Antiterrorism and Threat Response: Planning and Implementation

by Ross Johnson

Overview

As security professionals, we tend to get seduced by the beauty of our technology.  We go to trade exhibitions filled with the latest innovations and marvel at what we see without understanding how it fits in with what we do.  It’s both overwhelming and distracting, like trying to learn to cook by walking through a grocery store.

This focus on technology teaches us to judge the effectiveness of physical protection systems by the strength of the barriers, the acuity of the cameras, and the sensitivity of the sensors.  Terrorists and criminals look for something else entirely, though: where we see strength, they find weakness and vulnerability. We are looking at the same things, but not seeing the same things.  If we want to stop them, we need to know more than how they work.  We need to learn to see the way they see.

A physical protection system - that collection of people, sensors, barriers, policies, and technology – is a lot like a piano: and you cannot tell if a piano is in tune by looking at it.  You have to play it.  The major contribution of Antiterrorism and Threat Response: Planning and Implementation, 2e is the detailed instruction and practical advice on how to see the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in physical protection systems and upgrade them to meet the challenges of terrorists and criminals.

Key features of this book are:

• Provides professionals with the background to understand how terrorists think and operate, in order to best coordinate their counterterrorism efforts and antiterrorism strategies 
• Examines difficult new problems facing security professionals: such as the use of drones, guns, and the internet as a tool of both recruitment and indoctrination
• Teaches the reader how to step outside the security department to find and fix weaknesses and vulnerabilities in physical protection systems
• Introduces and discusses security management and insider threat risk management programs

This is the advanced course in protecting physical assets from terrorists and criminals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032447346
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/20/2024
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ross Johnson, CPP is the President of Bridgehead Security Consulting, Inc.  He has 47 years of international and domestic experience in intelligence and security in both the private and public sectors. With his combination of government sector intelligence experience and private sector critical infrastructure protection experience, he is well-suited to understand security issues from both government and private industry perspectives. He has taken part in security operations and training in the United States, Canada, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Angola, Egypt, Israel, Guam, the Gulf of Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, the Strait of Malacca, Singapore Strait, Burma, and Ukraine. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Military Arts and Sciences from the Royal Military College of Canada and is Board-Certified in Security Management by ASIS International.  Ross is also a photographer and took most of the photographs in this book.

Table of Contents

Introduction

 

1. Some Thoughts on Terrorism and Government

2. Terrorism

3. Counterterrorism

4. Antiterrorism Planning

5. Threat Vulnerability Assessment

6. Security Measures

7. Design Basis Threat

8. The VISA Methodology

9. Outsider-Only Scenarios

10. Insider-Only Scenarios

11. Insider Colluding with Outsiders Scenarios

12. Observation Planning & Surveillance Detection

13. Random Antiterrorism Measures

14.  Response Planning

15. Insider Threat Risk Management

16. Individual Threat Response Planning

17. Threats from Drones and Guns

18. Security Management Programs

19. Searching for Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities

20. Checklists and Worksheets

 

Glossary

Editorial Reviews

"This book is full of sense – keep your response plan up to date; work off your electronic copy, but keep a paper copy at home and in the office and guardhouse. … sound, useful and wide-ranging."
—Professional Security Magazine

"A comprehensive and practitioner-based examination of the components required to prepare for potential terrorist attacks … in order to prevent them from occurring."
—Joshua Sinai, Perspectives on Terrorism

"Ross Johnson has extensive experience in the field as a military officer and then as the head of corporate security for a number of firms. He draws on his background to provide an excellent detailed guide for those who are responsible for preventing and responding to acts of terrorism in the corporate sector. It is a well-organized book that provides panoply of information to be applied throughout the whole spectrum of antiterrorism measures."
– ASIS Dynamics

From the Publisher