Making the Nation Safer The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism (2002) / Chapter Skim
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8. Cities and Fixed Infrastructure
8. Cities and Fixed Infrastructure
Pages 238-266
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From page 238... ...
Terrorist attacks on notable buildings, along with ballparks and similar public places where large {For this report, the term "cities" is used to refer to both incorporated cities and their surrounding suburban counties.
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EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTERS Introduction Major cities and many large counties have emergency response plans providing for local EOCs and their personnel to respond to crises such as a natural disaster. Responding to terrorist attacks is a relatively new dimension for EOCs.
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From page 240... ...
In a terrorist attack, first responders will likely be at greater risk because of their limited ability to determine the cause and extent of the situation they find. Moreover, a terrorist could try to deliberately kill or injure as many first responders as possible in order to leave the remainder of the city more vulnerable to further attack.
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From page 241... ...
of the facility characteristics, expertise, and equipment required to withstand a variety of terrorist attacks and then assess the EOCs of the major cities to determine their greatest near-term needs for improvements in physical makeup, equipment, preparedness, and plans for recovery if damaged. System redundancies and communications assets should receive particular attention.
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From page 242... ...
Different requirements and needs; different reporting, equipment, tactics, and training; different funding and budgeting practices; unique vocabularies and acronyms; and preexisting attitudes are some of the problems to be faced when mixed-unit operations occur. There is much to be said for deploying simulation models and training modules designed to familiarize staff with threat scenarios and improve the effectiveness of collaboration among agencies and governments.
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From page 243... ...
Intra- and Intergovernmental Operations In the longer term, simulation models based on terrorist threat scenarios must be completed, field tested, authenticated, and deployed, along with corresponding training modules. Extensive coordination between city, state, and federal participants will be required to make this effort succeed.
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The threat-based simulation models could be developed by systems analysis experts in the Homeland Security Institute recommended in Chapter 12 as support for OHS. Representatives of the EOC professionals should participate in this development and testing.
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Policy changes by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and suitable new standards would allow the United States to replicate the solutions now working in Europe, where a common frequency has been established in the best area of the broadcast spectrum for emergency-use radios (MayerSchonberger, 2002~.
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From page 246... ...
The sanitary and waste removal system comprises sewer and related collection systems that deliver waters contaminated with household and industrial wastes to sanitary treatment facilities, the facilities that process these wastewaters, and the outfall facilities that return recycled waters back to the natural environment. Finally, storm sewers collect and convey storm water runoff to treatment and/or discharge to the environment.
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From page 247... ...
The threat of upstream or collection point contamination is limited by the large volumes of water and thus the dilution involved at that stage, and by the effect of filtering and sanitation at the treatment plant. Yet, certain biological agents or their toxins may be very hazardous at low concentrations, and water treatment plants are designed to remove only a special set of contaminants, typically those found in nature.
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From page 248... ...
Implementation Issues for Existing Technology Deferred Maintenance It makes little sense to improve the security of our water system against terrorism without addressing the history of deferred maintenance of the water infrastructure. One of the best and most cost-effective ways to make the water infrastructure more robust against malicious threats is to return its physical condition to a satisfactory level of repair.
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From page 249... ...
Aqueduct Conveyances As noted above, several major cities develop their water supplies in remote locations and bring that raw water to the cities through long and often unprotected aqueduct conduits. Stocking sections of replacement conduit and developing scenarios and plans for rapid repair could lessen the threat of extended loss of raw water supply if sections of the aqueduct were destroyed by a terrorist act.
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The scope for such a center would become broad, and multiple branches with well-defined missions added when the need is defined. Physical Security The water infrastructure enjoys little physical protection.
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Such research would require that priority attention be given to the development of simulation models that would both analyze and simulate events and serve to train operators in systematic recovery, emergency response, and evacuation. Interactions Across Infrastructures The water infrastructure depends on electricity to control pumps, valves, and other mechanical components, as well as to power sensor, computer, and telecommunications systems.
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They also include high-rise office buildings, such as the Empire State Building, the Sears Tower, and the
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The forces from a major impact or explosion also may strip fireproofing from structural elements and assemblies, destroy detection and alarm circuits, break pipes and deplete the available water supply for fire protection, and render smoke control and alarm systems ineffective.
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This would mean that the fires were fed primarily by materials that are equivalent to those in most other high-rise office buildings. The 1988 First Interstate Bank fire in Los Angeles and the 1991 One Meridian Plaza fire in Philadelphia burned out multiple floors in very intense fires fed only by the ordinary combustible furnishings and finishes within these office buildings (Nelson, 1989; Routley et al., 1991)
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From page 255... ...
Implementation of Existing Technology Historically, the blast engineering of buildings evolved in response to the most recent destructive event. For example, explosions producing extensive amounts of flying glass led to better glazing systems that include robust frames and mullions, films, and composite glazing.
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From page 256... ...
for evaluating glazing systems, including mullions and window frames; · Materials testing and analysis of fire resistance (including full-scale tests of burning aircraft fuel and common building materials) with respect to the following: Building structural systems; Missing or deficient insulation; Fire-induced thermal conditions within an enclosure, including ventilation effects; High-temperature properties of building materials and furnishings, including insulation and structural materials; and The structural interactions that occur as a result of fires, with particular emphasis on connections between elements such as horizontal and vertical members.
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The insurance industry should be a significant participant in this work. The fire and blast tests should be planned and performed under the oversight of the National Fire Protection Association.
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Recommendation 8.22: The requirements for emergency egress and communications for tall buildings should be reexamined by the National Fire Protection Association in light of the WTC experience and the results of this reexamination should be used to determine appropriate modifications to building codes and standards. STADIUMS AND OTHER PLACES FOR LARGE PUBLIC GATHERINGS Introduction Recent information indicates that popular venues such as ballparks, concert halls, and entertainment complexes (Disney World, for example)
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From page 259... ...
Schools have evacuation plans for certain conditions and lockdown plans for others, which teachers and students regularly practice. But given that the typical buildings in which these activities are housed enjoy little or no hardening, not much could be done to defeat a direct attack of any significance as was seen in the attack on Oklahoma City's Murrah Building, which contained a day-care center.
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From page 260... ...
As noted in Chapter 9, psychology and social science resources can be brought to bear on efforts to develop more effective methods of crowd management. Research and Development Priorities and Strategies We must be able to monitor the air circulating in stadiums for dangerous toxins, but reasonable means are not available for detection of the wide variety of potential chemical and biological agents.
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, guidelines should be developed that include assessments of vulnerability to terrorist attacks as a component of the plans for any new large facility for public gatherings. One challenge is to integrate operational and structural practices that achieve strong resistance to terrorist threats while minimizing constraints on the public.
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But as we learned in the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center, these under-building parking areas are also desirable locations for terrorist attack. A well-placed bomb could cause much damage to the building's
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From page 263... ...
Recommendation 8.27: Local authorities should identify and harden sites favorable to the breaching of transit or railroad tunnels that lie below surrounding water levels, and they should increase surveillance of all activities · ~ occurring m sue 1 areas. Recommendation 8.28: Once sites are identified, authorities should analyze them to determine their resistance to the effects of explosives detonated either inside or outside the tunnel.
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From page 264... ...
Conversely, as discussed above for building ventilation systems, the systems could also be used by the owners to contain or remove a toxin released in the underground space. Recommendation 8.29: Terrorist threats to the ventilation systems used in occupied underground space and highway and transit tunnels and ways to mitigate those threats should be researched by the National Fire Protection Association and the Department of Transportation.
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From page 265... ...
2000. "The Threat of Chemical and Biological Agents to the Public Water Supply Systems," Water Pipeline Database, Science Applications International Corporation, McLean, Va.
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From page 266... ...
," USFA Fire Investigation Technical Report Series Report 049, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, D.C. Science Applications International Corporation.
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