This September will mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and some security pros fear that the worst could be yet to come. “Our view is that the goal of terrorists is to beat the devastation they caused on September 11, 2001, and one way to do that is to go after our children,” says Alan J. Robinson, director, Protection and Security Services/CSO, Atlantic Health, Morristown, NJ. “Topping the events of 9/11 is difficult to replicate; unfortunately, in order to exceed or even match the shock and awe of 9/11, terrorists must target a population so vulnerable it restores their reputation as a terrorist organization.”
For many, 9/11 caused a knee-jerk reaction to securing their facilities. “At the time of September 11, 2001, very few staff in public education knew what access control was and what it meant both in the short-term and the long-term for public education,” says Jeff Baker, director of safety and security for the Keller Independent School District in Keller, TX.