Panel to Discuss How Terrorism has Changed Our Lives

By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications

Spin back 20 years or so. Was anyone in your office talking about “active shooter” training? Were school closings because of anonymous threats a common occurrence? What was it like back then getting on your flight at the airport?

Americans’ fears about an imminent terrorist attack haven’t changed much over the years since 9/11, according to the Pew Center. About 25 percent of us are very worried about a domestic terrorist attack happening “soon,” while about 39 percent are somewhat worried, and 36 percent are not too worried or not at all worried.

But our day-to-day lives have changed in ways big and small in response to potential terrorism — and in ways that we might not even notice or think much about amid our hurried days.

A panel of experts, all based in Cleveland and nationally known, will take on the subject “Terrorism: How Is It Changing Our Lives?” in a panel discussion at noon on Feb. 15 at the Music Box Supper Club in Cleveland. The panel is sponsored by the Press Club of Cleveland and is open to the public, with tickets at $40 for non-Press Club members. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.  (Full disclosure: I am vice president of the Press Club board.)

Panel members include:

• Timothy A. Dimoff, founder and president of SACS Consulting & Investigative Services Inc., considered one of the nation’s leading authorities in high-risk workplace issues, security, vulnerability assessments and crime.
• Dr. Thomas Evans, professor emeritus at John Carroll University. Evans now works closely with law enforcement in a consulting capacity, which includes the area of terrorists – their psychology, strategies and risk potential, and how our strategies must change.
• Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based national consulting firm specializing in school security and emergency preparedness training, school security assessments, school emergency planning consultants, and related school safety and crisis consulting services.

The panel will be moderated by Bill Wills, host of “Wills & Snyder in the Morning” on WTAM-AM 1100.

Thom Fladung, a vice president at Hennes Communications, worked at newspapers for 33 years.