A lot has been said and written about leadership and the difference between leadership and management. The summary I like best is simple, "You manage projects but you must lead people." I learned at an early point in my career that "you can never not lead." If you are going to lead your facility's counter terrorism program there are a few things you will need to understand.
You will need a clear concept of what terrorism means to your facility
You will need a clear picture of what a comprehensive counter terrorism program contains
You will need a clear understanding of effective incident management.
The United States has declared war on terrorism. Many experts believe that this war will increase the danger of terrorist attacks. The instability in the Middle East and our significant military presence in that region are perfect recruitment tools for Al Qaeda and similar international terrorist organizations.
America is the singular, undisputed, world military superpower. The message to our enemies is clear. Asymmetric warfare tactics, such as terrorism, are the method of choice in attacking the United States. Any other form of warfare is sure to fail. Since our military superiority is not going to be challenged in the next twenty years, we must assume that our enemies will continue to employ terrorist attacks on U.S. targets both at home and abroad.
There are several reasons why terrorists would target a U.S. industrial facility. The motivation for such an attack includes; high yield potential, the wildfire spread of fear, and easy attack execution. The potential number of killed and injured persons from an industrial facility attack can be significantly higher then that of a public assembly facility bombing or other terrorist attack scenario. Many industrial facilities that handle hazardous materials have already done the calculations to identify the potential casualty yield of a major worst-case event. In general, industrial chemicals are of lower toxicity then that of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) agents, and weapons grade nerve agents. However, the large quantities of toxic industrial chemicals and the placement of the chemical inventories adjacent to major population centers, make them a convenient, high-casualty-yield target.
Margaret Kriz in an article released by Government Executive, a government business news daily, stated "Based on reports from the 15,000 facilities required to submit worst-case-scenario information, the EPA warned that a terrorist attack on any one of the 123 chemical facilities located in densely populated areas could expose 1 million people to toxic chemicals. An attack on one of 700 other facilities could threaten at least 100,000 people. And an attack at one of 3,000 other chemical sites could affect 10,000 people."1
Most communities have a nearby power plant, water treatment facility, manufacturing site, agricultural chemical warehouse, chemical plant, or refinery. Many industrial facilities are a part of the national critical infrastructure.
