Magazine TZ — Design of anti-terrorist protection systems:.
Author: Alexander MALTSEV, Technical Director of Intel Tectum, PhD in Engineering
Designing integrated security systems for facilities increasingly involves developing design solutions for anti-terrorist protection of the facility. At the same time, the regulatory framework for developing design solutions for protecting facilities from terrorist attacks has not yet been fully developed. Requirements for the composition and functionality of anti-terrorist protection systems and complexes are not defined by regulatory documents. Due to this, for each specific facility, the composition of anti-terrorist protection systems is determined only by the customer's technical specifications, and the formation of this list depends on the qualifications of its developers.
There is currently no generally accepted classification of anti-terrorist protection means and complexes. In various projects, they often include individual engineering or technical security means. In order to correctly formulate requirements for the composition of anti-terrorist protection means, it is necessary to rely on a list of such means, ordered in accordance with their functional capabilities.
The classification of the applied anti-terrorist protection means can be carried out according to various classification criteria.
It seems appropriate to base such a classification on the definition of a terrorist act (Article 3 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation of March 6, 2006 No. 35-FZ «On Counteracting Terrorism»).
An analysis of the term «terrorist act» shows that the following types of terrorist action may be used against people and material assets located in buildings and structures:
blowing up a building or part of it;
setting fire to a building or part of it;
using poisonous, poisonous, toxic substances in concentrations that create a risk of death for personnel and visitors to the facility;
using means (sources) of radiation contamination of personnel and visitors to the facility;
the use of electromagnetic, ionizing and other types of radiation with levels that create a risk of death for a person;
the artificial creation of conditions for the occurrence of man-made accidents that create a risk of death for people or cause significant property damage. An explosion at a facility can be carried out in various ways:
sending special postal items equipped with explosive devices by mail to the addressee at the facility;
hidden placement of an explosive device in a building;
parking a car or other vehicle with an explosive device planted in it near a building;
breaking through to a building with a car (most likely a truck) with an explosive device planted in it;
planting booby traps or other types of explosive devices disguised as household items;
penetration of a building by a suicide bomber with an explosive device.
Arson of a building or part thereof may be carried out by bringing into the facility and setting fire to flammable liquids, substances and materials or by creating conditions for spontaneous combustion of such materials already present at the facility.
The use of poisonous, toxic or poisonous substances in concentrations that create a risk of death for personnel and visitors to the facility is possible in various ways, in particular:
the use of poisonous, toxic or poisonous substances by throwing their carriers into the outside air intake systems of the supply ventilation or air conditioning system of the facility;
bringing poisonous, poisonous or toxic substances and means of their use to the facility with subsequent placement in places of mass human presence.
Possible options for the use of means (sources) of radiation contamination of personnel and visitors to the facility are similar to the options for the use of poisonous, poisonous or toxic substances discussed above.
The practical application of electromagnetic, ionizing and other types of radiation with levels that pose a risk of death to humans is the most difficult from the point of view of technical implementation. This is due to the need to generate radiation of a sufficiently high power, which requires significant energy costs, the use of complex emitting devices and is quite difficult to implement in a mobile (portable) version.
In accordance with the previously considered definition of a terrorist act and possible methods of terrorist influence on the protected facility, a list of areas for protecting the facility can be determined:
protection from the explosion of the facility or part thereof;
protection from arson of the facility or part thereof;
protection from the use of firearms;
protection from the use of poisonous, poisonous, toxic substances in concentrations that create a danger of death for personnel and visitors to the facility;
protection from the use of means (sources) of radiation contamination of personnel and visitors to the facility;
protection from the use of electromagnetic, ionizing and other types of radiation with levels that create a danger of human death;
protection from artificially created man-made accidents.
In accordance with the directions of protection of the facility, it is advisable to determine an approximate list of technical means used.
To block the channels for delivery of explosives and firearms to the facility and to prevent their use at the facility, the following technical means are usually used:
equipment to prevent the introduction of explosives and weapons into the protected facility (means of control of personnel, visitors and their hand luggage);
equipment to control postal correspondence;
equipment to detect unattended (abandoned) items;
equipment to localize and suppress the energy of an explosion;
equipment for preventing (blocking) the activation of explosive device fuses;
equipment for preventing the passage of mined vehicles (means of limiting the speed of motor vehicles);
means of inspecting motor vehicles.
The most commonly used technical means for preventing the introduction of explosives and weapons into a protected facility are stationary and portable metal detectors, explosive vapor detectors, chromatographs, X-ray systems and other means.
Mail control is carried out by similar devices in a special design for the convenience of checking small-volume mail items.
Means for localizing and suppressing the energy of an explosion are used mainly for storing or transporting suspicious objects in order to minimize damage when they are detonated.
To detect abandoned (unattended) objects, as a rule, the capabilities of a security television system (STS) deployed at the facility as part of the system of engineering and technical security means are used. Almost all modern STS have options for detecting abandoned (unattended) objects.
As technical means of preventing (blocking) the triggering of explosive device fuses, noise generators are mainly used, eliminating the possibility of receiving a radio signal by the receiving device of a radio fuse in various frequency ranges.
To prevent the passage of mined vehicles (to limit the speed of vehicles), road blockers and artificial obstacles are usually used. Manual means or automated systems are used as technical means of vehicle inspection, allowing detection of foreign objects on the structures of a vehicle or trailer.
To protect against the use of poisonous, toxic, hazardous substances by throwing their carriers into the ventilation and air conditioning systems of the facility, it is necessary to use standard engineering means of protection and technical means of monitoring penetration into the facility, as well as means of monitoring the air entering the supply ventilation of the facility. Spectrometers are most often used to monitor air parameters.
To protect against the use of poisonous, toxic, dangerous substances by bringing them to the facility and using them at the facility, means of detecting dangerous substances are used. The use of such means is usually combined with the use of inspection means to detect explosives, as well as flammable liquids and substances suitable for setting fire to a building.
Technical means of protection against the possible use of means (sources) of radiation contamination, means of electromagnetic, ionizing and other types of radiation with levels that create a danger of human death are used, as a rule, to protect special objects, where this is provided for by the design assignment or technical assignment. Such means of protection can be developed and manufactured to order on an individual basis to implement the required technical requirements.
Protection against accidents of building utility networks is usually ensured by the automation systems of the networks themselves. To prevent or minimize damage in such accidents, a system for monitoring the most critical network parameters must function, providing an alarm signal when such parameters approach critical values or when they are exceeded.
Such control means are usually envisaged when developing an automated dispatching and control system (ADCS) for the facility's utility networks. Data from the ADCS can be sent to the utility network monitoring and control system when it is created at the facility.
Reviews of anti-terrorist protection tools also mention technical means that allow detecting or identifying terrorists. However, these technical means do not allow preventing a terrorist act or minimizing its consequences, but only help to investigate an act that has already taken place. As a result, they are not considered in this article.
The formulated approximate list of anti-terrorist protection tools is based on an analysis of possible terrorist manifestations and is not exhaustive. However, it can help when forming a design assignment in terms of specifying the requirements for the «Facility Integrated Security System» section.
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