Rescorla left teaching for higher-paying jobs in corporate security , joining Dean Witter Reynolds at their offices at the World Trade Center in New York City in 1985 , and living in New Jersey . After the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie , Scotland , Rescorla worried about a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center . Because his old American friend from Rhodesia , Daniel Hill , was trained in counterterrorism , in 1990 Rescorla asked him to visit the World Trade Center to assess its security . When Rescorla asked Hill how he would attack the building were he a terrorist , Hill asked to see the basement , and after the two walked down to the basement parking garage without being stopped by any visible security , Hill pointed to an easily accessible load-bearing column , and said , " This is a soft touch . I ’d drive a truck full of explosives in here , walk out , and light it off . " That year , Rescorla and Hill wrote a report to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey , which owns the site , insisting on the need for more security in the parking garage . Their recommendations , which would have been expensive to implement , were ignored , according to James B. Stewart 's biography of Rescorla , '' Heart of a Soldier ''
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103
Rick Rescorla