Situational Awareness: The Soft Skill America Lost & Why We Must Get It Back Now

Special guest article from Ryan Geho

In the last two decades, America has faced an evolving threat landscape from the coordinated terrorist attacks of 9/11 to mass shootings in schools, malls, and churches. Today, credible intelligence suggests that the United States will once again be attacked soon. This attack will not be a single incident, but a multi-pronged Al-Qaeda and ISIS operation targeting several mid-sized U.S. cities simultaneously. Mid-sized U.S. cities are typically characterized as having populations of approximately 100,000 to 500,000 people. These events will happen fast, but they will not happen without warning signs. The challenge is that most of us have forgotten how to see them.

That skill - the ability to perceive, process, and predict environmental cues is called situational awareness. Once second nature for most people, it has quietly eroded, especially in the last five years, leaving us more vulnerable than at any time since 2001. And with a coordinated terrorist attack on the horizon, it’s a skill we can no longer afford to ignore.

What Is Situational Awareness?

Situational awareness (SA) is simply your ability to know what’s happening around you and to anticipate what could happen next. It’s not paranoia. It’s not living in constant fear. It’s a mental discipline that keeps you alert, prepared, and ready to act without hesitation.

In the professional security and intelligence world, SA has three levels:

1. Perception – Noticing relevant elements in your environment. Who’s here? What’s happening? What’s out of place?

2. Comprehension – Understanding what those elements mean. Is that behavior suspicious or harmless? Does this movement fit the normal pattern?

3. Projection – Anticipating what is likely to happen next and positioning yourself to respond.

When refined, SA becomes almost automatic. It’s how an experienced driver senses a crash before it happens or how a veteran police officer spots a concealed weapon in a crowd.

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How We Lost It

COVID’s Social Isolation

Before 2020, our days were filled with in-person interactions at the office, in stores, and in public spaces. Even casual exchanges with strangers forced us to read body language, facial expressions, and environmental cues. Lockdowns, masks, and remote work disrupted this feedback loop. Many Americans went months without the micro-interactions that naturally sharpen our people-reading skills. Some people continue to live in that bubble, hardly leaving their homes at all anymore.

The Smartphone Blackout

Even before the pandemic, cell phones had already begun eroding situational awareness. Now, they dominate almost every waking moment. People walk down sidewalks, cross streets, and stand in public spaces with their heads buried in screens, headphones in, eyes down. A person engrossed in a device is functionally blind and deaf to their surroundings. These people potentially make the perfect target and the worst witness.

The Loss of Normal Baselines

Situational awareness depends on knowing what “normal” looks like so you can spot what isn’t. After years of disrupted routines, empty streets, and shifting social norms, many people have forgotten how to read public environments.

We’ve reached the point where even obvious threats go unnoticed. In one recent case in New York City, an armed shooter with a rifle, walked openly through a courtyard in the middle of the city. Dozens of people were nearby, yet no one looked twice, no one moved away, no one called 911. Whether from fear, distraction, or the assumption that “someone else will do something,” that collective inaction is a symptom of a society that has allowed its awareness muscle to atrophy.

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Why This Matters Now

Groups like Al-Qaeda have a long history of conducting pre-operational surveillance before an attack. They carefully watch their targets, timing responses from first responders and testing security in their chosen targets. In some cases, civilians noticed suspicious activity before attacks but didn’t connect the dots or report it.

The warning signs are often visible to the trained eye. And in a coordinated, multi-city strike, these signs will likely appear in multiple locations in the months or weeks before the actual attack.

Signs of pre-operational surveillance can include:

• Someone taking repeated or unusual photographs of entrances, exits, security cameras, or guards.

• People lingering in one spot, observing patterns of movement or counting foot traffic.

• Test runs - leaving unattended bags to see if anyone reacts.

• Overly bulky clothing in warm weather.

• Nervous scanning or fidgeting, especially near crowds or high-value targets.

In the moments before an attack, you might see:

• A person abruptly abandoning a bag or backpack and leaving quickly.

• Someone muttering, visibly bracing themselves, or repeatedly touching a concealed object.

• Vehicles parking in odd locations, especially moving against traffic or blocking access.

Recognizing these signs early is often the difference between a thwarted attack and a headline.

How to Rebuild Situational Awareness

The good news: SA is a skill, and like any skill, it can be rebuilt through deliberate practice.

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1. Understand Cooper’s Color Code

Jeff Cooper, a Marine Corps veteran, developed a simple mental framework for awareness levels:

• White – Unaware and unprepared. Eyes in your phone, daydreaming, oblivious. Unfortunately, most Americans live here in public.

• Yellow – Relaxed alert. You’re calm, but aware of who and what is around you. This is where you should live in public.

• Orange – Specific alert. Something has caught your attention — a person, a sound, or movement that doesn’t fit. You’re evaluating whether it’s a threat.

• Red – Action mode. The threat is real, and you are taking steps — moving, escaping, or defending.

• Black – Overloaded and frozen. Mental shutdown from panic or shock. This is where you never want to be.

Everyday application:

• At home alone in the evening, you might be in White.

• Walking to your car in a parking lot, you should be in Yellow.

• Hearing running footsteps behind you in that lot? Move to Orange.

• Seeing a man charging at you with a knife? That’s Red - act now.

This color code isn’t about fear; it’s about matching your mental state to your environment.

2. Ditch the Phone in Public

When walking, standing in line, or sitting in a public place, keep your phone in your pocket. Lift your head and look outward and not inward. Make eye contact. Listen. Your text messages or Instagram posts aren’t worth your life or the lives of others.

3. Baseline Your Environment

Whenever you enter a space — a coffee shop, parking garage, or stadium — take ten seconds to note:

• Where are the entrances and exits?

• Who is around you, and what are they doing?

• What looks normal here?

4. Play the Description Game

Pick someone at random in a public place and silently note details you could use to describe them to police: clothing, height, hair, distinguishing marks.

5. Check the Hands

Hands reveal intent. If someone’s hands stay hidden or repeatedly move to one area, note it.

6. Practice the “Five-and-Ten” Rule

Every five to ten minutes, pause and scan your surroundings.

7. Trust Your Gut

If something feels off, it usually is. Don’t be afraid to share this information with a law enforcement officer if something feels and looks suspicious to you.

The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher

The next major terrorist attack on U.S. soil will not look like 9/11. It will be larger in scale and broader in reach - hitting several cities at once. The attackers will likely conduct surveillance first. They will test reactions. They will count on Americans being too distracted to notice.

If enough of us sharpen our situational awareness, we can deny them that advantage. We can spot the warning signs before the first shot, explosion, or panicked scream. And in that moment, one alert bystander can save dozens, or hundreds of lives.

Situational awareness isn’t a luxury. It’s a civic responsibility. The threats are real, but so is our ability to counter them. Look up. Pay attention. Practice every day. Your life and the lives of those around you may one day depend on it. Remember again – See Something, Say Something!

~Ryan Geho

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