Never Forget That Warm, Sunny Day

It was Sept. 11, 2001, roughly 7 a.m., and I was sipping coffee in the hotel lobby and reading the morning's Boston Globe.

Soon after, on the 33rd floor, I sat for an hour flanked by three Symantec executives who were trying to impress me with the technical capabilities and specification of the appliance it picked up from Axcent Technologies. We talked about market trends, enterprise desires, the need for ease of use and ROI calculations. Pretty standard fare.

When I descended from the hotel tower, people were crowded around the windows that overlook Copley Square. I heard someone say there had been a bad accident, but I paid no attention. The valet was kind enough to keep my car close by so I wouldn't have to wait for retrieval or pay for parking.

It wasn't until I was clear of the concrete awning that I learned of the horrible events unraveling in New York -- from the Howard Stern radio show.

A day would pass before I learned that the terrorists who hijacked the two flights out of Boston stayed at the very hotel in which I met with Symantec. Quite possibly, I passed them in the lobby that morning. My heart sank as I watched CNN raid the Westin Copley on Sept. 12.

Perhaps like yours, my father once told me that everyone of his generation knew where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated. The murder shocked the nation and imprinted an indelible image in the collective consciousness. Sept. 11 did the same for us. We all have similar stories about where we were on Sept. 11. We probably have stories about the people we knew who were lucky enough to survive, as well as the scores who never made it out of the Twin Towers.

What have we learned in five years? In the months following the attacks, I heard security experts, technologists and analysts predicting a huge uptick in everything from biometrics to field sensors that analyze everything from personal identities to the movement of people across the desert frontiers.

The reality is we have few systems that can do all we dream to secure us. Look at airport security, where -- at many airports -- chemical analyzers are installed at one out of every three checkpoints. The federal government is still using watch lists -- the equivalent of signature-based antivirus scanners -- to identify suspected terrorists trying to enter the country. And first responders still don't have communications systems that will allow them to coordinate with the various horizontal and vertical agencies vital in any emergency situation.

It's 2006, and we're still fighting the aftermath of Sept. 11. We have applied sophisticated technology and systems to mitigate the terrorist threat and deflect attacks. I say mitigate and deflect because eliminate is not feasible. So long as Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and other terrorists persist in their campaigns, there will be attempted assaults and, unfortunately, successful attacks.

Technology -- the stuff we deal in day in and day out -- is not the silver bullet against terrorism, but a tool for multiplying our ability to combat and counter attacks. We must continue to develop new technologies and techniques, systems and processes, and intelligence-gathering and analysis tools that will help our government and ourselves fight this menace. The call to arms that went out from Ground Zero five years ago has not dimmed; it continues to grow louder.

A friend of mine was the first military officer at Ground Zero the morning of Sept. 11; he remained at his post in Lower Manhattan for a week until the feds could mobilize the initial response. He told me that the half-life of any tragic event is about six months -- every six months, our memories fade by half and slip back into a more normal routine. Many of us will stop today to remember what happened at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and that farm field in Pennsylvania five years ago. I know I will. At the time of the attacks at the World Trade Center, I will be on an American Airlines flight to Chicago. For those moments, we will all relive the tragedy and the anguish of that Tuesday morning. Remembrance is a good thing; it rekindles the need for action and perseverance. Complacency is the ally of terrorists.

My prayer is that we never forget, never stop looking for ways to remember those heroic and innocent souls, and find a way to bring peace to all. This anniversary is not a day of singular remembrance, but a reminder of how much more work we have ahead of us. We owe it to the 2,973 who involuntarily gave their lives five years ago today.