A Day Of Infamy.
- 7,306 days ago – I was in my usual Tuesday morning staff meeting when the conference room door suddenly flew open and a teary-eyed associate asked me to come with her to the break room.
1,044 weeks ago – My initial reaction of puzzling concern turned to horror as I realized the four planes involved were some sort of coordinated terror attack.
240 months ago – That day, even with the operations and communications experience I had garnered in my career to-date, taxed all of my faculties. The continuous conference calls throughout the day focused on the twenty-seven company associates who were traveling or away from home that day. With the chaos that ensued, it took fourteen hours for our senior management team to locate those associates. Working with them to get home, considering the emotion and circumstance, was indescribable.
20 years ago – As I wrote this yesterday morning, I vividly remembered the emotional roller-coaster of that moment, that day, and the subsequent weeks. “A date that will live infamy ” was a statement included in a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. I was not around then but I am sure all Americans felt the same feelings on December 7, 1941 as we all did on September 11, 2001.
Let us all remember and never forget 20 years ago. To all of those who were directly affected by those tragic events, today and always, may loving memories bring you peace, comfort, and strength.
- Over the last twenty years, some serious issues were uncovered surrounding the United States’ intelligence community. Terms that described the different intelligence agencies included “territorial” and “justifying their existence.”
The following is an excerpt from The 9/11 Commission Report. Take what you want from this short paragraph found on page 328:
“The government’s ability to collect intelligence inside the United States, and the sharing of such information between the intelligence and law enforcement communities, was not a priority before 9/11. Guidelines on this subject issued in August 2001 by Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson essentially recapitulated prior guidance. However, the attacks of 9/11 changed everything. Less than one week after September 11, an early version of what was to become the Patriot Act began to take shape. A central provision of the proposal was the removal of “the wall” on information sharing between the intelligence and law enforcement communities….”
After watching this past Sunday’s 60 Minutes show, one might wonder if the 9/11 attacks could have been prevented if the United States had kept The Ritchie Boys and their intelligence-gathering tactics in place after World War II. I am sure the U.S. intelligence agencies have employed similar tactics over the years, but after watching this 40-minute segment on Sunday night – well, you make your own call if these brave men might have had a part in uncovering the 9/11 terrorist plot.
I have some different content to post but I think I will leave this take, regarding 9/11, stand for the week.