Lingering effects of 9-11 – Emergency prep drills gone live (terror attacks)

This is related to the Hawaii missle issue where the worker is not cooperating with investigations because he thought the threat was real and imminent and it is reported that this is the second time that something similar to this has happened with him – and the news is claiming that he can't differentiate reality from drills.

Well, I have to say that I can honestly feel for this guy because he is the last line of civil defense for the state and that warning has the potential to save millions of people in an actual attack. I'm sure we all remember that September morning when planes were told to stand down and all was “good” and it was just a drill being run by the NRO (which I have a difficult time believing them running this type of drill to begin with – it's just that they are a very secretive operation and their planning would be one of the most difficult to research who called for it, when it was planned, etc – but I digress).

So, when the people in the DC area and those on the eastern sea board were told that the errant planes they were seeing were only “drills” being undertaken, they allowed for one of the greatest disasters in the history of the nation. Since that day, there has been a VERY uncanny number of drills gone live or drills which went live the next day (“it's just coincidence, nothing to see here, move along, keep it mooving, have your papers ready....”) I'm sure there are many members who can fill in these incidences that were linked to drills either that day or the day before (sandy hook and Boston come to mind).

I would think any self aware person who knows of these events and coincidneces might think that this is another “drill” gone live and who knows how his co-workers and superiors were acting (did they go into hiding? Were they immediatey available or did they disappear for 10-30 mins after the warning was issued? If his experiences on site seemed non-normal, he might have well believed he was in one of these situations gone live.

I'm wondering what other think about the effects of these many coincidences on people who have the responsibility to warn people or call in the cavalry. Surely there has to be some kind of cognitive dissonance involved when situations such as these arise making it more difficult on the individual acting.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I feel sorry for this guy. I wasn't there, but from what I can gather, he did exactly what he was supposed to do under the circumstances that he thought it was real (and I believe him).

The real question is why the first instinct of this agency was to lie about it (remember their excuse of hitting the wrong button?).

The midnight shift supervisor issued a recording to the day shift supervisors that included the drill language “EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE” but also erroneously contained the text “THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” The recording did not follow the script contained in the agency’s standard operating procedure, the report says.

That said, this "snafu" will cause others to not react to a real emergency out of fear that a real circumstance is a drill.

originally posted by: Iamonlyhuman
a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I feel sorry for this guy. I wasn't there, but from what I can gather, he did exactly what he was supposed to do under the circumstances that he thought it was real (and I believe him).

The real question is why the first instinct of this agency was to lie about it (remember their excuse of hitting the wrong button?).

The midnight shift supervisor issued a recording to the day shift supervisors that included the drill language “EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE” but also erroneously contained the text “THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” The recording did not follow the script contained in the agency’s standard operating procedure, the report says.

That said, this "snafu" will cause others to not react to a real emergency out of fear that a real circumstance is a drill.

I agree with this as well. It really seems nebulous as to the reality of the event at the time from the perspective of the operator (though none of us were there to know the procedures..).

If I recall correctly, didn't the people involved with the nation's air defense on 9-11 originally want to scramble fighters but they were then given memo's that there was a drill underway? I see a correlation between these two events though luckily the most recent was simply a mistake or "exercise".