{"id":9228,"date":"2010-09-13T16:21:38","date_gmt":"2010-09-13T16:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/59.5901"},"modified":"2010-09-13T16:21:38","modified_gmt":"2010-09-13T16:21:38","slug":"civil-defense-needed-to-stop-another-911","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2010\/09\/13\/civil-defense-needed-to-stop-another-911\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil Defense Needed To Stop Another 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was a Naval Reservist Sept. 11th, 2001.\u00a0This fact alone speaks\u00a0to my commitment to civic duty\u00a0despite agreeing with\u00a0few foreign policy decisions of late.
\nI wasn’t surprised by the attack per se because those in security circles had long felt Islamist ideologues would eventually\u00a0mount another high profile attack against a symbolic American target. America’s Mid East alliances and\u00a0first Iraqi\u00a0invasion virtually assured\u00a0payback here at home.
\nWe still have a dangerously under defended homeland in my opinion with its largest protective force, the public, as\u00a0de-mobilized today as then.
\nUnited 93’s passengers are a text book example of what mobilized citizens may have to do in critical situations. It’s obviously far more risky than simply pressing 9-1-1 on your cell phone.
\nAs a former local Red Cross Disaster Action Team ( DAT ) member I know first hand the services\u00a0a trained citizenry can provide during emergencies.
\nEternal kudos to the two Times Square vendors this year\u00a0who foiled a car bomb attempt by practicing something which once was a popular concept: civil defense.
\n” Civil Defense ” is an old school, Cold war Era\u00a0method where the population was given basic training in how to\u00a0respond to enemy attacks. Skeptics ( correctly ) questioned the long term effectiveness of\u00a0ducking beneath furniture or backyard bomb shelters during nuclear attack but alot of valuable information was spread among millions and used when natural disasters and other major events\u00a0struck.
\nFast forward to the 21st century and President Carter’s lingering Emergency Management doctrine (\u00a0embodied in\u00a0FEMA and his statewide emergency management agency system\u00a0) provides\u00a0dispassionate experts\u00a0ordering clueless civilians around with comic and sadly, tragic consequences.\u00a0A relative handful of trained professionals verses a mass of uninformed\u00a0people does not make a homeland more\u00a0secure!!!
\nWe need to train Americans in basic civil defense doctrine beyond even the current Community Emergency Response Team model organized in various cities for search and rescue.
\nThe ” first responders ”\u00a0to an attack will be Joe and Jane American caught in the middle of something erupting around them. What they see and do in those chaotic moments with materially contribute to identifying perpetrators and more immediately, saving lives on scene.
\nThe same holds true for area law enforcement and related personnel. Training these two groups are vital for providing real homeland security.
\nI practice Civil Defense for one reason: it preaches the great truth that there are no spectators in\u00a0homeland security. It shows you don’t have to be a police officer; fire fighter; EMT; service member or federal agent to help keep America safe.
\nYou do need a commitment to be prepared and willing to\u00a0risk your safety on behalf of others. It sounds corny but that is \u00a0what civil defense boils down to.
\n” Let’s go shopping! ” was essentially the\u00a0homeland security battle\u00a0cry last Administration, urging us\u00a0to venture out\u00a0in defiance of\u00a0unseen assailants.
\nComparatively, a renewed Civil Defense culture seems\u00a0the better option.
\nNADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http:\/\/www.captblack.info<\/a> .
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Captain Black blogs about Homeland security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34,17],"tags":[442,839,2795],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}