Workplace violence is on the rise. In May, there was an active shooter event in Virginia Beach, where a disgruntled city employee murdered 12 of his co-workers. In May, as well, another school shooting occurred in Colorado, not far from where the infamous Columbine shooting took place in 1999. As the debate for sensible gun-control continues, gun laws alone will not stop the next massacre, particularly for those already intent on causing harm.
General John Jumper, former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, had a saying: “Every Airmen is a Warrior. Every Airmen is a sensor.” At that time, shortly after the Khobar Tower bombing in 1996, which effectively launched the Department of Defense’s Antiterrorism program, this was an appropriate way to describe both a nascent force protection program and peer accountability. Many have since used that phrase as the rallying cry for teaching employees to identify suspicious activity, and what some experts refer to as “pre-attack indicators.”