Summary of the event

September 11, 2001 remains a historic day to the American and the world as a whole. This is the day when Islamic militias carried out the greatest terrorists attacks in the United States. Nobody could have expected that the United States, with its global influence and military capacity, would be a victim of terrorist attacks.  The attackers hijacked four airliners where two were used to attack the World Trade Centre in New York; another was used to hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C. while the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, presumably before reaching the intended target. It is believed that more than 3,000 people died as a result of the attack while properties worth of several billion dollars were also destroyed. It is alleged that the attack had great significance to the United States and the whole world as the target, The Twin Towers, was considered as a symbol of America’s power and influence.  Also, the Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense and consequently the terrorists’ intention was to prove to the world that even the most guarded places can easily be overwhelmed by the terrorists.

Response from police and other agencies

The response to the attack was swift where even members of the responding agencies also died in the attack. Various responding agencies including; the New York Fire Department, New York Police Department, New York City Office of Emergency Management and the New York Port Authority all responded swiftly to the attack.  It is deemed that more approximately 235 fire fighters, 21 engine companies, nine ladder companies, four elite rescue teams, a hazmat team were some of the agencies  involved in the rescue process. According to the information from the police chief, the rescue process also involved approximately 22 lieutenants, 100 sergeants and 800 police officers. In essence, the different responding agencies exhibited steady determination and sacrifice despite the horrifying and overwhelming conditions. It is prudent to point that their actions saved life and were an inspiration to the nation.

Roles within the command structure

The different areas of attack called for an organized command structure to ensure that all the areas of attack got the necessary response. For instance, the pentagon is located in the Arlington County and hence all the rescue operations in this area were under the command of the Arlington County Police Department. On the other hand, the New York Police took charge of the rescue operations at the Twin towers. Due to the different agencies involved in the rescue operations, it was deemed fit to have the institution of Incident Commander who would maintain final authority of the decisions made.  The Incident Command System was vital in the response to this event because of its complicated nature. The different rescue agencies developed a close working relationship that ensures the whole rescue process was successful.

Response objectives, decision making and challenges

The primary objective of the response team was to ensure swift evacuation process as well as save lives.  It was prudent for all the agencies involved to ensure that they worked towards this objective. Although the process was steady, it is worth pointing out that there were still some challenges involved in the rescue process. For instance, effective decision making in the rescue operations were hampered by problems in command and control as well as problems in internal communications. This was primarily because the magnitude and the timing of the incidence were unforeseen. As a result, most commanders faced difficulties communicating with their units. It is actually alleged that more units were dispatched than were ordered by their chiefs, others were self dispatched while some of the units at the tragedy seen were neither accounted for nor coordinated. The establishment of incident command post was also faced with communication challenges as there were no adequate communication gadgets and hence flow of information was largely hampered. The same problem was also evident at the Port’s authority response, where lack of standard operating procedures and lack of sufficient radio calls, limited the ability of the response team to work in unified fashion. In essence, making major decisions and flow of information during the rescue process was the main challenge that prevented the rescue process from being much more effective. Nevertheless, the efforts of the different agencies cannot be underrated considering the horrifying moments and the overwhelming conditions under which the operations implementation took place.

References

Arlington County, VA. (2002). After Action Report on the Response to the September 11 Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon.  Titan Systems Corporation.

Harrald, John R., Barbera, J., Renda-Tanali, I.R., Coppola, D, and Shaw, G.L. (2002). Observing and Documenting the Interorganizational Response to the September 11 attack on the Pentagon. Proceedings, 9th Annual Conference of TIEMS. Waterloo, Canada. Pp. 32-4. http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~icdm/nsf_9_11.htm.

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. (2004). 9/11 Commission Report. W.W. Norton and Company.

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