FBI Director, Robert Mueller and Vice President Dick Cheney are on record of warning the public..."I think that the prospects of a future attack on the U.S. are almost a certainty. We will not be able to stop it. It's something we all live with." As if adding fuel to the fire, U.S. intelligence services have picked up al Qaeda discussions about packing explosives in apartments to topple tall buildings. Is this the solution for skyscraper safety, security, and defense offered by our government?

Taipei 101, towering 1,667ft (508 meters), weighing 700,000 tons has raised concerns that may have far-reaching implications for the construction of other buildings and man-made mega-structures. Taipei 101 is thought to have triggered two recent earthquakes because of the stress that it exerts on the ground beneath it. Skyscraper safety, security, and defense includes all aspects of the building including its design, construction, and maintenance. An emergency will test each aspect of a building and lives will be dependent on how well the building adheres.

Compared with low-rise fires, more high-rise fires begin in exit passages. Chicago has had fires in the 110-story Sears Tower and the 100-story John Hancock Center. New York has had fires in the 102-story Empire State Building. The number of people killed in individual large-building fires has declined steadily. However, the potential for large loss of life in individual fires grows larger each year because the maximum number of occupants in a single building keeps increasing as buildings grow larger and taller. We need a campaign to emphasize the importance of skyscraper safety, security, and defense including the specifics of how we plan to rescue people from the upper floors. We cannot allow our daily routines to blind us to this need.

Helicopters have rescued many probable victims from roofs, particularly hotel rooftops. However, most high-rises in North America have no roof access. This was documented on 9/11 when an estimated 1,500 victims, who were trapped above the impact zone, were prevented from reaching the roof because the doors were locked. Adding insult to injury, as reported by Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn in their book, 102 Minutes, would-be rescuers in hovering helicopters were ordered not to unlock the doors, or to make any attempts to rescue them. Immediate steps are necessary to insure what happened on 9/11 in the upper floors of the Twin Towers never happens again. Skyscraper safety, security, and defense requires creative planning as well as concern and compassion to insure it remains an issue of national importance.

Considered the skyscraper capital of the world, Hong Kong has 7,259 completed skyscrapers with 280 under construction. New York City came in second with 5,353 completed skyscrapers. Singapore came in third with 3,500 completed skyscrapers. Unfortunately, more skyscrapers translates into the potential for more skyscraper disasters. Training is necessary to insure local authorities are kept up to date on high-rise rescue and firefighting methods and equipment. If we continue to build skyscrapers without an equal amount of energy going into skyscraper safety, security, and defense, then we are guaranteeing disasters of major proportions in our future. The importance of skyscraper safety has never been greater. Even as individuals we have a responsibility for insuring our high-rise buildings adhere to safety standards.

With an estimated 34 million residents.

Which account for 60% of all water consumed, and 80% of all human produced carbon emissions.

One Bryant Park in New York City, USA, scheduled to open in 2008, has earned LEED’s platinum standards for sustainable buildings. The 54 story skyscraper will use giant vats of ice for its air condition system, and the sun to automate its lights. Added to an on-site power plant, water tanks that captures and recycles rain, and a 95 percent efficient air filtration system, the skyscraper is assured to attract a well-deserved “Green Premium” for its leases. Working in conjunction with mother nature is ‘natural’ for manmade structures. ‘Clean and sustainable’ are watch words for the future we all desire; green skyscrapers makes everything else obsolete by comparison.

More people will live in cities than in the countryside . By 2030, five billion people, out of the total of 8.1 billion, will live in cities. The agenda of the Skyscraper Defense Act is simple: To protect those who live and work in skyscrapers. Its scope however goes beyond just the people in the buildings. Ours is an integrated world. ‘My neighbor’s safety is my safety’ is a concept that benefits us all. Safe, secure, environmentally friendly skyscrapers is an absolute necessity for making our world a better place.