PUBLICATION


MTI Report 02-06
Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks
Principal Investigator: Brian Michael Jenkins, Frances Edwards-Winslow, Ph.D., CEM

This case study of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks examines how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York City Transit, Port Authority, and other transit systems responded to the events of 9-11, and how the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) worked to coordinate response and recovery operations; it also seeks to identify those lessons that can be captured before participants rotate or retire, memories dim, and what was learned is lost. The scope was limited to the evaluation of transit response, not other surface transportation elements such as bridges and tunnels. This report is a continuation of the transportation security work begun by MTI in 1996, a program that has included two national symposia, two California statewide symposia, two volumes of case studies, a chronology of attacks on surface transportation from 1920 through 2000, and a best practices checklist. This report is not an audit of performance, but rather a distillation of lessons learned for use in planning response to future terrorist attacks or natural disasters.

ABSTRACT

In this report, the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) counterterrorism team undertakes a case study of the 2001 events to determine what lessons could be preserved in a comprehensive document. The scope was limited to the evaluation of transit response, not other surface transportation elements such as bridges and tunnels, which seemed to function quite well and could be the subject of an additional MTI study. This is a continuation of work begun by MTI in 1996, a program that has included two national symposia, two California statewide symposia, two volumes of case studies, a chronology of attacks on surface transportation from 1920 through 2000, and an Executive Overview that includes a best practices checklist.

Due to the magnitude of damage to and involvement by the New York City transit agencies, the report focuses primarily on that city’s experience. The systems that were affected directly or indirectly and the responding emergency agencies are addressed with regard to prior preparations, the immediate events on September 11, and subsequent alarms. The study includes crisis management, security, and restoration of service.

This report is not an audit of performance, but a distillation of lessons learned for use in planning response to future terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Lessons learned fell into three broad categories: command and control, planning, and planning, training, and exercises (PTE).

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

BRIAN MICHAEL JENKINS

Brian Michael Jenkins is one of the world’s foremost authorities on terrorism and sophisticated crime. He works with government agencies, international organizations and multinational corporations as an analyst, investigator, and crisis management consultant. From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Jenkins was the Deputy Chairman of Kroll Associates, an international investigative and consulting firm. Before that, he was chairman of RAND’s political science department, where from 1972 to 1989, he also directed RAND’s research on political violence. He is currently a senior advisor to the president of RAND.

Jenkins has BA in Fine Arts and a Master’s degree in History, both from UCLA. He studied at the University of Guanajuato in Mexico and in the Department of Humanities at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala, where he was a Fulbright Fellow and recipient of a second fellowship from the Organization of American States.

Commissioned in the infantry at the age of 19, Mr. Jenkins became a paratrooper and ultimately, a Captain in the Green Berets. He is a decorated combat veteran, having served in the Seventh Special Forces Group in the Dominican Republic during the American intervention and later as a member of the Fifth Special Forces Group in Vietnam (1966-1967). He returned to Vietnam on a special assignment in 1968 to serve as a civilian member of the Long Range Planning Task Group; he remained with the group until the end of 1969, receiving the Department of the Army’s highest award for his service. Mr. Jenkins returned to Vietnam in 1971 on a special assignment. Mr. Jenkins is the author of International Terrorism: A New Mode of Conflict, the editor and coauthor of Terrorism and Personal Protection, co-editor and co-author of Aviation Terrorism and Security, and co-author of The Fall of South Vietnam. He is also the author of numerous articles, book chapters, and published research reports on conflict and crime.

In 1996, President Clinton appointed Mr. Jenkins to be a member of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. From 1999 to 2000, he served as an advisor to the National Commission on Terrorism and in 2000 was appointed to be a member of the U.S. Comptroller General’s International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and a member of the board of directors of the ICC’s Commercial Crime Services. Mr. Jenkins was also a member of the Transportation Research Board/National Research Council Panel on Transportation: Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, 2002.

Mr. Jenkins has led the Mineta Transportation Institute’s counter-terrorism research team since 1997, producing three volumes of case studies of major terrorist attacks on surface transportation

TECHNICAL

MTI Report 02-06
Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks
Principal Investigator: Brian Michael Jenkins, Frances Edwards-Winslow, Ph.D., CEM
Published: September 2003
Keywords: Safety and security, Terrorism, Emergency transportation, Crisis management, Transportation system
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