Essay On 9/11 First Responders

First Responders

James Cross

Intro to Homeland Defense

Professor Kirchgraber

August 30, 2015

Abstract

9/11 is a day that many will never forget. Terrorist high jacked four planes and flew them into predetermined locations. 3000 people died in The World Trade Center alone. Several of these were first responders. First responders were faced with several issues. Planning, communication, and operating procedures were amongst the top of the list. Could we ever truly have a plan in place for an attack as large as this one was? Some say, yes. Several new policies and procedures have been implemented to fix the problems that were brought out by the attack on 9/11.

First Responders

First responders are firefighters, police

Each plane had a distinctive destination. These locations included The World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and an undisclosed location, which we will never know. The terrorist had a calculated plan and initiated an attack so horrible that three hundred and forty three firefighters and paramedics lost their lives. Twenty three New York City police officers and thirty seven Port Authority police officers were also killed.

Could we have had less casualties if we, our nation, was better prepared? After having several years to research and look back many would agree that yes, we could have done better. A few problems that arose during 9/11 included being unprepared for large incidents, not being able to communicate with various locations and multiple people frequently, and not meeting standard operating procedures at the ports.

One problem that the first responders faced was the magnitude of the incident was unseen. No one had ever witnessed an attack as large as this one. At first glance it looked as if one plane was under attack. Little did we know, in a short period of time it would be four planes total. There has been some investigations as to how to handle another situation like this if one ever occurs. Giving what little we knew then and what we think we know now, could we ever really have a plan in place for something of this

There was no way of knowing what operating procedures were missed during the attack on 9/11 due to the unforeseen magnitude of the situation. Radio towers and cellular towers were only able to handle so much.

Since 9/11 many changes have taken place. Visa applicants will now be fingerprinted, screened and double checked against previous fingerprints to make certain that their fingerprint match that of their visas. The improved terrorist watch list is widely accessible to all states of government and even airports. A Terrorist Surveillance Program has also been implemented. This will help keep communication lines open.

Although these changes have taken place, I truly believe that the first responders did everything in their power to provide aid to the victims of 9/11. Through pure determination their actions saved lives and inspired a