TERRORISM: The security director's role

Oct 1, 1998 12:00 PM, MICHAEL FICKES

One morning, the CEO phones, asking what you think about the possibility of a terrorist attack against the company. What do you say? What steps do you think the company should take? asks the CEO. How do you answer? The idea of terrorists attacking U.S. targets often defies comprehension. How, after all, do you defend against a sudden, violent attack?

"Terrorism is a sexy term, but it's almost too broad a topic to focus on," says Robert Oatman, president of R.L. Oatman and Associates Inc., an executive protection and security training firm based in Towson, Md. "But we have all begun to accept the fact that terrorism has come to American soil." Two examples: the World Trade Center bombing, which involved foreign terrorists, and the Oklahoma City bombing, which was an act of domestic terrorism. Security consultants equate the security director's role in dealing with potential terrorism to his duty dealing with any security concern. First, assess the threat and how serious it is. Then, tailor preventive measures. If preventive measures fail, have a plan to deal appropriately with the resulting situations.

The final component of an anti-terrorist plan is continuous research into potential threats and regular revisions of policies and procedures to respond to changing conditions.

Assessing the threat of terrorism Assessing the threat requires a working definition of terrorism. What is it? And what is it not? Terrorism is not workplace violence, perpetrated by an enraged employee who knows and is known by people in the building. It is not crime in the traditional sense, which can usually be gauged by evaluating local crime statistics.

Terrorism is a different class of problem. Terrorists select targets to make political, social, or religious statements or to retaliate for a perceived wrong. Terrorists attack family planning clinics, for example, for both reasons. A terrorist's target may not make sense, may not be foreseeable. Timothy McVeigh's retaliatory logic became apparent only after his attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City.

"It's important to understand that whoever 'they' are, 'they' get to choose the time, the place and the method," Oatman says. Not every institution faces the same level of threat. Most, in fact, may have little or nothing to worry about. According to a 1997 report by the U.S. State Department, incidents of international terrorism declined dramatically between 1995 and 1996, from 440 to 296. The numbers show a substantial decline from the historic high of 665 incidents logged in 1987. Frightening as they are, deadly as they can be, terrorist attacks do not occur frequently. On the other hand, terrorists appear to choose commercial targets more often than government targets. Two-thirds of the 296 attacks recorded in 1996 hit commercial facilities. For the most part, they were minor incidents, caused no deaths and injured few people. Furthermore, terrorists perceive some companies as better targets than others. How do you determine whether or not your company may suggest a target to terrorists?

"People working for corporations often do not think of themselves as targets, " says William Daly, managing director for The Kroll-O'Gara Company, a New York-based security firm with 30 offices around the world. "A large manufacturing company, for example, might see itself as supplying products to make people's lives easier. It sees the good it does for the economy and the jobs it provides in communities here and around the world. "But others may perceive the company differently. Outside looking in, they may see a capitalist American company taking advantage of an international work force by paying minimal wages."

In conducting a threat assessment, Daly suggests adopting a perspective from outside the company looking in. Government buildings, military installations, major urban office buildings, family planning clinics, and other organizations that stand out as controversial symbols face obvious threats in today's world. But a local bank probably has little to worry about, unless the Olympics or some other large national or international event comes to town and organizes an event in the city park next to one of the bank's buildings. Multinational institutions may become targets. Perhaps a financial company's headquarters resides in one of the largest buildings in a large American city. Perhaps an international location represents a symbol of American influence reviled by factions inside that country. Granted, there is a loose sense to all of this, but research can help to whittle a threat assessment down to size. Oatman recommends subscribing to a news service that handles domestic and international stories on subjects such as crime, bombings, fires, kidnappings, terrorism and other such events.

"Suppose you have a plant in Hong Kong," Oatman says. "You want to know what happens every day throughout that region. You also want to know about attacks on companies like yours around the world."

Similar to checking crime statistics in local areas surrounding company facilities, researching news of terrorist acts can yield a sense of the kind of threat, if any, a particular company faces. Preventive measures Suppose the results of your research imply enough of a threat to justify preventive measures. How do you decide what to do?

"Any security system operates by creating a balance among four tools," says Michael Gearhart, a project manager for Lockwood Greene Engineers Inc., a security design firm based in Spartanburg, S.C. "These tools are physical construction, administrative policies and procedures, the use of electronic systems, and a security force. A security director balances these four tools to address possible security threats, whether those threats have to do with crime or terrorism."

In determining the proper way to balance these tools to address a possible terrorist threat, Oatman recommends benchmarking. "Look at the other buildings in town. See what others are doing, and make yourself into a harder target, or at least a harder-looking target. The point is, you don't want to be the softest target in town."

That may sound harsh. After all, no one wants bad things to happen to others. But you really do not want bad things to happen to you. Consultants recommend making a building into a target that is difficult enough to get to that a potential attacker will decide it is easier to go elsewhere. Kroll-O'Gara's Daly agrees. "Sometimes with a criminal threat, but even more so with a terrorist threat, you want to look like a difficult target to attack," he says. "Years ago, we were concerned about airplane hijacking. Today, airports and airplanes are harder targets. So the problem has changed. Now the problem is car bombs exploding on public streets next to buildings. "

Physical construction Government buildings in Washington, D.C., present numerous case studies in how physical construction can help to deflect the threat of car bombs. The White House, the Capitol, federal buildings and embassies throughout the city have all responded to the threat of car-bomb attacks by creating stand-off distances around facilities. The tools include large concrete planters, concrete and metal bollards, and a large presence of security officers, many in vehicles kept running at all times.

The section of Pennsylvania Avenue that runs past the White House has been closed to vehicular traffic with hydraulic traffic barriers built into the street. These barriers may be raised and lowered, and as the perceived threat eases, the street may at some point be reopened. These are fundamental security tactics. Stand-off distances or secure boundaries represent the first line of defense in what consultants call concentric rings of security. "By pushing the secure boundary out, you give yourself additional time to assess problems, delay them and mount an appropriate response," says Gearhart.

The problems related to creating secure boundaries differ in urban and suburban locations. When the front wall of a high-rise building in a city doubles as the property line, creating an adequate stand-off distance may be difficult. The FBI building in Washington, D.C., and embassies throughout the city that sit close to the street have extended their boundaries as far as possible by placing concrete planters on the sidewalks. The planters allow room for pedestrians to walk to buildings, while creating small stand-off distances to protect against car bombs.

At a suburban office park or campus, creating stand-off distances is simpler. Fencing can establish a perimeter a safe distance from the buildings on the site, and gates staffed by security officers can limit vehicular access. Consultants also suggest looking closely at the design of building fronts and eliminating hiding places for packages containing explosives. Concrete planters, for instance, should be filled to the top. Trash receptacles should be removed. Analysis of bomb blasts indicate that flying shards of glass cause as many, if not more, injuries and deaths than the blasts themselves. As a preventive measure, consultants recommend shatterproof glazing, or a glazing laminate. Construction techniques can also harden a building against the power of a car bomb. "Reinforced construction techniques with more concrete and more steel can strengthen the facade of a building," Gearhart says. "Of course, this is expensive and impossible to consider in the case of an existing building."

Policies and procedures Administrative policies and procedures can also make buildings harder to attack. At the FBI Building in Washington, for instance, strict parking policies make it unlikely a car bomber could get into the building's underground garage. Security officers control access to the parking garage, using hydraulic barriers that are lowered only when a vehicle has been cleared to enter or leave the facility. Access to delivery areas is also controlled.

Wide driveways lead to and from the Library of Congress in Washington. Instead of installing hydraulic barriers, officials have so far opted to barricade the driveways with vans, an unattractive, but apparently satisfactory, measure. Policies and procedures can also limit the number of vehicles permitted near a commercial building or in its parking garage. "At the World Trade Center, today, visitors may no longer use the parking garage," says Gearhart. "The building's parking policies make it difficult to get a car into that garage, whereas before the bombing it was easy to park there."

Generally speaking, policies and procedures can create group pressures among those working at a site and contribute to overall security, says Gearhart. For example, a policy may require everyone to wear an identification badge and to challenge individuals without badges. If the security director publicizes the policy and the reasons behind it, people in the organization will eventually come to understand the policy and apply it, raising the level of security throughout the organization.

Security technology Today's standard security technologies - access control, alarm monitoring, and closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems - have proven reasonably effective in protecting people and property against crime. For companies that face terrorist threats, advanced technologies can enhance the level of security. ECSI International Inc., Clifton, N.J., designs and manufactures electronic security and lighting systems for environments facing high levels of threat. According to Arthur Birch, president of ECSI, the company offers a number of products designed to enhance the security of perimeter fencing. For example, ECSI's fiber-optic intelligence and detection system, FOIDS, attaches sensitive fiber-optic cable to fencing, walls or roofs and detects attempts to lift, cut, climb or drill perimeter barriers. When combined with an ECSI neural network and top-of-the-fence, terrain-following sensors, the system can raise the effective height of the perimeter fence.

ECSI also produces a rapid deployment, pulsed infrared detection system, which mounts on tripods a few meters inside the fence. The system can also be mounted at grade and on walls and roofs, with pulsed infrared beams shooting through fences for vehicle access control. The design, according to ECSI, is impervious to environmental alarms that may be caused by small animals, standing water, rain and fog.

In cases requiring greater perimeter security, ECSI offers the Gamma 2000 pre-emptive thermal video detection and assessment system. The system uses CCD cameras and PIR detectors mounted on poles around the perimeter. Spaced 100 meters apart, the cameras can detect an individual 20 meters outside of the perimeter fence, at a distance of 150 meters day or night, and transmit real-time video images to the control center where the system's panel can control and supervise hundreds of cameras.

Exterior lighting is an important component of perimeter security, notes Birch, who recommends sharp-cut-off, low-pressure sodium vapor lighting around buildings and roofs and outer and inner fence perimeters. This kind of lighting affords low-brightness illumination. Lighting units should be set up for manual or motion detection, activated by zone and interfaced with both the perimeter detection system and CCTV zones.

ECSI also offers video motion detection and video assessment technology designed to enhance basic CCTV coverage. Video motion detection, of course, coordinates the monitoring of alarm points and door controls inside and outside where minimal traffic is anticipated. Monitoring zones might include electrical and mechanical rooms, plumbing chases, storage areas, emergency passages or areas that bypass card access controls.

Video assessment systems enhance the ability to respond to intrusions by automatically presenting still-video images before, during and after an alarm. The system continually digitizes video from all cameras at half-second intervals. When an alarm goes off, the digitized images - before, during and after - appear in sequence on the alarm monitor. The system operator can control magnification and contrast to enhance the images during an event or while sequencing through the images later. Following an event, the system automatically compresses and stores the images on a hard drive.

Another emerging CCTV enhancement is called video non-motion detection. Suppose a vehicle moves into a restricted area and stops. Within a few seconds, a non-motion system will generate an alarm and send video to the alarm monitor. All of this represents a sampling of emerging technologies designed to enhance conventional access control and CCTV security systems. High-threat environments may also make use of x-ray, metal-detection and explosive-detection systems as well as data communication detection devices that can pinpoint attempts to tap into communications cabling carrying sensitive information.

Technology and security staffing Whatever the mix of security technologies, ECSI's Birch recommends a global approach to design and product selection. "Specific technologies vary by the requirements of urban, suburban and rural environments," he says. "But it is important to establish technical standards that both the security and maintenance staffs can operate and maintain effectively. Standards affect a company's ability to move security and maintenance people from one facility to another, without the need for retraining. They also makes it easier to upgrade the security systems."

Another security goal is controlling the operation costs, Birch contends. Good security technology applied with standardized systems can reduce the costs of security personnel. "In the end, you need staffing to support the technology and technology to support the staffing. Each alone is worthless," Birch says.

Remaining vigilant During the past 20 years, terrorist attacks have moved from hijackings, to airplane bombings, to the car and truck bombings of today. As security technology and design have hardened targets against attacks of one kind, terrorists have found new ways to attack. "Today, there are new threats on the horizon," says Daly of Kroll-O'Gara. "Terrorists may be moving from using explosives in vehicles, which cause a lot of damage, to small chemical or biological weapons that may be placed in air-intake vents or into water systems. Because of the difference in physical size of these weapons, the threat will be quite different." Security directors can stay ahead of the curve through continuous research into building systems, policies, technologies, and staffing aimed at combating and preventing small and large threats.

Emergency Preparedness "A security director must anticipate emergencies with written response plans, " says Robert J. LaRatta of LaRatta Investigative Services in Marlton, N.J. "You have to know what to do and who will do what, before an emergency arises." Suppose someone calls in a bomb threat. The receptionist should have a card explaining how to respond. The instructions may consist of questions: Where is the bomb? When will it go off? And so on. As soon as possible, the receptionist should call the security center, which will notify the police, fire department and management, while setting evacuation plans in motion. In government buildings, emergency plans assign a warden and an assistant warden on each floor, says LaRatta. In the event of a bomb threat, the warden's assignment may be to knock on doors and move people out of the building along a planned evacuation route. The assistant warden's job may be to look for packages that do not seem to belong, while helping to move people outside. Once outside, supervisors should account for their people. Who is missing? Where might those people be? Planning must also consider fire protection systems, first aid, power and back-up power systems, and communications systems. When developing plans, look at building codes and check the facility, recommends LaRatta. Exit doors, for example, should open outward to make it easy for people to push through. "The point is that security managers must not focus on security systems at the expense of emergency preparedness," LaRatta says. "It's important to have written plans dealing with different kinds of emergencies."

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