One comment heard around the world on 9/11 is “Never Forget.”
This exhortation applies to more than just the memory of 9/11 victims or the continued threat of terrorism. It should also serve as a reminder that “Black Swan” events never occur without at least some warnings.
In 1998 Osama Bin Ladin issued a religious order declaring: “We — with Allah’s help — call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Allah’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.” Months later his forces blew up two US embassies. Feckless US missile strikes failed to harm or deter Al-Qaeda, which later attacked a US warship. US intelligence officials urged action. “(Osama) Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in the US” was the title of a report to the President from the CIA little more than a month before 9/11. But amid a reluctant Administration, slow-moving bureaucracy and break-down in intelligence sharing between the CIA and FBI, the terrorists planning 9/11 were never identified or stopped.
After the attack, officials claimed that no one could have imagined that terrorists would use commercial passenger aircraft as weapons. But that excuse evaporated when the country was reminded that Islamist terrorists had actually hijacked a French commercial aircraft in 1994 with plans to crash it into the Eiffel Tower.
The bottom line: The insurance industry has long discussed the potential of catastrophic cyber attacks “World Dodged 100 Potentially Catastrophic Hacks Over Past 6 Years: CyberCube” and debated responses to the threat, including a federal insurance backstop, perhaps similar to the TRIA program started after 9/11. We shouldn’t be surprised if such an attack actually occurs. Let’s hope we’re ready before it does.
Mark Sauter is a co-founder and producer at Cyber Insurance News. He witnessed the events of 9/11 at close range and was forced from his home in lower-Manhattan near the World Trade Center. Sauter, a former Army infantry and Special Forces officer, is co-author of the leading McGraw Hill university textbook Homeland Security: A Complete Guide, now in its third edition.