By Tony Kingham, journalist and PR consultant
The recent anniversary of 9/11 has raised bitter memories of that terrible day back in 2001, and of course the chain of events that followed; the war on terror, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq and of course the emergence of ISIS.
We have all learnt to live with terrorism and the effects it has had, particularly on travel and the use of public spaces. The spectre of a ‘spectacular’, as terrorist groups like to call attacks like 9/11, the Madrid train bombing, the Paris and Mumbai shooting attacks and dozens more besides, have gripped the public imagination, especially around air travel. Probably because that is where most of us are directly affected by the resulting additional security measures.
We also have seen the rise of the “lone wolf” attacker, using readily available items to inflict death and misery such as hire cars, knives and even swords, as we sadly witnessed in incidents in Barcelona, Nice and Westminster, and many more.
But the bomb remains the weapon of choice for the terrorist and in particular the Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device or VBIED.
According to Wiki since 9/11 there have been 211 incidents of mass casualty car and truck bombings causing over 11,900 deaths and tens of thousands more maimings and injuries. Of those only 52 were suicide bombs (the vast majority of those in
Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa) and 159 were vehicles left in the target area, to be detonated by timer or remotely.
So, why is the VBIED the weapon of choice?
Well, the answer is simple; it is the most low-tech, low risk and mobile way to deliver a large quantity of explosives to an intended target.
Using a truck or car means the terrorist can use large amounts of readily and cheaply available materials such as ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Combined with fuel and other legal substances this will make a very big bomb, without the risk of attracting the attention of the authorities by having to obtain the equivalent amounts of controlled substances like commercial explosives.
Of course, they will need some high-grade explosives to detonate the bulk of the material but, the amount required is relatively small and therefore, so too is the risk associated with acquiring it, either locally or through smuggling operations.
Once the bomb is ready, it can be driven directly to the target, at a time and place of the terrorist’s choosing, without raising suspicion. It can be detonated either as part of a mobile suicide attack, using a trigger switch or impact trigger, or left covertly at the target and triggered by timer or remotely.
US Marines searching for victims in Beirut eight days after an attack that killed 241 American service members on October 23, 1983. (Source: CNN)
So, what you have is a weapon that is crude, cheap, unsophisticated, stealthy, highly mobile but devastatingly effective!
It should be remembered that terrorists killed more US servicemen and civilians with a truck bomb, driven into their barracks in Beirut in 1983, than they did with the American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
So how do you protect public spaces and events against VBIED attacks?
Well, the obvious answer is to prevent movement of vehicles in the immediate vicinity of the venue or event. But maintaining the balance between people’s freedom to enjoy normal activities and security considerations, means that simply pushing back the vehicle perimeter is not always practical or desirable in a free society.
So, restricting, slowing, and controlling vehicles in and around event venues are some of the primary ways in which we can protect ourselves against the VBIED.
The trick is to increase our defences without turning our venues and public spaces into fortresses, which, if we did, hands a partial victory to the terrorist.
Discrete, unobtrusive security is the desired effect and there are now numerous products available to help mitigate the threat whilst maintaining a steady movement of traffic.
Pop-up steel barriers have been around for some time and are a tried and tested technology that works for gates and roadways. The safe, desirable, default position for these barriers would be in the up position, only lowering the barrier once a driver and vehicle have been checked, but clearly this is not practical for most public venues and spaces. For most high threat venues and events, they become the back stop in a layered security approach, including measures like CCTV in combination with Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) facial recognition and traffic slowing measures like speed bumps and chicanes. This gives security staff the opportunity to screen vehicles and drivers before physical checks at vehicle check points.
However, inspecting selected vehicles cannot be avoided and this is where portable x-ray scanning systems are an invaluable tool. Large scale non-intrusive vehicle scanners are simply too expensive to be appropriate for most events. So, portable scanners allow security staff to thoroughly inspect vehicles safely and quickly.
ThreatScan® – portable x-ray system.
Portable x-ray Scanners like the 3DX-RAY ThreatScan offer incredible portability, flexibility, and military grade capability, in a roadside situation.
The system can be packed into the boot of a regular vehicle and deployed at any venue, whether it is a city stadium or an outside concert or festival, with no logistical infrastructure required.
However, inspecting selected vehicles cannot be avoided and this is where portable x-ray scanning systems are an invaluable tool. Large scale non- intrusive vehicle scanners are simply too expensive to be appropriate for most events. So, portable scanners allow security staff to thoroughly inspect vehicles safely and quickly.
Portable x-ray Scanners like the 3DX-RAY ThreatScan offer incredible portability, flexibility, and military grade capability, in a roadside situation.
The system can be packed into the boot of a regular vehicle and deployed at any venue, whether it is a city stadium or an outside concert or festival, with no logistical infrastructure required.
ThreatScan with its I-Gen x-ray generator is small and light enough to place anywhere on a vehicle, and with its specially designed stand can be positioned at any angle for best scanning results.
The large 600mm x 460mm imaging area means that more of the vehicle can be scanned in a single scan. Which means it is now possible to scan top-down as well as through doors, wheels, and tyres.
The ThreatScan also produces colour differentiated scans, (the same technology that we see in airport security scanning systems), which makes it possible to determine the nature of the materials being scanned. For example, orange shows organics, such as explosives, chemicals, and drugs, as well as more innocent items such as foodstuffs. Blue is for metals, such as guns, knives, hand grenades, metal pipe bombs as well as IED components such as the power sources, switches, circuit components and metallic fragmentation. Green is for inorganic materials like black powders and aluminumized homemade explosives and Grey scale is used for recognition of shapes and the form of objects.
Another key factor when selecting a portable ray system is the image quality. What determines the overall image quality is a combination of both the detector panel and the x-ray generator. Most systems on the market do not use a constant x-ray generator. With these systems the image quality plummets as you move away from the panel significantly. But the ThreatScan I-Gen system uses a constant potential generator, with this generator it actually improves. So, it is important to select a portable x-ray system with a constant potential generator.
What is clear is that the threat from VBIEDs is not going to go away anytime soon, and the only way to safeguard the safety and security of our citizens is to ensure that we remain vigilant, have the right procedures and protocols and the right tools to do the job! ■
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tony Kingham is a journalist and PR consultant specialising in defence and security issues for more than 25 years.
Download PDF: 64-66 Tony Kingham – COUNTER-IED REPORT Autumn 2021