LIVING IN A NEW WORLD PART ONE

A NATION OF SOFT TARGETS

soft tar·get  noun: soft target; plural noun: soft targets        a person or thing that is relatively unprotected or vulnerable, especially to military or terrorist attack.

Few people that began watching the events in San Bernandino, California changed the channel once it began.  The horror of this tragedy almost demanded that you not look away, and of course, there was one question on everyone’s mind… are they here?

While we felt a twinge of sympathy and sorrow for Paris just a few weeks ago, even Paris seemed like a remote place to most of us didn’t it?  After all, Paris is still another one of those places “over there” and despite the interest and even sadness on our part, we were also all relieved that it was somewhere else.

It’s an American thing.  We watch tragedies around the world through a flat screen that turns everything in real life into a two dimensional event which assists us in compartmentalizing the events and allowing us to categorize it as “somewhat real” but not “relevant”.

December 2^nd changed things.  All of a sudden, millions of Americans were watching victims being removed, watching buildings being evacuated, watching a black SUV chased down an American street and we watched as two “of them” were shot in the street.

Before you get ready to send your hate mail, I am not making a blanket statement about muslims or the muslim community, I am merely pointing out that millions of us were already guessing as to the ethnic origin of the shooters long before the names were announced.  We expected it because we have been inundated with news and social media that taught us how to think.  Even seasoned journalists experienced in reporting the “facts” made statements that it was terrorism due to loose reports as to the ethnic origin of the dead shooters.

The problem here is that this event happened right here in the United States and we watched in frustration as authorities would not tell us if this was all part of an idealistic Jihad or just a disgruntled employee that talked his wife into joining him in an act of revenge.

The REAL problem is that the language used by politicians and investigators really does not matter.  The focus of Americans needs to be immediately refocused on one thing and one thing only: what are we going to do about soft targets?

This is not the first attack in an office building and it will not be the last.  What determines the future of these attacks is whether or not we are willing to admit that we perpetuate the soft target atmosphere in this country.
 
Before I continue, I should share a story
.
A few years ago I was on an eight state tour speaking on the importance of disaster resilience.  The tour took me through northern Illinois where I was able to visit my sister and her family as one of my stops.  I had looked forward to the trip for a long time and upon arrival at her home, I quickly grabbed our luggage and ran to her door to begin my visit.  As we entered my sisters home, my wife asked if I had locked the truck and trailer.

“Not yet, but I will do it later” I replied.

In retrospect, I don’t think I ever intended on locking the trailer.  My sister lives in an affluent neighborhood, heavily patrolled and full of wonderful families living out the American dream.

Waking early the next morning, while pouring my first cup of coffee, I felt a memory stab… I had never locked the truck and trailer
.

It was still another hour before I ventured out.  As you might have guessed, the truck doors and trailer doors were all open.  Everything was gone.

The humor (and lesson) in this story lies in the conversation with the police officer that responded to my sister’s home.


“Was it locked?” he asked.
“No” was my ashamed reply.
“What was in it?”
“Everything for my tour from response equipment to computers, a projector, screen and displays.”
“What is the tour for?”
“I speak on resilience…”

I guess it is funny now that I look back on it, but in light of this month’s events, the story of my trailer rings true.  To admit that we have created soft targets is hard to do.  To change how we live, to inconvenience ourselves even for the sake of safety is sometimes even harder.

I don’t want to run out in the rain to lock my trailer. I do not want to show up 3 hours before a flight. I do not want to spend my trip to the mall watching other people.  I do not want to call the police and get involved just because I suspect something… maybe that’s it… I just don’t want to get involved…

Last week, out of all the interviews I watched on National news, the one that stood out was the woman that lived next to the shooters.  She stated that she had seen events and questionable activity for weeks in and around the residence of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik.  She went as far as to say she thought about calling the police, but her involvement ended after the thought and before any action.

Syed Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, were responsible for the Wednesday morning attack that killed at least 14 people and injured 17, according to San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan. There's much that still remains unclear as I write this blog, but one thing is clear and that is the fact that Farook and Malik might have put a lot of effort into the planning, but the attack was easy.

Syed Farook, an environmental specialist who was born in the U.S., has worked for the San Bernardino County health department for five years.  Tashfeen Malik was Farook's wife.  The couple had a 6-month-old daughter, whom they left with Farook's mother on the morning of the attack as if they were going to the mall.  This was not a small cell group of 9 muslim men having clandestine meetings in a warehouse stockpiling weapons and learning how to fly planes.  These folks were NEIGHBORS. They were local shoppers. They were community members. They were just the people that lived next door.

The attack began on a normal Wednesday morning, at an office gathering in the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. The center provides social services to residents with developmental disabilities, but the shooting was focused on an office party for San Bernardino County staff.

Both were dressed in tactical gear and carrying .223-caliber assault-style rifles, semiautomatic handguns and explosive devices, police say, when they entered the Inland Regional Center and opened fire.  They needed very little of that stuff. It was just an office building and nobody in the meeting room was armed.

It was as soft as a target can get.

Fourteen people died and 17 were wounded. Emergency response teams rushed to the facility and roads near the center were shut down, but Farook and Malik were able to escape.

It is here that I will point out that local law enforcement in San Bernandino is amazing and had a 4 minute response time to the incident.  Unfortunately, bullets fly faster than cops can drive.  There was no employee in that room that morning carrying a firearm. It was room full of defenseless people.

As the search for the suspects began, hundreds of people were evacuated from the Inland Regional Center. Three explosive devices had been left at the shooting site, and weren't disposed of until late in the evening.

Based on those eyewitness accounts, police drove to nearby Redlands, to a house associated with Farook.

When Farook and Malik left the area around the Redlands house in an SUV, police pursued.

Hours after the attack began, following a chase and a shootout with at least 20 police officers, the two suspects were dead.

Now that we have recognized this couple as actively involved in terrorism, the politics will take over and the debate will rage over gun control vs. visas…

No matter what the outcome of this is, I believe we had better be paying attention.

It has been determined that Farook and Malik lived amongst normal Americans.


It has been determined that Farook and Malik had made plans to attack many more soft targets including schools.


It has been determined that Farook and Malik planned on a two-wave attack in order to kill a large number of responders.


It has been determined that Farook and Malik may have been connected to many sleeper cells just like themselves…

In the early hours of July 20, a gunman entered a packed movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and opened fire on the audience that had gathered to watch the premiere of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. The gunman killed 12 people and injured 58 others.

On November “Friday the 13^th” of this year, gunmen entered a café and a concert hall in Paris and killed dozens as they drank cappuccino or listened to a band.

Easy, soft targets.

In the 1960s, the American world began to change.  Terrorism was replacing the old “watch out for Russians” mentality and we began to enter into a new time and space in history; the age of real terrorism.

Of course, in a longer discourse, I would argue that our country has undergone such times before as in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, but for the sake of not writing a novel, I will not go further into how much our country has FORGOTTEN about its history and survival thus far.

In the 1970s, we saw successful bombing attacks against the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and the State Department buildings — the very heart of the U.S. government. At the same time commercial airliners were easy targets.

Nongovernmental organizations were also seen as soft targets. The Black September Organization operation at the 1972 Olympic Games might ring a bell with some of my readers.

Of course, Embassies also became a target. At the end of the decade, we watched the U.S. Embassy in Tehran come under siege as well as the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.

What has happened to our short term memory?

Day after day for over a year I have watched televised coverage of people acting shocked and surprised that an attack has occurred yet from Benghazi to Texas, from Connecticut to San Bernandino, we are seeing the SAME attacks we have seen for 4 decades and yet we all act surprised every time an event occurs.

In this blog series, I will be addressing soft targets, what we can do to harden them, and the difficult decisions our country must make when it comes to our OWN idealogy. I can guarantee you that this series is about to make you uncomfortable, will challenge the way you view every aspect of your life, will be controversial and will demand immediate changes.

I believe that we are battling an enemy with an unshakeable idealogy and that we are attempting to succeed with technologies and innovations.  While innovation has placed on the winning side of many skirmishes in history, it is not military might or techno-saavy that will win against our present foe as long as we remain a country of soft targets with no ideology whatsoever.  I am not ignorant to the fact that our nation hosts MANY ideologies, but there is no unified “banner”.  There is no one belief, one doctrine that holds this country together any longer.  “In God We Trust” is emblazoned on our currency and SOUNDS like this could be that rallying slogan, but let’s not kid ourselves… this is not that banner under which we operate. 

 

We need to find that banner, that flag, that belief, that doctrine under which we can all gather or we will never stamp out an enemy that has such a deep and profound ideology.

While travelling last week, I was amazed at the ease at which I glided through security at the airport in Washington D.C. but was even more shocked in Raleigh where we were all told to keep jackets and shoes on while keeping everything in our carry-ons.

A trip to several North Carolina gun shops and a military surplus confirmed my suspicions; sales of firearms were through the roof, some stores even selling completely out were balanced by schools I visited with unlocked front doors and airports where security was lighter than I have experienced since 9-11!

John Q. Public is starting to understand that hardening soft targets should be the immediate goal, yet our government is still struggling to recognize our country as the target itself.

In the coming weeks I will look at not only the need for hardening targets, but the effect of a real ideology and how one such doctrine can span a globe and cause thousands to sacrifice their lives for it.  I will also be discussing just what this means on Main Street, U.S.A, in the home, at the mall and as we attempt to go about our daily lives while living in a world that appears to e a part of a much larger and perhaps prophecied plan.

To Blog or Not to Blog

It has been a long time since any blogs were posted here and the reasons are too numerous to mention.  I will point out that with few readers and very little time on my hands, blogging has not been a priority.  The world is full of bloggers, all with opinions, many with much more to say.  So why begin writing now?  It appears to be a new day. It appears to be a good time to start to share thoughts and knowledge, experience and insight.  We will see how this all goes, but to begin again, I will be posting a series on soft targets in light of the last month's events.  If you do not like what you read here, stop reading. If you like it, share it with someone.  I am not trying to raise a rating or run for office nor am I attempting to gain the praise of adoring fans. It's a blog.

Imagine...

"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein

The world has definitely changed.  For several years now I have spoken at countless conferences regarding the need for us, as a collaborative American community, to start awareness campaigns, planning efforts and yes, even to start adjusting lifestyles despite the un-comfortability.

For the last three years I have attempted to get on stage at various conferences where the list of those who speak is governed by tight-knit associations and committees; a much harder task.  While I managed some success, there are many more of these venues that I am trying to target as now they are boasting themes such as navigating the new extremes…titles I used 4 years ago.

It is frustrating to say the least when I watch the news and reports of events unfolding around the country that were predictable.  What is worse is watching the appalling results of reactionary response on the part of not just government agencies but corporate entities as well.

While each and every day we are being presented with ever-growing and new challenges, the need for pre-action seems to be escaping those that could really make a difference.  The need for free-thinking agency directors is at an all-time high; we are inundated with those in positions of power that have allowed their actions to be fettered by old protocols and history with no allowance for imagination.

What do I mean?

How on earth are we supposed to prepare for what lies ahead when recent history shows us that what lies ahead is new, un-researched and unknown?  When every authority has agreed with me that the new extremes are the new normal, how then do we plan ahead without imagination?

Imagination and guts. Those are the two elements needed in today’s (and tomorrow’s) emergency managers whether at a corporate level or in the local government agency.  Those that will facilitate the survival of others will be those with the guts to wake up each day and try to imagine what may come.

Are we planning for Ebola outbreaks as a part of our business continuity planning? Of course not! Decisions are being made right now based on a few nurses and doctors and one Liberian National having Ebola.  The opinions being shared with me are that the threat has ended, so why invest?

I’ll tell you why. Because Ebola is still running rampant and the history of pandemics show evolutions that cycle every 3 to 9 months. Because if someone was introduced to the virus on Tuesday, they will not have a fever at the airport tomorrow.  Because findings show that the virus can live upwards of 50 days on a colder surface such as glass and it is winter.

Are we planning for ISIS-related attacks here in the United States? Of course not, Why? Because there have only been a few isolated incidents and those attacks were carried out by lone-wolf radicals with no real connections to ISIS; or so we are told.  The reality is that this country has been spattered with these radicals for years and we underestimate the intelligence of an organization that has been hailed as “Junior Varsity”.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We are good at what we do here in the United States. As soon as there is a major outbreak of influenza or Ebola, we will begin to act. As soon as a few dozen are simultaneously killed across the country or we experience an attack on a government building, we will place new protocols… well, as soon as we agree on what they are and make sure that nobody is too uncomfortable with them.

Don’t like what you are reading? Too bad. It’s the truth.

While we watched the drama of a nurse in Maine unfold before our very eyes, many agreed that the poor girl’s rights were being violated with a quarantine; so much so that she was finally allowed her freedom.  Freedom… an interesting word to use here.  You see, if she had been forced to quarantine and had broken out only to infect a group of people, Americans would have screamed for her prosecution.  OUR freedom falls into jeopardy when someone steps out on the street with a grenade and we rise up demanding that law enforcement stop that person before OUR freedom is taken away seconds after the pin is pulled… but for now, quarantines remain voluntary… the words “self-monitoring” sit better in our ears.

So I am rambling… a little…but I have a point to make here.

We have got to stop being a reactionary American community!  If an outbreak really occurred in your area, you would have very little time to make plans for banking, grocery shopping, medical supplies, etc.  This is supposed to already be a part of your plans!  How good is your home disaster kit?

If there is suddenly a widespread organized attack on American soil, how ready are the responders in your agency?

Is your church ready for the world around the corner?

Is your school?

While there have been a few encouraging reports and surveys lately, the reality is that the “it will never REALLY happen” or “it won’t ever happen here” attitude is about to start really killing people.

Rural fire departments with ambulances have been a concern of mine for years and in the wake of the first Ebola victim on U.S. soil I have found very few that have researched, created or adopted any new protocols for disinfection of vehicles or buildings.  Over 75% of the U.S. relies on these particular departments!
     
One of the biggest issues facing us today is a plethora of unpredictable disruptions that have the potential to seriously destabilize our lives; very real situations and events that could cut us off from our homes, our schools, medical care, food…

It does not have to be Ebola, it does not have to be ISIS.  I am speaking of the increased number of natural disasters and the ever-growing cyber-security threats as well.  Threats that have been growing like weeds under our feet…

We need to become strategic.  Strategic resilience is the ability to adapt and respond to broader threats and opportunities.  In order to be strategically resilient we need to cowboy up, buck the system a little, prepare to be unpopular and we need to start using our imagination.
From home to school, from church to the office, from the local rural fire department to the municipality, it is time to start imagining the possibilities.  For years the simplest of concepts like home disaster kits and weather radios have been ignored by the majority and now we face the most challenging times in our nations (and worlds) history. 
 
Imagine what tomorrow could bring.  Picture the event or incident that could bring your world crashing down and start to make a plan for that event.

I have longed believed in the systems used by the National Weather Service to protect the American public.  The structure of Advisory, Watch and Warning is a simple and effective one if one is aware and follows that awareness with action.  In saying that, I want to stress that for years we sat in an advisory. The last several years of change indicated the need for a watch.

Today we are in a WARNING. Act now.