Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11

***** Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11. By Patrick Creed and Rick Newman; published by Presidio Press, www.randomhouse.com (Web); 512 pages; $27.00.

Here is a great opportunity to live through a significant piece of history in an hour-by-hour, day-by-day recounting of the events that followed the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, all from a firefighter’s vantage point. And while experiencing the heroism of that day, the reader can also reflect on this work as a case study in disaster response, continuity of operations, and loss prevention.

Firefight is a valuable read for any security professional from the corporate front office to the first responder. It is particularly valuable for anyone responsible for protection of critical infrastructure, as the book provides the kind of concrete examples often needed to convince superiors of the need for security programs, training, and equipment.

Because the book was written to capture the moment, the important lessons are not clearly announced by the author in the text. Yet they are there for the taking, as the reader can assess the preparedness of all stakeholders, the efficacy of their response, the challenges they faced, and their successes.

Among the lessons was the challenge of establishing unified command and coordinating response between numerous agencies. The Pentagon’s experience that day revealed the need for joint planning and exercises that emphasize the Incident Command System (ICS).

Another factor was that areas of the Pentagon remained in operation throughout the response, while full operation was nearly restored in a very short time. The lesson? Site managers must be prepared to modify security perimeters around a facility during a response, and they must adapt internal controls to maintain security in undamaged areas.

The book underscores the importance of establishing a liaison team to first responders. This team needs direct access to its own organization’s senior leadership and must be able to communicate with response commanders to best mitigate loss.

The author also addresses critical issues such as responder rest and sleep plans, employee grief counseling, dealing with mass casualties and fatalities, response vehicle staging, safeguarding of sensitive material in the damaged part of the facility, and dealing with the media.

Military professionals study history’s great battles—their failures and successes—to help ensure their own victory. The battle to save the Pentagon may be the ultimate case study in organizational emergency management. All security professionals can benefit from its lessons, which this book relates in gripping fashion.

Reviewer: Col. Christopher G. Essig is the inspector general for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM), Arlington, Virginia, which is responsible for antiterrorism and force protection for Army installations worldwide. A military police officer for 30 years, he was the garrison commander at Fort Myer during 9-11 and was responsible for the Pentagon Fire Department. He is a 25-year member of ASIS.