When six lanes of police cars 20 deep, a SWAT team, FBI and at least three overhead surveillance helicopters and aircraft responded almost immediately Thursday to a 911 call of a suspected shooter at the Washington Navy Yard, the reaction was a direct reflection of years of hard lessons learned from the 2013 massacre that left 12 dead.
Thursday's report was ultimately a false alarm after an employee reported what he or she thought were gunshots. The area is under a large amount of construction and even as the emergency response unfolded, area cranes and drills were still pounding away, adding to the confusion.
The response and interoperability of agencies was far different than in 2013, when law enforcement and the Navy Yard were criticized for inconsistent communications and delays in response.
A myriad of reviews into D.C.'s emergency response followed the fatal 2013 events. Washington D.C.'s metropolitan police department did an in-depth after action report; the Pentagon assigned now Defense Secretary Ash Carter to lead two internal reviews — one on the physical security at Defense Department installations, and the other on the security clearance process. Multiple congressional hearings were held and both the Pentagon inspector general and the Government Accountability Office weighed in on the issue.
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