Recovery of Financial Services Firms in the World Trade Center,Post 9/11/01

Abstract

Following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center (WTC), terrorism and security experts agreed that the U.S. financial services industry was a prime target for future terrorist attacks. Experts warned that the industry's disaster recovery plans were out-of-date, designed primarily to withstand natural disasters, and no match for the destructive power of an intentional terrorist attack. While the tragic events of September 11, 2001 confirmed experts' foreboding predictions of future attacks on the U.S. financial system, was the financial services industry inadequately prepared to recover from such an attack?