STAND DOWN.
These two words changed the destiny of 4 Americans on the Anniversary of September 11, 2001.
Speaking from experience, in any company that has international offices and presence around the world, that may or may not have DOD connections – through the course of normal business – received daily reports about travel around the world. Daily updates on regional alerts that impact travel safety for AMERICANS.
Right now… out there… are companies who have an inbox of these alerts. Right now, I’ll bet major corporations like Cisco, General Dynamics, AT&T, IBM, Kyocera, who get these updates from US GOVT advising them where to avoid, where social unrest is being measured, precautions that should be taken, restrictions and advisories. I want to see those alerts from the weeks preceding 9/11. Know why THE US GOVT does this? Because they don’t want Americans AT RISK or providing “targets of opportunity” for kidnapping, etc. How do I know this? Because I used to get them for my company and it was my responsibility to communicate them across the appropriate channels of the organization – worldwide.
After PA Flight 103 – Lockerbie – our company completely revised its policy and practices. No more than two executives were allowed to be on any one flight. Routes, times, dress were all revised for safety. That is when air travel stopped being “fun”. That’s when international started to get dangerous. In fact, in certain locations, travel was suspended or rerouted. These advisories that our government provides businesses were taken seriously. It was our government’s responsibility to ensure its citizen’s safety – especially businesses.
Now I am being asked to accept that no directives instructing extraordinary measures of precaution should be taken for every US Embassy and significant “interests” around the world on the weeks and days leading up to 9/11 . Professionally speaking — this is beyond astounding – it is dereliction of duty.
It is my opinion, that this administration permitted its ideology to become the fate of 4 Americans without their permission.
Would Chris Stevens have signed a contract that had a clause that read:
And in the event of an attack, seizure, threat, bombing and/or breech … you and your staffers cannot expect any reasonable rescue efforts on the part of the United States Government. Your signature authorizes us to abandon you and any others who become collateral damage because we don’t want the American people to know that Libya is a dismal failure. As part of your package, we enclose the death benefits your survivors will receive should the above occur.
RitaGlynnSmith 