Abstract
Gone are the days of “duck and cover.” Welcome to the twenty-first century mindset–duct tape and cover.
The time-tested threat of nuclear weapons still lingers, but new dangers like the potential for terrorists to use chemical or biological weapons or “dirty bombs” have catapulted into the forefront of Americans' consciousness. And so have new ways to prepare for these threats.
Regardless of whether the perceived threat matches up with the actual threat (see “Rethinking Doomsday,” page 36), officials and citizens have begun preparing for the worst. Here are some of the more interesting ways they've “gone bunkers.”
Citizens, unite!
In September, transit police for the Washington, D.C., Metro system announced that they will begin training a select group of commuters to help in the event of a terrorist attack. The specially trained commuters will carry “go bags” full of supplies like a yellow DayGlo vest, a green hard hat, safety goggles, gloves, a single medical mask, and a flashlight, and will learn how to safely lead other commuters through a train tunnel, a task that's perhaps as dangerous as many threats. “When you walk down the street, you don't have a third rail that's got 750 volts,” Metro Transit Police Chief Polly L. Hanson told the Washington Post (September 2).
The Smokey Bear of terrorism
What did you do for “National Preparedness Month” (otherwise known as “September”)? The Department of Homeland Security planned to introduce its new mascot, an American (not German!) shepherd, who will be used to educate kids about what to do in emergencies. By informing children about preparedness, Homeland Security hopes to increase the number of people who have emergency plans and the appropriate supplies stockpiled. “It takes a long time to create a movement,” Susan Neely, a Homeland Security official, told USA Today (August 9). “Seat belts took 20 years.”
A Washington, D.C., Metro stop.
In God we trust
The Christian Emergency Network, a group organized by Evangelical Christian leaders to “respond effectively in a national crisis, giving the hope of Jesus Christ,” planned its own National Preparedness Month activities, partnering with Homeland Security of Pima County, Arizona, and the Salvation Army to “provide faith-based church survival training to raise up 30,000 survival churches in local neighborhoods.”
Immune living
Defense Department officials are touting their “immune building” program as the best way to secure the ventilation systems of buildings from contamination. The system, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is intended to filter, detect, and neutralize chemical and biological agents released into a building's ventilation system. “When immune building technology is widely implemented, this attack option will effectively be removed from the arsenal of our enemies,” Wayne Bryden, the project's manager, told Global Security Newswire (August 26).
Until then, there are plenty of other aboveground “shelters” out there (some resembling glorified plastic bags) that claim to protect against nuclear, biological, and chemical contaminants. Beware, however, new shelter hounds face some of the same problems as their Cold War peers: It remains to be seen whether it is possible to safely isolate yourself from nuclear, chemical, or biological contaminants and still get enough oxygen to stay alive.
Some things never change
While some cities, including Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles, have invested in software systems that allow them to distribute an emergency message to thousands of telephone numbers at a time, other municipalities are dusting off a relic from yesteryear to get the public's attention in case of emergency: the air-raid siren. In Baltimore, officials are planning to spend $2 million for new “high-tech” sirens. “There are a lot of ways to alert the public,” Rich McKoy, Baltimore's emergency management director, told the Baltimore Sun (August 23). “But there is nothing as quick to get its attention.”
Looking for trouble
Today, being prepared has even taken on a new George W. Bush-inspired component: preemption. Don't just prepare for disaster–help avert it. Government officials have long asked citizens to keep an eye out for suspicious people and packages, but even greater emphasis has been given to the role of everyday citizens after a series of individuals were detained for filming high-profile locations and “critical infrastructure.”
Expanded Neighborhood Watch programs and more than 1,300 local Citizen Corps Councils have popped up around the country, each ostensibly keeping a watchful eye over their community and organizing local emergency responses.
And then there are the diehards–the citizens who have taken the call to action very seriously. In an Elkhart, Indiana, neighborhood, a group of men affixed a “homeland security” sign to a car and have been patrolling the streets armed with first aid kits and guns. “We do everything from kids in the middle of the street to terrorists if we need to,” one of the men told the South Bend Tribune (July 10).
Survival 101
Today, survival and anti-terrorism strategies are dotted with an assortment of sometimes odd, sometimes vague advice:
“Keep your yard clean,” and “prune shrubbery.”
–Anti-terror tip from The Citizen's Preparedness Guide, a collaboration of Homeland Security and the Citizen Corps (cited in the ACLU publication The Surveillance Industrial Complex)
“We must have the tools in place to make it on our own, at least for a period of time, no matter where we are when disaster strikes.”
–From a Homeland Security-sponsored advertisement in select SBC Yellow Pages
“Go indoors and stay there.”
–On the British Ministry of Defence's list of “Emergency Actions for a Nuclear Weapon Accident”
“Something over your nose and mouth in an emergency is better than nothing. Limiting how much ‘junk’ gets into your body may impact whether or not you get sick or develop disease.”
–From the “Clean Air” section of “Making a Kit” on Ready.gov
“Do not be afraid to move or leave if you feel uncomfortable or if something does not seem right.”
–Federal Emergency Management Agency advice for “Preparing for Terrorism”