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 identifiable sender shown on each item.
Make sure that you have identified 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.

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