What Does Security Cost? Presentation to SLC s Fiscal Affairs and Government Operations Committee July 12, 2008 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Welcome to Policy Hell Major Terrorist Attacks in the U.S. are: High Threat Low Probability High Consequence
High Threat Osama bin Laden wants to destroy democracy, saying it is an abomination that substitutes man s laws for God s laws
Low Probability In all but three of the last 50 years, Americans were more likely to be killed by lightning than by terrorists
High Consequence
Keep Perspective Terrorism is just one of many risks for which states must prepare It is not the most likely or the most severe
Moore, Oklahoma Moore, Oklahom a
Moore, Oklahoma
Tornado
New Orleans, Louisiana
Tornado Hurricane
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa December 07 Ice Storm Leaves Hundreds without Power for Days
Tornado Hurricane Ice Storm
Webber s Falls, Oklahoma
Barge Destroys Bridge on I-40
Tornado Hurricane Ice Storm Bridge Collapse
Virginia Tech Campus
Tornado Hurricane Ice Storm Bridge Collapse Campus Gunman
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Tornado Hurricane Ice Storm Bridge Collapse Campus Gunman Terrorist Attack
How Can You Afford to Prepare for All This? You cannot afford to prepare for every eventuality Fortunately, you do not need to Why not?
There has been less change than you Modern think homeland Changed? security is everything you did before, plus the need to deal with human malice Technology now allows small groups, whether terrorists or the deranged, to do damage on a scale previously limited to governments and acts of God.
Understand Terrorism Malicious human behavior shocks us far more than accidents or acts of God It is, after all, designed to terrify
First, Be Prepared Preparedness and Prevention are different disciplines Work on preparedness first because it permits you to leverage resources If you are prepared to respond to a major industrial accident, you are largely prepared for a truck bomb
Double Dip Avoid spending big money on singleuse things or programs How many bomb robots does your state need?
Watch Out for the Tail You do not just buy a bomb robot, and have your problem solved. Maintenance, training, staff time to retrain and re-familiarize last forever
Look for Multiple Uses Beef up and train your public health department You may never have a bio-terrorist attack, but you will end up with healthier citizens Better vaccination rates, reduced obesity, fewer cases of diabetes will save more lives than terrorists will take
You are doing it already Emergency Management Public Safety Public Health Disaster Recovery
Prevention Prevention: Unlike a tornado, terrorism can be prevented Terrorism prevention has a few simple components Intelligence, training, public awareness and targeted outreach
Intelligence Do not expect the feds to tell you to be on the look out for a tall blonde man with one black shoe Use your intelligence capacity to collect warnings and indicators from patrol officers at all levels
Training Train, train, train public safety officials and others to spot warnings and indicators of terrorism Spotting an upcoming incident makes you less reliant on luck and SWAT teams
Public Awareness We have not gone far enough with See Something, Say Something campaigns Most will not be terrorism, most will amount to nothing, but such campaigns will also help with common crime
Targeted Outreach Most people know that fertilizer can be used to construct a bomb Does your state have a system to regularly visit sellers and leave them a card saying where to call in their suspicions?
Targeted Outreach Do plumbing supply houses know to call the police if someone buys 20 6- inch lengths of 3-inch pipe with forty screw-on end caps? 20 pipe bombs can cause a lot of damage at a football game
In Closing Don t overspend on terrorism-only capacities Double, Triple, Quadruple Dip Fund single-use capacities only if they are indispensable against a threat likely to happen Think: All-Hazards Preparedness