Reactive vs. Proactive: If IT can do it why not Government

One of the first things I learned as a medic and then as an EMS Chief was to mitigate disasters before they ever become disasters.   This is one of the basic participles within Emergency Management… but for some reason Our Government has not been able to grasp this.  Terrorists commit acts of terror to create fear, and while they do this by causing death – their motive is to cause FEAR.

Interestingly enough – when you board an airplane you have a 1 in 10,408,947 chance of being victimized by a terrorist incident, according to the Bureau of Transportation statistics… In fact there is a greater chance that you will be killed in the car ride to the airport, by the air in the flight cabin or funny as it sounds food poisoning from the food served on the plane.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab succeeded in setting his pants on fire, according to reports.   He did not use Wireless or Television to complete this task – and yet our government decides that these items need to be removed from flight for one hour before landing.  Does this just strike anyone else as entirely stupid?

Ok let me play out this scenario… If the terrorist knows that they have a 214 minute flight – they also know that they have 154 minutes to set off their bomb or do whatever else they are looking to do … and after those 154 minutes they then need to sit silently with their hands on their laps… DUH!

So – the TSA basically, by being reactive instead of proactive punishes us – the travelers, the US citizen, the public – and in effect the terrorists win.  If they were proactive, had actually used many of the tools in place – such as their No fly list, or A father coming to the US Consulate and stating his son is on a path to destroy America… (i can continue here… but enough on that soap box)

Ask any IT manager – being proactive protects the network – protects the data…

If our TSA and Homeland Security departments were proactive perhaps they could… just perhaps -Protect the public.