Terrorism Expert Examines Preparation as a Result of 9/11

Ed Bridgeman, a leading national expert on terrorism, is head of the criminal justice program at the University of Cincinnati’s Clermont College. He has published numerous articles on terrorism and police administration

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I believe that 10 years is not nearly enough for us to make headway against something as entrenched and historically long-lived as terrorism. We have certainly made significant progress in preparing and dealing with the threat, but we have a long way to go – both operationally and psychologically.

One of our biggest accomplishments is in recognizing that terrorism is essentially a local problem – it’s the boots-on-the-ground people who are going to be dealing with terrorism. Before 9/11, we assumed terrorism was a problem to be handled by the FBI or the CIA, and we’ve learned since that this has to be primarily a local response.

As a result, first responders have received more training. We’ve had the capability to do that because of the recognition of that responsibility on every level of government.

We also need to continue that preparation. We need to understand that just because we haven’t had any ‘big’ incidents in 10 years that the garden is doing fine, let’s cut back on the gardeners. We need to continue to encourage local government and law enforcement to be prepared, because in the event of a major terrorist incident, it could be up to 72 hours before they get meaningful assistance on the federal level.

We also need to emphasize to local communities that there’s nothing ‘spooky’ about anti-terrorism – it’s simply neighborhood watch on a larger level. If you see something that doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t right, and you need to be vigilant, even on the citizen level.

We’re decades ahead of where we were a decade ago in terms of preparation, but we still have a long way to go. When 9/11 occurred, our character was tested in a way that it had never been before. Sept. 11, 2001 was the beginning of the public’s realization that the nation was at war, and I see the decade wrapping up with the final demise of Osama bin Laden as the end of that beginning. We’ve come to the point of acknowledging that the world is different, that it’s not going to go back to the way it was.

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