When a bomb threat is received, there are many factors that should be addressed to determine the credibility of the threat and the danger the threat poses. Assessing the credibility is vital to determining the time, location and type of bomb that is to be detonated or if the threat is a hoax. Another consideration is to determine if the threat was a ruse to tie up assets at one location, leaving other locations vulnerable to other types of crime.
There are two categories to conducting a bomb threat assessment. The first category is the threat assessment. This is a list of ten questions pertaining to a verbal or written threat. There are yes or no answers for each question and a point is awarded for every yes. The score is then totaled and the threat of a bomb is increased with the increase of the score. The more detailed a caller or note is about the bomb leads to a (usual) more credible threat. Less accurate information such as mentioning details about the site that are blatantly incorrect increases the chance that the bomb threat is a hoax. The second category of target assessment is comprised of 12 questions and is more focused on the facility and its employees. The same principal for scoring is used as in the threat assessment. The more credible a threat is determined to be, the more urgency needs to be placed on evacuation and searching procedures.
After determining a credible threat exists of a bomb detonation, the decision to search, or not to search, is made by the highest management or follow standard operating procedures. Normally, the best policy is to search the premises after receiving any call threatening a bombing or an explosion. However, in some cases, it may be appropriate to not search and initi...
... middle of paper ...
...ing as intimate with many areas and the aspiration to be productive (Bomb Threats and Physical Security Planning, n.d.). Using an explosive detection K-9 team will be the quickest method for clearing a building and locating a possible bomb.
Locating a suspicious package could be just something suspicious or an actual bomb or dangerous instrument. Either way, the package should not be touched or disturbed. If possible, identify the package with markings near the object. Notify law enforcement so they can have the appropriate agency bomb squad or canine team investigate the suspicious package. In any event of a bomb threat, searching is always recommended to confirm or deny a bomb is actually on the premises. In the event of an evacuation, remember to get to a safe area preferably out of sight of the facility to reduce casualties in the event of an explosion.
“The Bomb Plot message” was a dispatch from Tokyo to its Consulate in Honolulu that the United States intercepted on September 24, 1941. This “strictly secret” message issued instructions to report gridded locations and detailed information on all ships in the waters of Pearl Harbor. The message was translated in Washington on October 9 by Colonel Rufus C. Bratton who found it significant as no previous Japanese intercepts requested or reported gridded positions of ships in the harbor. Bratton shared the message with his chief, General Miles, who interpreted the evidence through the confirmation bias lens and failed to analyze it as anything other than routine Japanese traffic regarding U.S. Naval movements. Still, Bratton routed the message to high levels of the War Department where it garnered very little
Clay Dillow’s “To Catch a Bombmaker” was published by Popular Science in October 2015. This article educated the reader about the FBI’s Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center— a key aspect in the fight against terrorism. Dillow focused on ethos and logos to strengthen the validation of his claim concerning the importance of the TEDAC and was successful in persuading the reader to believe in its significance as well. He used expert quotes from FBI agents to give the article credibility; In addition, he presented statistical data in a clear and concise manner and gave many factual cases in which the TEDAC facilitated the government in their pursuit of terrorist and bomb makers. As proven by Dillow in “How to Catch a Bombmaker,” the Terrorist
... bomb or know the information about the bomb, which will kill many innocent lives if it is not defused.
Louder than a Bomb is a documentary by Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs. We are invited into the lives of four different Chicago teenagers as they prepare for the city wide poetry slam. These four students come from various backgrounds and schools.
Chapter 1-3 showed the beginnings of homeland security and the expansion and growth of Homeland Security. Chapter 4 shows the actions of homeland security, and the steps they take toward a problem to access it. The DHS above all needs to realized and understand how to address an attack quickly and efficiently, and have counter measure put into place beforehand. The DHS must be able to access the risks of any situation, and must decipher the potential hazard the situation could cause. When looking at the many functions of the DHS, nothing could be more important than the ability to understand or hinder or stop an attack man made or not. First Homeland Security studies the nature of the risk; this means that they study what is likely to happen in a certain situation. The texted explains risk as what can go wrong. A cigarette smoker takes a risk every time he lights up, and everyone take a risk when getting into a car. The DHS takes what they know from prior circumstances to determine the reality of the risk; the department must also anticipate any attack even without prior knowledge to the circumstance. The main questions of risk assessment are easy to understand, questions like will people be injured or harmed. But when looking at chapter 1 which asks the reader to look further into why terrorist commit terrorism, that’s when its easier to see the DHS skill at risk assessment. For example if you understand that a terrorist attack could be coming from radical Islamist terrorist; then you would understand a risk by understanding their motive behind the attack like their religious holidays. The DHS uses a three-fold method for risk assessment and they are threat, vulnerability and consequence. The Rand organization uses th...
Every incidence, of whatever kind, that occurs to a person, a corporation or a country leaves an impact of its kind. The most important thing is the lessons, which the stakeholders concerned learn from that incidence. Bombing incidences are often a result of terror attacks and the lessons or the action plans that ensue from any successful terror attack are not something intelligent minds can underscore (Knowles, 2003). One of the major targets in these bombings and occurrences of a similar kind is the business community. Critical analysis of explosions and bombings is very important to both the security agencies and the businesses. This is primarily because businesses thrive only in secure environment and therefore safety is a priority for any business setting. The World Trade Center (WTC) explosion in 1993 unearthed critical safety issues which any business development plan must observe. However, before exploring these issues, it is important to have a recap of how the incident was.
Burke, Robert. Counter-Terrorism for Emergency Responders. 2nd ed. Florida: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, 2007. Print.
One of the most complex aspects of counterterrorism (CT) for the intelligence community (IC), law enforcement (LE), and CT communities is the psychology of terrorism. In the broad study of the psychology of terrorism, a highly misunderstood and challenging subject area is the recruitment of terrorists. A “normal,” rational person would wonder why an individual would pledge to commit acts of terror that would inflict lethal or grave danger upon innocent civilians for a politically educed cause. When in matter of fact, that rational person could also be susceptible to recruitment by a terrorist organization based upon any anti-political ideologies they may hold against their respected government. There are many reasons an individual may want to join a terrorist organization which includes aspects associated to an individuals psychology, ideology, theology, and state of mind. It also includes factors like an individuals religion, culture, morals, influences, integrity, and environment. More specifically terrorists go through a top-down or bottom-up process to enter the life of a terrorist and either have a strategic choice or psychological forces which make them susceptible to terrorism and recruitment. For IC, LE, and CT professionals the psychology of terrorist group recruitment is gravely important because it will allow them to identify indicators of individuals who are at a particular point in the recruitment process, who are already recruited, and who may also be planning attacks against U.S. assets, infrastructure, and personnel. Terrorism is a serious threat to national and homeland security and it all starts with a terrorist recruitment. If an individual is identified, exploited, or neutralized before ...
Security remains a vital component which deters terrorist attacks towards critical domestic infrastructure and high-payoff targets. Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats still remain an area of high concern and these threats will, more than likely, be directed towards critical infrastructure often controlled by private sector organizations (DHS 2014, 19).
Combs, J. (2011, January 1). RIT NTID 911 Briefing. . Retrieved March 27, 2014, from http://www.ntid.rit.edu/sites/default/files/cat/NTID-911-briefing.pdf
The Department of Homeland Security has a prominent role in maintaining the safety, security and resilience of our nation. In a world where terrorism is an ever-increasing threat and where man-made and natural disasters have left people and areas in devastation, the Department of Homeland Security works diligently to prevent and protect the United States from the effects of such tragedy. In order to effectively protect our nation Department of Homeland Security must assess the risk associated with any terrorist, natural or man-made threat. The risk assessment method that the department uses takes into account certain variables that help the department determine the level of risk. Based on the assessed risk level Homeland Security uses risk management for strategic planning, operations, determining the allocation of resources and grant awards in an attempt to prepare for and mitigate any harm to our nation, critical infrastructure and its people in the event of a tragedy.
Between 1940 and 1956, a profound killer known as the Mad Bomber disturbed New York City’s streets. For sixteen years, the Mad Bomber evaded New York City’s police officers and planted over thirty small bombs in public places. In 1956, the infuriated investigators decided to ask for the help of a psychiatrist, James Brussel. Brussel analyzed the notes and photos that were taken at the scene of the incidents. These objects allowed him to come up with a detailed description of the suspect: He would be in his 50’s, unmarried, self-educated, and foreign. He would also be paranoid and live in Connecticut. Brussel proposed that the suspect had a personal vendetta against the target of the first bomb, Con Edison.
Department of Justice arrested members of a terrorist group planning to attack jet fuel pipelines and storage tanks at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (Parfomak, 2012). According to TSA Pipeline Security Guidelines (2011), a risk-based corporate security program should be established and implemented by each pipeline operator to address and document the organization’s policies and procedures for managing security related threats, incidents, and responses. Procedures have been implemented to ensure pipeline safety through TSA such as ensuring sufficient resources, assigning a qualified primary and alternate staff member to manage the corporate security program, providing TSA with the 24/7 contact information, developing and maintaining a cyber/Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition security plan, or incorporate cyber/SCADA security measures in the corporate security plan, implementing appropriate threat level protective measures upon of an applicable National Terrorism Advisory System alert, and notifying TSA or all security incidents by phone or e-mail as soon as possible (TSA Pipeline Security Guidelines,
National security in the United States is extremely important and requires extensive risk management measures including strategic, exercise, operational and capability-based planning, research, development, and making resource decisions in order to address real-world events, maintain safety, security and resilience (Department of Homeland Security [DHS], 2011). The national security and threat assessment process consists of identifying the risk and establishing an objective, analyzing the relative risks and environment, exploring alternatives and devising a plan of action for risk management, decision making and continued monitoring and surveillance (DHS, 2011). Identifying risks entails establishing a context to define the risk, considering related risks and varying scenarios, including the unlikely ones, which then leads to the analysis phase; gathering data and utilizing various methodologies and analysis data software systems to survey incidence rates, relative risks, prevalence rates, likelihood and probable outcomes (DHS, 2011). These two key phases lay the foundation to explore alternatives and devise action plans. Threats, vulnerabilities and consequences (TCV) are also a key component of many national security risk management assessments because it directly relates to safety and operation capabilities, but the text stress that it should not be included in the framework of every assessment because it is not always applicable (DHS, 2011).
Terrorism has many forms, and many definitions. “Elements from the American definitional model define terrorism as a premeditated and unlawful act in which groups or agents of some principal engage in a threatened or actual use o...