Eollowing the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center (WTC), terror-ism and security experts agreed that the U.S. financial services industry was a prime target for future terrorist attacks. Experts warned that the industry's disaster recovery plans were out-of-date, designed primarily to withstand natural disasters, and no match for the destructive power of an intentional terrorist attack. While the tragic events of September 11, 2001 confirmed experts' foreboding predictions of future attacks on the U.S. financial system, was the financial services industry inadequately prepared to recover from such an attack? This article examines the adequacy of disaster recovery planning in the financial services industry, as evidenced by recovery efforts of the financial services firms located within the Twin Towers. As the financial services sector, and the securities industry in particular, were heavily concentrated within the World Trade Center towers, several such firms have emerged as those "hardest hit" by the September 11th attack. Thus, the disaster recovery planning in place and the process of rebuilding since the attack will be examined for the following three securities firms: Cantor Fitzgerald; Keefe, Bruyette Woods; and Sandier O'Neill Partners.
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