Pursuing praxis

BY PETE BARLAS

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 9/8/2006

Rick Rescorla didn’t think twice about an order from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to workers in the World Trade Center’s south tower to remain at their desks after an explosion shook the north tower on Sept. 11, 2001.

As executive vice president of security for investment banker Morgan Stanley, Rescorla had only one thought: evacuate.

At first Rescorla, a heavily decorated military officer, didn’t know the WTC was being attacked. But he knew a severe explosion at the top of the tower would be deadly. And that’s what he told his friend and fellow military officer Dan Hill by phone shortly after the explosion.

"Everything above where that plane hit is going to collapse and it’s going to take the whole building with it. I’m getting my people the f*** out of here," Rescorla said to Hill.

Rescorla’s military experience spanned more than 30 years during which he reached the rank of colonel. In the military following orders is mandatory. But this was different, says James Stewart, author of the book "Heart of a Soldier," a biography of Rescorla.

"Disobeying the orders of the Port Authority was a pivotal decision — here is guy whose identity was forged in the military where people are trained to take orders and he actually defied them," Stewart told IBD.

Roughly 18 minutes later a second plane hit the south tower.

With 3,700 workers, Morgan Stanley was one of the largest employers at the WTC. The number included 2,700 on 22 floors in the south tower.

All but six survived.

Rescorla used a bullhorn to direct employees. Most already knew the drill, thanks to Rescorla’s preparation. For several years, he ran four or five evacuation drills a year for Morgan Stanley. Some staffers had first aid training. On Sept. 11, workers descended the stairs in pairs just as they had done in the drills.

Rescorla’s training was pivotal that day, says John Olson, a former regional director for Morgan Stanley who exited the south tower minutes before it collapsed.

"Rick had set up a pretty elaborate procedure, so we were organized," he said. "People were preconditioned, and for that I give him a lot of credit. Without it I think more people would have been killed."

Rescorla was born in Hayle, a working class town in England, on May 27, 1939. He never met his father and was raised by his grandparents. His grandfather, Stephen, worked for a local power plant.

The Pursuit Of Excellence

In his youth, the lean, 6-foot-tall Rescorla excelled in sports, including wrestling and rugby. But he enjoyed exercising his mind, too, and happily read works by authors such as Rudyard Kipling.

At 16, Rescorla received an apprenticeship to the British Post Office as an engineer. He also studied at a local technical college.

Seeking to get ahead, Rescorla joined the British army in 1957. Many officers came from upper-class families.

To climb the ranks, Rescorla strove to fit in. He worked to lose his Cornish accent and working class speech patterns. He also recognized that he needed more education.

"Never stop studying, learning, improving yourself. You should study and learn something new until the day you die," he said.

In the army, Rescorla took part in top-secret missions as a Special Forces paratrooper. It fulfilled a childhood dream of jumping from planes.

Rescorla became a U.S. citizen in the early 1960s and graduated from Officer Candidate School in Georgia in 1965.

Soon after, Rescorla began training soldiers for Vietnam. Training under Rescorla was challenging.

He had his platoons work twice as hard as others. The other platoons ran five miles in the hot sun; Rescorla’s group sprinted 10 miles with heavy packs on their backs. His troops did 100 push-ups when other platoons did 50.

To get his soldiers ready for any situation, Rescorla had them take apart and reassemble their weapons while blindfolded. To keep their spirits up, Rescorla had his men sing a battalion song at the end of every day.

"Our mission is simple," Rescorla said. "It is to be the best."

Rescorla led by example. "Unlike some officers, Rescorla always did whatever he asked of his men — and often more. When they finished running and dropped to the ground, sweating and exhausted, he kept going. He did more push-ups," Stewart wrote.

The work paid off. Rescorla’s troops won every intrabattalion competition during their training. His platoon became known as "Hard Corps."

Between battles Rescorla encouraged his troops to converse from their foxholes. He also sang old British and Cornish songs to ease the tension.

Rescorla was noted for many examples of bravery and military strategy, which were chronicled in the book "We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young," by Lt. Gen. Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway.

Rescorla left Vietnam in 1966 a decorated war veteran. He received a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars and a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with a Gold Star.

Eager to stretch his creativity after his discharge, Rescorla studied writing. He earned a B.A. and a master’s degree in literature from the University of Oklahoma in 1971.

Keeping his hand in military training, he taught officers for the Oklahoma National Guard and worked as a night guard for a hospital.

Later he earned a law degree from Oklahoma and taught criminal law for a year at the University of South Carolina. Rescorla remained in the Army Reserves until 1990 when he retired as a colonel.

Drawing on his experience, Rescorla took a job in security for the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. in Chicago in 1976. It was a frequent robbery target.

Rescorla analyzed the problem and came up with a simple but direct solution. He had the security system rewired. Then he told tellers to empty their cash drawers at the first sign of trouble. When emptied, the drawers sent an alarm to the police that the bank was being robbed.

Such moves earned him plaudits. Rescorla joined Dean Witter Securities as director of security in 1984. The company moved into the WTC in 1985.

There, Rescorla expanded evacuation plans and drills. He also assigned guards on each floor and paid informants to gather information to thwart any document theft.

Forward Thinking

Rescorla took a long view of his responsibilities and spent much time thinking forward. In 1990, with help from Hill, Rescorla prepared a report on security weaknesses at the WTC for the Port Authority. But the group dismissed the recommendations, which included adding security and eliminating public parking in the WTC’s underground garage.

He then advised Dean Witter (it merged with Morgan in 1997) to leave the WTC. He warned it was a likely target for terrorists.

After the 1993 bombing, Rescorla stepped up security. All visitors to Morgan Stanley required an escort. Employees had to wear ID badges. Packages and mail were inspected on the ground floor. Fluorescent tape was added to the stairwells. Two guards patrolled each floor instead of just one.

During drills, employees were told to be quiet, move quickly and ignore Port Authority announcements in an emergency. Rescorla timed each drill.

After the 1993 bombing, Rescorla theorized that terrorists might try flying a cargo plane into the WTC.

In 1998, Rescorla told a freelance film producer from his office on the 44th floor: "Hunting down terrorists — this will be the nature of war in the future."

After the second plane hit the south tower on Sept. 11, some people panicked when one staircase filled with smoke. Using his bullhorn, Rescorla directed them to a clear one. As on the battlefield, he sang to keep workers calm.

Even after it appeared that Rescorla evacuated most of the Morgan Stanley employees, he returned to check for stragglers. As Olson was working his way down on about the 10th floor he saw Rescorla going back up.

"I said, ‘Rick, you have got to get out of there,’ and he said, ‘I will, as soon as I get everyone out,’ " Olson said.

It was the last known sighting of Rescorla.