Commentary

“September 11, 2001, changed the world” has been repeated many times. The U.S. government, too, has changed immensely and will continue to evolve a security conscience and response capacity for years to come. This article addresses the situation from the standpoint of human resource management. We use public opinion poll data to document the changing opinions of individuals and changes in the environment in which public organizations operate. The literature on human response to natural and technological disasters is reviewed to glean information on how people respond to extreme levels of stress. This information is systematized and extrapolated to arrive at a series of behaviors that can be reasonably expected from employees exposed to terrorist incidents. Finally, the discussion closes with an examination of the Employee Assistance Program as locus of expertise for mitigating problematic employee reactions to terrorist incidents.