Infinite Monkeys

Staff is screwed if terrorist attack the Capitol

K-Lo at The Corner alerts us to a troubling story from The Hill Newspaper.

A future terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol is highly probable, and Congress’s specialized bomb squad is unlikely to be able to deal with it, according to internal U.S. Capitol Police documents obtained by The Hill.

The unclassified internal letters and memos, written by Capitol Police captains, lieutenants, and sergeants between 2005 and 2007, detail more than three years of complaints to their superiors about the Hazardous Devices Unit’s lack of vehicles, its desire for more frequent training and the inadequate level of experience of bomb technicians within the specialty unit.

I find this completely unsurprising. I started covering Capitol Hill a year after the 9/11 attacks. There were little emergency kits with masks in the event of a chemical or biological attack in the press galleries above the Senate and House chambers. Trouble was, there were only a handful of them — and there are easily a couple of hundred reporters and staffers in the Capitol building at any one time. It was a running joke that only the fast — and lucky — would survive.

And, frankly, I don't get too worked up over stories like this. Not to underplay the role of first-responders in the event of a terrorist attack. But, for the most part, if you're waiting for first responders to save your bacon when a bomb goes off, you decrease your chances of survival. Living and dying has more to do with prevention. And when the inevitable happens: luck and your wits.