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Director Working on Book to Help Public Prepare for Terrorism |
| By
Vicki L. Kroll |
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Sep 10, 2002 |
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| Dr. John Nutter |
In early April 1995, Dr. John Nutter started shopping around a book idea. The working title: Safe at Home — Securing Yourself and Your Family From Terrorism.
“In my query letter, I cited the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and wrote that wouldn’t be the last time something like this happens,” said the director of institutional research. After the Oklahoma City bombing occurred a couple weeks later, agents were hot to sign Nutter.
While weighing offers, the interest suddenly waned. “Publishers said it was a good idea, but people didn’t want to buy books about bad news,” he said.
Nutter didn’t give up on the book, which is almost finished. “It was a matter of my belief that terrorism largely had struck Americans overseas but eventually it would come back here and that we were woefully under-prepared for it,” he said. “As I say in the manuscript, the government can’t protect you from everything. And it’s just sensible for individuals to take some precautions.”
He has studied terrorism since his college days at UT and Northwestern University. For 16 years, he has worked with the FBI, U.S. marshals and state and local authorities both consulting and teaching courses on counterterrorism. Nutter even conducted research in the field by joining domestic terrorist groups to learn how they operate.
While working on Safe at Home, Nutter started another book. The CIA’s Black Ops: Covert Action, Foreign Policy and Democracy was published in 1999 by Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y. “It’s an examination of American covert action, an analysis of what we’ve done with our covert operations, how successful we’ve been, and the effects of covert operations on the world and ourselves.”
He chronicled the different types of covert ops — for example, assassinations and coups — from post-World War II through the mid-1990s. He even wrote about assassinating Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. “I was one of the few who said this in print,” he said.
“As long as there are covert operations, so-called ‘aberrations’ like Iran Contra, secret wars in Laos, and supply of arms, training and intelligence to Saddam Hussein will continue to occur. Many of these things are outside the control of the government and the CIA,” he said.
With uncertainty and fear now seemingly part of everyday life, Nutter thinks Safe at Home might help people feel they have some control in their world.
“There may be some dangers we can avoid, and some dangers where we can mitigate the consequences with a little thought,” Nutter explained. “Safe at Home isn’t for the bunkers, bullets and beef jerky survivalist crowd, it’s for people who want to live their lives.”
The 15-chapter book offers practical advice. For example, it recommends learning to recognize gunfire. “It sounds different in real life than on television, and a few seconds one might gain in reacting rather than standing around looking confused can save your life,” Nutter said. “If you have to, go to a gun range and just listen.”
The book also contains a checklist for individuals to assess personal risk in the workplace. “It’s a good idea to be able to find your way out of your office to the outside with your eyes closed,” he said. “If the hallways are filled with smoke, or the building electrical system is down, you might not be able to see.” He added keeping a flashlight at your desk is a good idea.
“It’s vitally important for us to live our lives. At the same time, we need to take account of the fact there may be some dangers,” Nutter said. “There’s a small but greater than zero chance that you or your family could be involved in a terrible incident. If a little knowledge and preparation will help a few more people come out of the rubble, the book is a worthwhile thing.”
Last Sept. 11, Nutter watched the around-the-clock news coverage. “My initial reaction was that it finally happened. Those of us in the counterterrorism community have been saying for a decade that this was going to come home to us,” he said. “Frankly, it could have been far worse than it was. I say this in measured terms, if ‘only’ 3,000 Americans died and that causes us to take action, we’ve probably come out of this pretty well. Yes, it was a tragedy, but it wasn’t a nuclear weapon, it wasn’t a biological or chemical event that could have killed tens of thousands.”
This year, Nutter will be meeting with his son’s Cub Scouts pack on Sept. 11. “My belief is the way you fight back, you live your life and do what you can to make it a better world, ” he said. “Spending some time with kids is kind of a good way to renew a sense of hope.”
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