8/3/2019 An Ounce of Prevention - 9-11

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8/3/2019 An Ounce of Prevention - 9-11

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xiv an ounce of prevention chapter 1: risK and crisis 1

CHAPTER 1: RISK AND CRISISEvent : 9/11, World Trade Center, New York City 

Date: 11 September 2001

Summary: The terrorist group al-Qaeda coordinated suicide attacks on the US. They 

hijacked our airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center Towers, another into 

the Pentagon and a ourth (probably destined or the White House or the Capitol) near 

Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Some people trapped in the World Trade Center walked up 

stairways to the roo hoping or helicopter rescue, but the door was locked. Emergency 

responders’ radios were incompatible. Hundreds o responders were killed or injured. The 

popularity o President George W. Bush and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani soared. The 

Patriot Act was passed. Sikhs wearing turbans were assaulted and one killed. There was 

a frebombing at a Hindu temple. The invasion o Aghanistan and Iraq ollowed.

Result: 2976 victims, 19 hijackers dead, 6,000 injured, incalculable counter-terrorism 

costs. The US war on terror and stronger anti-terrorist laws in many countries. Incal- 

culable fnancial cost, but direct rebuilding-cost was perhaps in excess o $30 billion 

with another $30 billion in lost GDP in New York alone. 18,000 small businesses were 

destroyed or displaced. 31.9 million square eet o Lower Manhattan ofce space was 

damaged or destroyed. Negotiation and fghting over rebuilding the site and a memo- 

rial to victims lasted more than a decade.

Lessons Learned: The apparent and conessed mastermind o the 2001 attack was 

involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and related to the lead bomber in 

that attack. The event could have been predicted, since the same building had been 

bombed beore and there had been numerous airplane hijackings and bombings in 

the US and o US installations around the world. White House perimeter security is 

breached regularly, even as late as under the Obama administration.

The day o the event, Cold War responses were still in place with military scanning 

and reactions tens o thousands o eet up in the air and out over the Atlantic, but not 

500 eet up and north over the Hudson River.

When you build the world’s tallest building, you build risk into the system.