Mr. Azmi brings over 30 years of leadership experience across both government and private sectors. In his extensive career, he has held key roles, including serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the FBI and Executive Office for United States Attorneys. Mr. Azmi is also an adjunct professor at George Washington University and an active member of several national security and technology associations.
The events of September 11, 2001, transformed our operational landscape irrevocably, regardless of our field of expertise. I recall that day as one filled with confusion, disorganization, fear, and above all, uncertainty about what steps to take next.
As Information Technology (IT) experts, we frequently discuss plans for continuity of operations (COOP) in the event of a disaster, as well as the resilience and security of our networks to function under extreme conditions, whether these disasters are man-made or natural.
On September 11, 2001, serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Justice Department’s Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) in Washington, it was our IT team’s responsibility to implement continuity of operations and disaster recovery plans for both Washington and EOUSA’s Southern District of New York (SONY) office, located near the former World Trade Center.
While our team was preparing for our trip to New York City, I was occupied with evaluating other potential disasters. In New York, the towers had been struck, and there was an attack on the Pentagon. The media reported a car bomb explosion outside the State Department. Additionally, we received news that a vehicle abandoned near my office (directly below my office window) was leaking liquid with wires protruding from the hood. We initiated the evacuation of our employees. Fortunately, the abandoned car was simply overheated and left by the roadside beneath my office. We proceeded with the evacuation procedures accordingly.
By 5 p.m. on the 11th, we established our main emergency command center for Washington D.C. operations. We then focused on the two facilities in downtown New York, which housed approximately 425 of our employees and were completely cut off from our main IT infrastructure due to damage to the telecommunications infrastructure in the WTC area. The Justice Department’s NYC Church Street office was evacuated and shut down, while the nearby St. Andrews Plaza office lost all connectivity due to the collapse of the Verizon and Sprint switch plants serving the WTC area. Church Street was the backup for St. Andrews Plaza.
The positive aspect was that we had recently updated all IT infrastructure and standardized it with the same architecture and equipment. We had a comprehensive inventory of what was required to restore our office operations, but first, we needed to reach New York City.
Our team: We assembled a group of self-sufficient professionals with diverse backgrounds. We anticipated facing multifaceted challenges upon reaching NYC, and to succeed, we needed to divide into teams and address all issues simultaneously.
- We included Employee Assistance Professionals to meet with our employees on-site and address their concerns. The office was traumatized, and staff members were not focused on their daily tasks. Many had lost loved ones when the towers collapsed.
- We contacted our industry partners with a list of additional equipment we needed, beyond our own inventory. Within hours, we had all the necessary equipment and volunteers ready to travel to NYC with us.
- Senior Officials at the Department of Justice arranged for priority rental vans to transport our team and equipment to NYC.
- The Department also reached out to local and state law enforcement to provide a police escort from Main Justice in D.C. to NYC. Once there, the U.S. Marshals provided an escort for our team around Manhattan.
Upon arriving in NYC, we had several goals: First, to support our employees and ensure they had access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) counselors. Second, to be non-intrusive and operate independently from the local staff, who were already overwhelmed with their own grief and were not focused on IT. The standardization of our IT environment helped us achieve this goal quickly, as we only needed access to the datacenter; everything else was already familiar to us.
Finally, we aimed to assist the mission and our partners. The Southern District of New York housed numerous case files related to previous investigations and prosecutions of terrorists. We knew both the FBI and our Attorneys needed access to these files. We recovered as many hard-copy case files as possible (navigating up and down the stairs of the 20+ story building in breathing masks due to asbestos) while the rest of our team worked on establishing communication with Main Justice and EOUSA.
Upon arriving at the FBI command center on 23rd Street in Manhattan, I realized the severity of the situation. Each table had only a single voice phone line, with four people taking turns to connect their laptops. The FBI agents and other law enforcement professionals had very few radios for communication. Fortunately, one of our telecom partners arrived with a Penske rental truck and asked, “Zal, how can we help and what do you need?”
I was impressed to see a Cell on Wheels (COW) set up quickly, and within minutes, phones were distributed to all first responders in our vicinity. These phones had push-to-talk capabilities, which became very popular. I am deeply grateful to this partner for their support on that day.
By 3 a.m. on the 13th, our offices were back online. It took our team less than 40 hours to implement our COOP, ensure communication between all our offices, and regain access to all corporate IT assets (applications and databases), ensuring mission success.
I have two recommendations for my fellow CIOs, CISOs, and IT practitioners:
- Know your operating environment. If you don’t know what you have, you cannot secure, repair, or replace it.
- Regularly exercise your COOP plans. Without regular practice, a COOP plan is just a set of words gathering dust on a shelf.
About Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA): The Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) provides executive and administrative support for the 93 Presidentially Appointed United States Attorneys located throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Such support includes legal education, administrative oversight, technical support, and the creation of uniform policies, among other responsibilities.