Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our thoughts and prayers go to
those impacted by the tragic incident in Orlando. Of all the discourse
playing out on the news, one question we must ask is are we ready? We see
all too often acts of violence and terror do happen; no place is immune.
So what steps can we - Team Norfolk - do to prevent such acts? And
respond when they occur?
1. Keep the issue in context. Daniel
Gardner wrote an excellent book called The Science of Fear: How the Culture
of Fear Manipulates Your Brain. In it he explains there is
disproportionate coverage to dramatic, violent, and catastrophic causes of
death – while paying far less attention to slow, quiet killers like
diabetes. In other words, one of the most consistent findings of
risk-perception research is that we overestimate the likelihood of being killed
by the things that make the evening news and underestimate those that
don’t. What makes the evening news? The rare, vivid, and
catastrophic killers. Murder, terrorism, fire, and flood. What doesn’t
make the news is the routine cause of death that kills one person at a time and
doesn’t lend itself to strong emotions and pictures. Diabetes, asthma,
heart disease. (Gardner, p. 57).
Consider the following:
a.
On average, 36,000 Americans are killed by the
flu and other common ailments; obesity, diabetes and heart disease claim
~100,000 annually.
b.
Almost 3,000 people were killed in the September
11 attacks. At the same time, the population of the United States was
around 281 million. Thus, the chance of any one American dying in the
attacks that day was 0.00106 per cent, or 1 in 93,000. Compare that to
the 1 in 48,548 annual risk a pedestrian has of being struck and killed by a
car, or the 1 in 87,976 annual risk of drowning… annual risk of dying in a
motor-vehicle accident is one in 6,498. (p. 249)
2. See Something, Say Something. This
should not be a cliché and this is not “spying” on or stereotyping
anyone. You know what normal behavior is in your place of work. You
know what behavior or items may be suspicious. Factors such as race, ethnicity,
and/or religious affiliation are not suspicious; only suspicious behavior and
situations (e.g., an unattended backpack or package, or someone breaking into a
restricted area) should be reported.
4. Plan.
Team Norfolk has a plan – do you know what it is? Will you review and
challenge it to help make it the most effective it can be? Please
take a moment to review the DRAFT
Team Norfolk Active Threat Hazard Annex not only for your
familiarity, but also your feedback. To be reviewed in conjunction with
the Concept of Operations document (which will be utilized for all incidents
and events – read this first!),
these documents should highlight the resources which may come to bear for such
an incident and how we can take steps to prepare ourselves, our families, our
schools, place of business and/or Houses of Worship. Note: these plans
are open source; no tactical plans are included.
5. Train. You could very well find
yourself as one of the first one on scene. Could you provide assistance
to those in need? Did you know Norfolk Fire-Rescue offers FREE training
on “Stop the Bleed” as well as Hands-Only CPR? Norfolk Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT) is also available and free! See attached and schedule for
your workplace, civic league, school or House of Worship!
6. Exercise /
Drill. Exercise your
knowledge! I will close by introducing you to Mr. Rick Rescorla, former
head of security for one of Morgan Stanley’s locations as told by Amanda
Ripley, author of The Unthinkable: Those Who Survive Disasters and Why:
After the 1993 bombing and the fiasco of
an evacuation that followed, Rescorla decided that Morgan Stanley employees had
to take full responsibility for their own survival— something that happened
almost nowhere else in the Trade Center. He knew it was foolish to rely on
first responders to save his employees. His company was the largest tenant in
the World Trade Center, a village nestled in the clouds. Morgan Stanley’s employees
would need to take care of one another.
From then on, Rescorla started running the
entire company through frequent, surprise fire drills. He trained employees to
meet in the hallway between the stairwells and, at his direction, go down the
stairs, two by two, to the forty-fourth floor. He noticed they moved slowly, so
he started timing them with a stopwatch—and they got faster.
The radicalism of Rescorla’s drills cannot be overstated. Remember, Morgan
Stanley was an investment bank. Millionaire, high-performance bankers on the
73rd floor chafed at Rescorla’s evacuation regimen. They did not appreciate
interrupting high-net-worth clients in the middle of a meeting. Each drill,
which pulled the firm’s brokers off their phones and away from their computers,
cost the company money. But Rescorla did it anyway. He didn’t care whether he
was popular.
When guests visited Morgan Stanley for training, Rescorla made sure they all
knew how to get out too. Even though the chances were slim, Rescorla wanted
them ready for an evacuation.
On the morning of 9/11, Rescorla heard an explosion and saw Tower 1 burning
from his office window. A Port Authority official came over the public address
system and urged everyone to remain at their desks. But Rescorla grabbed his
bullhorn, his walkie-talkie, and his cell phone and began systematically
ordering Morgan Stanley employees to get out. They already knew what to do,
even the 250 visitors who were taking a stockbroker training class and had
already been shown the nearest stairway.
Rescorla had led soldiers through the Vietcong-controlled Central Highlands of
Vietnam. He knew the brain responded poorly to extreme fear. Back then, he had
calmed his men by singing Cornish songs from his youth. Now, in the crowded
stairwell, as his sweat leached through his suit jacket, Rescorla began to sing
into the bullhorn. “Men of Cornwall stand ye steady; It cannot be ever said ye
for the battle were not ready; Stand and never yield!”
Moments later, Rescorla had successfully evacuated the vast majority of Morgan
Stanley employees out of the burning tower. Then he turned around. He was last
seen on the 10th floor, heading upward, shortly before the tower collapsed. His
remains have never been found.
Rescorla taught Morgan Stanley employees to save themselves. It’s a lesson that
had become, somehow, rare and precious. When the tower collapsed, only 13
Morgan Stanley colleagues—including Rescorla and four of his security
officers—were inside. The other 2,687 were safe.
Let us learn from Rick Rescorla.
Jim
Jim Redick
Director
