Author: Elsa Lee
ISBN No: 978 1 4200 707
Review date: 17/12/2025
No of pages: 281
Publisher: CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group)
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
An American book on the role of the private sector in ‘critical infrastructure protection’ is, seemingly like all books from the US, focused on the States, but it’s no less applicable to Britain.
For British readers, Elsa Lee provides not only a wise manual for homeland security but a commentary on the painful counter-terror road the States has taken since 9-11.Does that matter to UK readers? Yes. The fact is that (as the outgoing President Bush made much of) the US has not had a terror attack since 9-11. Yet US interests abroad, such as US multi-nationals’ sites, have been hit. If you work for such a trans-national, or have one as a neighbour, or supplier, the US’ war on terror is yours too. From her work, she suggests that much of the private sector is not aware of their homeland security responsibilities, or how they link to the US critical infrastructure. This makes for dangerous assumptions by private sector and government alike. “The Government truly believes that the private ector understands their role and envisions that all necessary steps for terrorism preparedness are being carried out.” As she goes on, security guardforces assume that come a terror attack they merely have to pick up the phone and call the police, as first responders; those law enforcers expect the guards, or the facilities manager, to know how to respond. Does this sound familiar?!
A British or Irish reader might wonder why Lee’s only reference to those two countries is to admit that the UK and Ireland and others have been dealing with terrorism ‘since well before 9-11’. Although America seems to have spent untold billions to re-invent the homeland security wheel, to Lee’s credit she is savvy enough to point out the commercial sense behind securing a business – whether from a chemical ‘dirty bomb’ in a mailroom or a suicide vehicle bomber in the car park. Mitigate risk, protect your assets, endear yourself to customers. Be resourceful; learn. UK security people who have emergency planning on their plate for years let alone since 9-11 (or 7-7) will recognise Lee’s can-do attitude, and the topics the author goes through – threat assessment, planning, training and exercising. Or, to put it another way, ‘form, norm, storm and perform’. You cannot accuse the author – formerly of US Army counter-intelligence – of not listening to the world. She predicts: “Where will terrorists strike next? Probably in the locations where they have already told us they will attack – as they did repeatedly with the Twin Towers. They like to impress and embarrass us by letting us know what the target is and proving that no matter what we do, they can still accomplish their mission.” To her credit, she does not claim here book is the answer to all your problems, but rather seeks to open minds, encourage dialogue. If you’re in denial; if your guards don’t look out for possible terrorist recces and dry runs, or don’t know how to report their suspicions – that, she suggests, matters as much as technology or policy documents. As she says, much work has been done; but there’s still much to do. And, as she says, the past does not necessarily offer a guide – those in the Twin Towers who recalled the 1993 basement bomb felt it best to stay put rather than evacuate.
CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group) UK address: Abingdon OX14 4RN. ISBN 978 1 4200 70781. Visit also – www.advantagesci.com
