Suspicious Packages & Letters

Most organizations receive huge amounts of mail and packages. This is an attractive route into your building or into your hands. This is a targeted attack. The aim is to kill or maim or disrupt, not to cause structural damage or mass casualties. The nature of your business and the current focus of terrorists will give you, in discussion with the local law enforcement, a reasonable picture of how likely this form of attack is, and will dictate how detailed your planning should be.

Planning for the delivery of an explosive or incendiary device is based on two simple features:

1. It will already have undergone some fairly rough handling, by the Post Office or shipping company.
2. Uncertainty over exact delivery times, and the weight and complexity of reliable timing devices, makes it very unlikely that the device will be triggered by a timer.

Handling delivered mail is therefore not generally dangerous in itself.

Local law enforcement authorities may be able to give guidance on the features that may identify the typical letter or parcel bomb. And employees who handle mail can be helped to pick out potentially "suspicious" items by building good housekeeping measures into usual business routines:

• Let employees know what is the usual pattern of deliveries and the types of item, and forewarn when unusual deliveries are expected.
• Encourage good practice in those you deal with regularly by having a clearly identifi able sender shown on each item.
• Make sure that you have identifi ed and briefed all employees who handle delivered items (think of Reception as well as the Mail Room).

If the risk and scale of the problem for a company is sufficiently great you may want to invest in commercially available X-ray or other equipment. This equipment is only as good as its operators and you will need a regular program of training and checking to see that procedures are being followed.

If you have detected a suspicious item:

• Leave it alone, do not play with it or investigate it further, do not put it in a bucket of water or put something on top of it or throw it out of the window.
• Clear and secure the immediate area, making sure the police will still have unhindered access to the suspicious item.
• Call the police.

WARNING! The use of two-way radios during a search can cause premature detonation of an electronic detonation device.

Minimizing the Risk of Successful Attack

Generally speaking the business need for continued mass public access will preclude any major screening programs to search for devices being brought in, except at periods of the highest alert. The contingency plan should provide for:

• A search at the end of each day's business
• A continued search after the discovery of one item
• Plans for a discreet search during business hours in a time of high risk

Bombs will be carefully but not elaborately concealed, and the employees searching will not therefore need a high degree of knowledge to carry out rapid but thorough searching of easily accessible hiding places. All employees can maintain vigilance for those acting oddly in their areas.

Logistics

In practice it is unusual for a bomb containing high explosive (rather than an item delivered through the mail) to be found inside a building, although it is not unknown. It is important to plan for this eventuality, not least because both terrorists and pranksters frequently claim that there is a bomb in the building.

A bomb, with its explosive, timing and arming devices and its concealment, represents a considerable investment of planning, determination and skill. Left within a building, or in some other public space, it represents a very serious attempt at damage, disruption, and a deliberate attempt to create a loss of life. The threat call itself can cause economic disruption. Preparing and planning for a bomb attack inside your offi ce, public areas, parking garage, storage unit or yard perimeter is based on certain assumptions:

• The bomber has to make his or her way inside your perimeter and leave the device in such a way to - at a minimum - secure his or her getaway
• An attack, whether with high explosive or homemade explosive, is always life-threatening
• There will always be some structural damage
• The greatest threat to human life may be from flying glass

An office building or a factory with access control for employees and visitors (and their cars) offers relatively little opportunity for this sort of attack - providing the systems in place are properly applied.

A public place, such as a store or airport, is more at risk; at times of high alert search of baggage may be the only available means of protection - and deterrent. The risk of successful attack - and, equally importantly, the disruption caused by persistent threat calls - can be minimized by:

• Search procedures by employees of their own areas
• Search procedures for public areas

Good security practices comes into its own against this sort of attack. Public and private areas should be kept as clear as possible, with trash regularly removed and boxes and equipment stored tidily and in their own recognized places. Employees, as well as cleaning, maintenance and security employees, should all be encouraged to know what is usually where so that they can spot the unusual.

It is frequently said that any package that is out of place is a suspicious package - but you will not want to disrupt your business by making your employees anxious about every carelessly dumped garbage bag. Their attitude to keeping their designated area free of clutter will make them feel safer, deter a potential attacker - and make searching much simpler if a threat is made against you.