Al Qaeda and Attacks

9/11 Terrorism and EMS On 11th September, 2001, a total of nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists took control of four sky-borne airplanes, using them to carry out suicide attacks aimed at American targets. Two planes were guided directly towards the New York World Trade Center's twin towers, one struck the U.S. defense department's headquarters (the Pentagon), and one crashed into a Pennsylvanian field.

Known worldwide as the 9/11 terror attacks, this day's events led to large-scale destruction and death, sparking numerous important projects on the federal government's part, aimed at battling terrorism; these efforts defined George Bush's presidential term. More than 3,000 individuals lost their lives to the Pentagon and Twin Towers attacks. Of these, over 400 were firefighters and law enforcement officials. The invaders were identified as Arab (chiefly Saudi Arabian) Islamic terrorists said to be funded by Saudi Arabian runaway bin Laden's terror group, al-Qaeda.

The attacks were apparently retribution for the U.S.'s backing of the Israeli nation, the part it played in the 1990-1991 Gulf War and its army's constant presence within the Middle Eastern region. A few terrorists had been U.S. residents for over 12 months and had even trained as commercial pilots at U.S. flying academies.

The rest had sneaked quietly into America a few months prior to their scheduled attack, functioning as the attack's "muscle." The attackers conveniently brought in knives and box-cutters, past security scanners, at three of the nation's East Coast cities' airports, following which they stepped into 4 California-bound planes. The rationale for their destination choice was that these planes had plenty of fuel to sustain it during the long pancontinental journey.

As soon as the planes went airborne, the terrorists hijacked them, assumed control, and transformed these ordinary commercial planes into dangerous projectiles (History.com, 2010). History of Al-Qaeda At the outset, al-Qaeda worked as a logistics network aimed at supporting the Afghan Muslims battling Russian forces in the 20th-century Afghan War. Individuals from many Islamic nations signed up for it. However, after Russia's 1989 withdrawal from the Afghan nation, the agency, although dissolved, continued opposing foreigners' (for instance, Americans') presence in Muslim countries as well as the apparently-corrupt Muslim nations.

Headquartered for some part of the nineties in the Republic of Sudan, this outfit ultimately reorganized itself in its home-country (Afghanistan) with the Taliban's support. Numerous other radical Islamist groups joined the al-Qaeda, including the Egyptian Islamic Group and Islamic Jihad, with leaders frequently declaring holy war (Jihad) against America. It set up training camps for Islamic radicals across the globe, where several thousand members were trained in terrorist skills.

Trained agents then instigated several terror attacks, which included a suicide bombing of the Cole, an American warship, in Yemen's port city, Aden, and the demolition of American embassies in major Tanzanian city, Dar as Salaam and the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The U.S. penetration into Afghanistan was a challenge to its practicability as a training base and refuge for al-Qaeda members, compromising communication lines, operational connections, and funds movement between its leaders and other members.

But instead of drastically enfeebling the terror outfit, this invasion sparked increased "franchising" and an overall structural change. Gradually, the attackers grew bolder, and attacks began to be organized both by its chief leaders (following the American invasion into the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas) and by the local, fairly independent groups bred by it. These self-governing grassroots units -- united, on a local level, on a shared agenda, but supporting al-Qaeda and its chief ideology -- implied a scattered militancy which was a lot harder to fight than expected.

Through this structural movement, the parent outfit, al-Qaeda, was indirectly and directly linked to several more attacks half a dozen years post-9/11 than half a dozen years before it. These included attacks in nations like the UK, Jordan, Turkey, Kenya, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Israel. Concurrently, the outfit began turning extensively to the World Wide Web for recruiting members, communicating with them, misinforming the world, and sending broadcasts, and video messages.

In the meantime, a few observers began raising doubts regarding the American strategy's effectiveness (the strategy revolved chiefly around attempts at overwhelming the terror group using military force). By 2010, the world believed al-Qaeda attained to its greatest power since 9/11. On 2nd May, 2011, American armed forces slew al-Qaeda's leader, bin Laden, after his hideout (a secure Abbottabad compound, about 50 kilometers from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad) was found by American intelligence.

A small helicopter-bound force completed the operation, and following the confirmation of bin Laden's killing, President Obama announced the operation to the world, acknowledging it as one among the greatest successes in the battle against terrorism. On 16th June, 2011, the terror organization, via a statement, announced that their former leader's long-time deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, succeeded bin Laden to the leadership post ( Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2016). Emergency Services Preparedness & Response in New York City Communication and Coordination Improper communication potentially increased problems for rescue workers, compared to all other aspects combined.

The twin tower firefighters were also equipped with radios identical to those employed at the time of the February 1993 trade center attack, which also didn't function correctly within the complex. Upon reaching the trade center's north tower, the rescue team either failed to hear or to heed the call to evacuate premises, which was apparently issued prior to the two towers' collapse.

Further, subsequent to the south tower's crumbling, a team of policemen in a helicopter soaring above the building surmised that the other tower would also meet with the same fate, and transmitted a last warning to ground forces which, as reported by innumerable commanders and firefighters, failed to reach a majority of them. These clear alerts, effectively caught on the radio tapes of the police, were conveyed a whole twenty-one minutes prior to the edifice's collapse. Authorities claim policemen received the message and a majority of them escaped unharmed.

But most firefighters, owing to frequent radio system collapses that day, failed to hear the messages and prior commands to evacuate. Even if their radio system were sound, there was no link between it and that of the police force. Further, the firefighting and police teams on the rescue mission didn't communicate with each other in the course of the emergency. Isolated from critical, lifesaving information, no less than 121 firefighters, a majority of which could have easily gotten to safety, lost their lives to the north tower's collapse.

Before 9/11, first responders belonging to separate jurisdictions lacked inter-agency communication capabilities. But ever since the financial year 2003, roughly three-billion dollars were allocated to communications interoperability efforts by the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). At the time of the 9/11 attacks, the nation lacked an ICS (Incident Command System). Now, however, DHS mandates potential local and state grant beneficiaries' adoption of an ICS and NIMS (National Incident Management System) at every jurisdictional level as a prerequisite to receiving grants.

The nation also lacked risk-based security finance and a critical infrastructure before the twin tower attacks. As of now, all USASI (Urban Area Security Initiative) funding is endowed on the basis of efficiency and risk. Additionally, DHS developed its NIPP (National Infrastructure Plan), which was described as a first-time, momentous private/public partnership for identifying and preserving America's main resources and critical infrastructure. Currently, the nation's private sector is well-prepared. The federal government instituted a private office was, and increased private sector role in federal preparedness, training, and exercises.

Prior to 2001, the U.S. lacked an NSTS (National Strategy for Transportation Security). The first NSTS was presented before the U.S. legislature in September of 2005, followed by a mandated update 11 months later. Before the attacks, commercial passenger prescreening involved voluntary commuter information communication only in case of outbound flights. American agencies never maintained or disseminated any terror suspect list. However, currently, all airline passengers and already checked bags undergo pre-screening (Department of Homeland Security). Beginning 2004, the nation observes September as its National Preparedness Month.

This FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)-sponsored action concentrates on societal and individual preparedness. The 9/11 tragedy led people to realize that there was a need to remain constantly alert and prepared for terror attacks. Since the attacks, the nation's emergency response units have made considerable advances in large-scale disaster response. In 2002, the HPP (Hospital Preparedness Program) was created for improving the response capacity of the nation's healthcare facilities.

This initiative offers finance and leadership via cooperative arrangements and grants to qualified municipalities, states, and territories, for enhancing hospital and public preparedness and surge capacity with regard to public health crises. This financial backing helps support initiatives aimed at strengthening public-health crisis preparedness using numerous means (Public Health Emergency). EMS Response New York's Fire Department (FDNY) personnel arrived at the scene mere minutes following the first plane's attack. Joseph Pfeifer, Department Chief, crew members, and Battalion 1 represented the first few rescue teams (Eisner, 2002).

Rescue personnel already on site had established an ICP (Incident Command Post) in the north tower's lobby at about 8:50 A.M. Ten minutes later, just prior to the attack on the other tower, Chief Pfeifer arrived, taking control of rescue operations. The ICP was relocated to a West Street location because of safety concerns and falling debris. However, a number of fire chiefs stayed within the lobby, operating alarms, communications systems, elevators, etc. The Fire Department's early response concentrated.