Just 2 Seconds (23 page)

Photos from NBC News Archives

Police officer ducks and then goes fetal position at the sound of gunfire.

Photo from AP Images

Secret Service Agents Shaddick, McCarthy, and Parr at reduced height, however all remained on mission. (Parr is reducing height to get into the car.)

Photo from NBC News Archives

Photographer Michael Evans in the line of fire, and on his feet the whole time.

Photo from the Ronald Reagan Library

Photo by Michael Evans; a shot has just passed him.

Photo from the Ronald Regan Library

Michael Evans remains on mission.

When Egyptian President Sadat was assassinated (
Compendium #106
), a video-cameraman not only stayed on his feet, but moved closer to the assassins as they fired automatic weapons. While Arthur Bremer was shooting George Wallace, a CBS news photographer on the dangerous side of the firing weapon remained on mission, recording everything from the first shot to the last.

At the instant Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, photographer Robert Jackson snapped one of modern history's most famous photos. Interviewed for this book, he said, "I'm used to reacting fast; I've shot many motor racing pictures where time is critical. In this situation, when the gun went off, I didn't even react to the shot. What I was really trying to do is get the picture before this idiot [turned out to be assailant Jack Ruby] stepped in front of me. I saw a body coming out so I reacted."

Jackson explains that when he was first assigned to photograph Oswald being transferred by police that day, "The thought entered my mind: I wonder if someone is going to make an attempt on his life."

Jackson gives a fine endorsement for readiness: "I was already looking through the camera, so planning had a lot to with it in this situation. I had picked a good spot [positioning], and I was ready. It's all about being ready."

Photo by Robert H. Jackson

Photographers know more than most people that things happen right Now -- and they regularly capture images that exist Now, did not exist a second before, and wouldn't exist (as retained images) an instant later were it not for their actions. Michael Evans, who took his photos while directly facing Hinckley's gun, often said, "There's no better time than right now." Like Evans, effective news photographers operate in a state of exploration and anticipation, being perceptual, not mental. It's as if they are part of the camera, actively and continually looking for images most worth capturing. They know that there is always something worthy of attention, just as protectors can know there are always suspects worthy of attention. Photographers also know from experience that action is faster than reaction, that they must respond without thought, and that it must be Now.

Since the history of photojournalism is told through images captured while danger might still be present (bombs are exploding, someone is being shot, etc.), these photographers have something to teach us. In many ways, their task is similar to that of an attacker. Photographers must find an instant in which there are no obstacles between shooter and subject. Knowing it might not come again, they must commit to that moment, aim, and shoot. When photographers have little time for quality, they resort to quantity, taking as many photos as possible. Similarly, some attackers who had little time for quality (accuracy), resorted to quantity, firing as many shots as possible.

There are, of course, public figure attackers who were able to attain quality, getting so close to their targets that a single shot was all they needed, and all they could accomplish. In the comparison to photography, those were portraits, not snapshots.

At one time or another, nearly all protectors have been frustrated by photographers. We have seen them position and reposition to advantage, often annoyed at protectors for inadvertently obstructing their view, annoyed that we move them, that we deny them the best vantage point for their photography. We have seen them hold their ground and stay on mission, seemingly no matter what's going on around them. This stubbornness is not their primary resource -- rather, stubbornness is a by-product of their primary resource: Commitment. During so many violent and alarming events, photographers have kept their eyes on the prize, literally and figuratively -- and that takes the right attitude. Thoughts can become scattered all over the mental field, and to direct them toward a single goal, we must collect them. Our purpose must be re-collected, in the most literal sense of the word, and the best photographers do this very well. They get out of their heads, and even when they are in our way, they are out of their own way.

Many news photographers surrounded by fighting soldiers or rioters have kept their cool, something we know because they performed precision acts of photography -- absolute proof of a manageable heart-rate.

In recent years, photo-journalists covering Middle Eastern conflicts have been shot at and shot frequently. In 1998, a group of photographers working in Israeli settlements made a pact that if one was shot, the others would photograph the incident. And one did just that. Courage is the attribute we associate with continuing to function in the line of fire -- for our purposes here, the key point is the mental attitude (the mindlessness, in a sense) that allows precision motor skills to continue.

Who would have thought that in a book written for protectors, we'd be praising photographers? Given how much interference and hassle they've caused to protectors, there is perhaps some fairness in our extracting all we can learn from them -- and maybe also some fairness in our respecting their commitment.

Protectors and photographers are often together at the scene of attacks, and though protectors routinely operate in the line of fire (or at least hope to), photographers are also sometimes at risk. However, only the protector has the safety of another person on his shoulders -- and sometimes the safety of many people. So we won't end this book with praise of photographers. Rather, we praise those protectors who have accepted the high stakes of their craft, understand the risks, know they might be blamed for the actions of others and for events outside their control, accept that they cannot control everything, commit to control everything they can, and know that Time is on their side only if they act outside of time -- in the Now. Above all, we praise those protectors who continue to learn, willing to receive valuable lessons from any source -- from other protectors, from photographers, even from assassins. The willingness to keep learning is not an attribute shared by everyone who claims to be a protector, of course, but as a reader of this book, you've shown your interest in new ideas and your commitment to improve your effectiveness.

We hope that any dialogue opened in these pages will be continued by others in our field. Our highest wish is that protectors can be more effective as a result of our work, a wish we put our hearts into because we're so proud to be part of what you do.

THE COMPENDIUM
OF ATTACKS AGAINST AT-RISK PERSONS

"It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past."