.
This includes prevention, which precludes the problem from occurring in the
first place and then four remaining actions, protection, preparedness, intervention,
and response/reaction, that can be instituted after the problem has already
been manifest. Prevention is the key element and primary effort resulting
in the greatest success. Terrorism and terrorist attacks are the problems
of concern requiring actions, but are best approached with prevention strategies
at the same time as America prepares to intervene and respond.
Q: What are the components that constitute prevention strategies?
A: Basic flaws in our homeland security efforts have been
discovered over the past 10
months. These include:
These four elements constitute the pillars of any prevention strategy and system.
A: No. Prevention has only of late (within the past 4 to 5 weeks) become part of official governmental vocabulary. The majority of all efforts by these entities, 80% plus, have been solely supporting a reaction strategy in preparing for responding to terrorist attacks. Of major concern is the progressively decreasing prevention effort, 5% of the total from October 2001 to March 2002, now having decreased to only 2% by the end of May 2002. This was supported by an analysis released in June 2002. It is important to prepare to respond, but it is as equally important to prevent.
Q: Are there other indications that America’s prevention
efforts are decreasing?
A: Yes. In the June 24, 2002 issue of the American Medical Association News an article entitled, Physicians Losing Interest in Bio-Terrorism, categorically stated that it has become more difficult to get physicians throughout the United States to participate in bio-terrorism education.
Q: Are the American people as involved and committed to
the war on terrorism and homeland security as they were in the months immediately
following September 11?
A: No. The engagement of the American people has significantly decreased.
Q: What are the reasons for this disengagement?
A: There are many. Let’s enumerate the most significant.
First, America is primarily a reactive society that waits for a crisis to
occur and then aggressively responds to limit the damage and recover. Prevention
is an afterthought and is many times resisted. Second, Americans have come
to believe that America has an inexhaustible supply of resources to react
to and recover from any crisis. This is untrue. Third, Americans believe that
the responsibilities in security areas are the sole responsibility of government.
This misconception has been fostered by government on all levels. This myth
is slowly being unmasked. Fourth, government
has yet to define a coherent blueprint that gives clear direction for homeland
security now 10 months after September 11. There has been a critical loss
of time, which will further delay implementation. Fifth, an active role for
the American people in the homeland security process has yet to be established.
Education of the citizenry has not been a major consideration. Americans quickly
see through the rhetoric and become disenchanted and disengaged.
Q: What should be the active role of citizens?
A: Every American (male and female) who lives in our neighborhoods
and hometowns should be as actively involved in terrorism prevention as the
man and woman who live in the White House. This requires trusting our citizens
and educating them. Some in our government have suggested the development
of a group of individuals (perhaps postal personnel, utility workers, those
employed by merchandise delivery services) who would report to a data collection
bank what they consider to be suspicious findings or behaviors in and around
the homes in American communities. This approach should be totally unacceptable.
All American must be educated to be concerned about suspicious behaviors and
findings anywhere (where we live, where we work, and/or where we play) and
report this information to local authorities.
The following is a synopsis of a recent analysis of terrorism preparedness exercises and simulations performed by a representative sampling of American cities and counties to evaluate preparedness to respond to terrorist attacks. The analysis of performance of these exercises serves as an indicator of preparedness of first responders at the hometown level.
America Not Ready For Terrorism!
New Analysis of Counties, Cities Show
Nation Not Prepared For Next Terrorist Attack
BOISE, IDAHO – Cities and counties throughout the United States are not adequately prepared to respond to another terrorist attack according to a new analysis being released for the National Governor’s Association Annual Conference.
The analysis was conducted by International Horizons Unlimited (IHU) of San Antonio, Texas, a terrorism prevention think-tank. The data was gathered from public records and other sources relating to evaluations of simulated terrorism exercises performed in geographically diverse parts of the United States. These exercises represented simulations involving bio-terrorism, nuclear issues, airport disaster, and power infrastructure disruption, occurring between November 15, 2001 and June 15, 2002.
The analysis shows:
The preparedness exercises were performed by four counties and five municipalities in nine states including: Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Oregon, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Tennessee, and New Mexico. Assessment was based on the following standards:
“The findings are especially disconcerting given the federal government’s emphasis on local preparedness to respond as its major terrorism strategy,” Dr. Saul B. Wilen, president of International Horizons Unlimited said. “It is alarming that jurisdictions around the country are not even adequately prepared to respond effectively and in a coordinated fashion to the next attack.”
Governor Thomas Ridge, Director of the Office of Homeland Security has stated, “At the end of the day, the homeland is secure when the hometown is secure.” According to Wilen, “Local preparedness helps make the hometown secure, but this preparedness is not confirmed by current assessments. Preparedness exercises must be experiences that make America’s communities better prepared through frequent practice, discovery and correction of errors, education, re-enforcement, and learning from each and every mistake and success.”
IHU (www.intlhorizons.com) is committed to prevention strategies to solve problems. Preparedness to prevent is the critical element. Preparedness to respond requires in depth evaluation of preparedness exercises and simulations applying coherent standards and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) concepts.
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