NUCLEAR SECURITY CONSULTANTS

"NUCLEAR SECURITY - A PRIORITY"







The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 and subsequent events raise concerns about the adequacy of physical security at North American nuclear facilities and the physical protection of the transportation of radioactive products. 

Physical security requires specialized skills not currently found with conventional police forces or the military. All nuclear facilities need to be guarded by a professionally trained security organization. This security organization would complement existing policing, intelligence, and other emergency preparedness organizations.

Numerous messages warning of terrorist attacks on members of the "war on terrorism" coalition has raised concerns about North America's state of preparedness, should any essential energy facilities be attacked. Nuclear power facilities were also found on a list of possible terrorist targets by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Recent intelligence information has been developed revealing that vulnerabilities and a threat exist to the North American nuclear industry. A terrorist attack aimed at a nuclear facility could result in a two-fold effect.

First, the economic impact of a major terrorist incident to both the company and the economy is obvious. The distruction of production equipment effects the delivery of hydro services. This has an adverse effect on the nuclear facility's ability to operate, and directly impacts the national grid system through supply and demand. Incidental liability concerns could prove devastating to the company.

The second major consequence would be the creation of a hazardous environmental effect through the release of a nuclear cloud, again, impacting a company's liability concerns.

The terrorist attacks of recent months have tragically highlighted the vulnerability of public facilities and infrastructures in our society and resulted in a new and heightened awareness of the security needs and crisis response capabilities of potential targets. Nuclear facility operators understand this requirement and have contributed significant resources to ensure capabilities are developed to allow response to any potential security or crisis scenario.

Nuclear facilities are required by legislation to have a myriad of response plans in place to counter a variety of potential security/crisis incidents and to facilitate integration with local and federal response resources and governing bodies.

In order to manage these operational documents, a structure must be defined to integrate resources with requirements and effectively manage different response protocols in the most economically feasible manner.

Nuclear Facility Attack Profiles

Embarrassment

Although not a direct security threat, the embarrassment caused by the inadvertent entry of members of the public into a nuclear facility is a significant concern. The media reporting around such events seldom reports the fact that the individuals do not gain access to the protected areas: the public, political and regulatory perception is that such incidents are indicative of major failing in the overall site security capability. Continued reporting of these types of events undermine the overall credibility of the facility (including investor confidence), cause alarm among the public and generate ill will at the political and regulatory levels.

Economic Attack

Economic attacks are most likely to be used by anti nuclear protestors, internal extremist organizations, criminal agencies and terrorists (as part of a campaign designed to maximize societal impact). The purpose of these attacks would be to raise awareness about protestor/extremist issues, extort money from the operating company or induce societal disruption. Although economic attacks could be conducted against nuclear systems, it is far more likely that attacks would be conducted against service and support systems such as transmission lines, switchyards and pump houses. If a terrorist intended to shut down the facility plant for a number of years, conventional attacks against safety system instrumentation would easily achieve this aim.

Attack To Cause A Radiological Release

This attack type is firmly in the realm of the terrorist. Because of the public misconception regarding nuclear power production, an attack causing the release of radioactive material would have a dramatic impact on the fear level of the public. However, this type of attack is also the most technically complex to initiate and may only be used in very specific situations.

Insider Threat

The insider threat has always been considered the most credible threat with several actual examples being experienced in North America generally and the nuclear industry specifically. The cause of this behaviour may result from a variety of different stimuli: common examples include sympathy to cause, blackmail threats against family members, financial hardship/inducement and disgruntled employee (due to unstable work environment and rapidly changing work situations).

Theft Of Nuclear Material

This attack type is also clearly in the domain of the terrorist. There are a number of reasons the terrorist would want to obtain nuclear material, firstly to contaminate large portions of inner city areas (the so called dirty bomb) to terrorize the public and induce massive economic loss to the affected community. The second reason is to obtain weapons grade fissile material for the production of nuclear weapons. Generally all nuclear facilities are extremely vulnerable to this type of attack.

Nuclear Facilities Potential Problems

Security deficiencies in existing security organizations include:

The Company

Globe Risk Holdings is an independent security consulting company, specializing in the development and delivery of Operational Nuclear Support Programs and Training for both public and private sector nuclear facilities.

The team of world-class professionals affiliated with Globe Risk Holdings posses a wide range of first hand operational experience from diverse disciplines such as the Special Air Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Hong Kong Police Force, Canadian Forces and Crisis Communications executives with experience from several billion-dollar North American corporations. This top quality operational experience, when applied in conjunction with its nuclear security expertise, allows Globe Risk Holdings to implement effective, operationally focused solutions and training to resolve the complex, real world security problems faced by nuclear facilities.

Globe Risk Holdings has the management team and experience to provide day-to-day management of nuclear facility security teams. Globe Risk Holdings successfully transformed the Rapid Deployment Team security force at a Canadian nuclear facility from a green field operation to one that is fully trained and functioning. Globe Risk Holdings has within it the experience and capability to provide a high level of physical security for nuclear facilities.

The Services

Globe Risk Holdings has supported a varied and wide-ranging client base in the areas of Security Planning, Specialized Tactical Training, Crisis Management, Emergency Preparedness, Business Continuity Planning and Technical Support. The specific functional areas include:

Globe Risk Holdings's strengths in providing operational support include the following:

Concept of Operations & Command and Control

In conjunction with applicable government statutes, regulatory legislation and corporate procedures, the planning basis is used as the guiding principle to develop a rational concept of operations. Once validated, this is used to define the site security/incident response plan. The command and control structure required to support the concept of operations is then identified. Globe Risk Holdings will develop a Command and Control Concept of Operations doctrine that will allow efficient and effective coordination and control of all incident response plans resident within the operation.

The Command and Control Concept of Operations provides the high level guidance for implementing a fully integrated management and communications response capability with the necessary embedded support and maintenance functions. The Command and Control structure and management processes necessary to ensure the effective implementation and sustainability of the company's all-hazard crisis management program would be included.

Globe Risk Holdings's approach is to conduct a review of existing regulations and response plans, and then hold discussions with key stakeholders to clearly identify the need for a command and control methodology, the extent of interfaces with other response agencies and the scope of work for designing the management system.

This initial review and discussion would be used to assist in developing a comprehensive Concept of Operations paper, which would identify the structure and organization required to comply with existing legislation and manage the myriad different response plans currently in force.

The guiding principle will be the application of a standard response process that will function effectively to counter all applicable threats that may impact the nuclear facility. This integrated approach allows valuable resources to be co-coordinated and focused on developing and maintaining a co-coordinated command and control strategy that can respond to and recover from all credible threat events.

The Globe Risk Holdings team consists of experienced professionals, each with specialist expertise including security contingency planning, command and control structure development and implementation, threat and hazard analysis, risk mitigation, emergency response management and crisis leadership mentoring, crisis communications, corporate governance, business continuity planning, disaster recovery planning, and executive due diligence.

The involvement of Globe Risk Holdings specialists, knowledgeable in preparing plans and procedures, specialist training development and in the highly specialized areas of emergency response command and control, ensures that adequate resources are available to deliver a top quality product which surpasses normal client expectations.

Globe Risk Holdings firmly believes in the clear application of a defined and logical Command and Control structure to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and overall quality of the security management and crisis response process. This includes the understanding of with whom to communicate as well as a management and decision making capability which will allow the emergency management team the ability to efficiently identify what information and response requirements need to be communicated and initiated. The proposed aim of the project is to develop a Command and Control "Concept of Operations" that will allow a nuclear facility the mechanism to initiate and manage the full spectrum of response options contained in all the operational incident response publications applicable at the facility.

From experience, Globe Risk Holdings has learned that client involvement throughout a project is critical to its ultimate success. The sooner a client becomes a stakeholder and assumes ownership of the resulting product, the greater the degree of success that is achieved. For the consultative approach to be successful, the active involvement of all of the key stakeholders throughout the project is essential. This will include all personnel assigned management roles in any of the existing emergency response command and control structures.

Developing a Command and Control Concept of Operations will normally be conducted as four separate, but distinct tasks:

Task One
  • Documentation Review
Task Two
  • Interviews with key players
Task Three
  • Development of Command and Control concept of operations/report preparation
Task Four
  • Presentation/ final delivery of Command and Control Document

Program Definition & Project Management

Globe Risk Holdings solves complex problems by adopting a systemic approach to each issue. By clearly defining the operational processes and identifying the root cause problem, Globe Risk Holdings is able to propose simple, effective and achievable solutions. A modular approach is used to clearly define the overall recovery program that allows efficient use of resources to provide a timely and cost effective management plan.

Hazards Analysis and Risk Assessment

Globe Risk Holdings's staff has the experience and resources necessary to perform site surveys, risk analysis and resource assessments. This source information is used to develop a realistic threat model from which a credible planning basis can be produced. The planning basis forms a key management tool to identify the most cost-effective application of resources to minimize the risk posed from the hazards identified.

Plans and Procedures

Globe Risk Holdings's team has a profound level of operational experience in many security and safety related disciplines. This broad experience is used to optimize the development of concise and coherent plans. The supporting procedures are then developed to allow effective and efficient implementation of the plan.

Globe Risk Holdings can assist nuclear facilities in measuring their security and response plans versus the Design Basis Threat through the use of:

Specialized Training Requirements

Globe Risk Holdings recruited, trained and managed an Armed Rapid Deployment Security Team for a nuclear facility. The Globe Risk Holdings nuclear security training program has been recognized by a government agency as the federal standard for nuclear facilities and nuclear security personnel.

Threat - Risk - Vulnerability Assessments

Globe Risk Holdings can offer its nuclear industry clients a security consulting service that would assess and improve existing protective strategies at their sites. Through a paradigm that incorporates an exhaustive threat, Risk, Vulnerability Assessment, causal analysis, corrective actions and training, Globe Risk Holdings can provide a single source for total quality site security improvements that will significantly harden a facility against a potential terrorist attack.

The vulnerability assessment methodology developed by Globe Risk Holdings is a methodical and efficient risk-based approach, where risk analysis and assessment is a function of the severity of consequences of an undesired event, the probability of adversarial attack, and the prospect of an adversary succeeding in causing an undesired event.

Globe Risk Holdings uses a vulnerability assessment methodology model designed so that our consultants can compare relative security risks, If the risks are deemed unacceptable, recommendations are developed for reducing and mitigating the risks identified. The goal is to make any facility a less attractive target, thereby reducing the likelihood of a terrorist or criminal act directed at the facility. By increasing protection measures against specific adversarial attack scenarios, a facility decreases the likelihood of success by that adversary in causing a catastrophic event.

The nuclear industry Threat, Risk, Vulnerability Assessment (TRVA) model comprises ten (10) separate phases:

Penetration Testing

In recent years there has been a requirement to use independent security firms to conduct penetration tests on sensitive infrastructure facilities. The aim of a penetration exercise is to test the operational response of the security organization.

A penetration test is a research tool and is usually conducted during the investigation phase of a physical security audit or in depth security survey. The security deficiencies identified by the assessment team represent the penetration opportunities provided in relation to the activity at the site during the period of the test. Although different conditions will present different exploitation opportunities, the findings are representative of the overall state of access security within a facility.

The recommendations made by the Globe Risk Holdings team relate to issues involving human error, procedural deficiencies, security hardware defects and overall systemic failures.

Globe Risk Holdings, as part of its range of services, provides a comprehensive program of penetration testing. Globe Risk Holdings consultants have significant experience providing both public and private sector organizations domestically and internationally, with this service offering. Having conducted penetration security evaluations and provided recommendations and implementations based on prepared design basis threats, Globe Risk Holdings has some unique qualifications in this area.

Globe Risk Holdings will analyze and create scenarios ranging from a single dedicated adversary with no specialized training, lightly armed with minimal explosive capabilities and passive insider assistance, to a highly trained terrorist group with active insider assistance. We also provide real world knowledge concerning vehicular bomb deterrence and vehicle barrier systems. In addition, post exercise analyses are conducted at the end of each exercise measuring the nexus between performance and commitments and assessing real world validity of actions and responses.

Globe Risk Holdings assist in the development of self evaluation programs allowing facility security teams to internally test protective strategies on a periodic basis.

Globe Risk Holdings Support Services

Globe Risk Holdings is committed to providing a full service, through life support capability to its clients, far beyond that presently available from any other service provider within the security/emergency management industry. Support services can include on call operational support, initial and continuation Command and Control training, development and conduct of Command and Control exercises, and/or an independent audit and verification of the readiness of the security/emergency management organization.

Major Nuclear Industry Projects

Rapid Deployment Team - Globe Risk Holdings recruited, trained, deployed and managed an armed security team to provide defensive services to a nuclear facility in compliance with federal regulations. This team is trained to law enforcement tactical team operational standards and has been integrated into the police tactical command structure. Globe Risk Holdings is the only private company in Canada authorized to provide this service.

Threat - Risk - Vulnerability Assessment - Globe Risk Holdings conducted a threat, risk and vulnerability assessment and a physical security audit of a nuclear service facility. This task was expanded to include a review of the transportation process and the development and delivery of supervisor's awareness training.

Security Management Support - Globe Risk Holdings conducted a broad ranging security management support program to upgrade a nuclear facility's overall security organization. This included conducting a threat and risk assessment and physical security audit, developing the concept of operations and site security plan, preparing a complete series of operating and administration procedures, training all security staff on the new procedures and conducting a site wide, full scale security field exercise. This project expanded to include the provision of a wide range of technical services, including system design and product/vendor qualification and a full underwater security audit.

Threat - Risk - Vulnerability Assessment - Globe Risk Holdings conducted a threat, risk and vulnerability assessment and a physical security audit of a university's research reactor in compliance with Nuclear Safety Commissions security requirements.

Penetration Testing - Globe Risk Holdings - developed a security audit and penetration test program designed to exploit potential weaknesses of nuclear, chemical and oil facilities. Conducted a detailed review for a government agency of all security audits supplied by individual bridge operators and produced a generic set of guidelines that made up the Canada/United States International Bridge and Tunnel Guidelines of Best Practices for Security Protection.