High-Rises and Terror Attacks: How We Can Prepare for the Worst
May 20, 2021Recently, Dr. Joshua Sinai, Capitol Technology Professor of Practice in Counterterrorism Studies, published an article in ASIS International's "Security Management" magazine for the March/April 2021 issue. The article discussed the unique safety risks faced by owners and occupants of high-rise building structures and how these buildings may be prime targets for terrorists. The piece goes on to discuss different ways that buildings can be secured and safety protocols can be put in place to mitigate as much terroristic threat as possible. Dr. Sinai agreed to sit down with Capitology Blog for a question and answer session based on his article, found here, which we recommend as prior reading for this blog.
Q: With tall buildings being such an attractive target for terrorist attacks, especially in a world of rising political and societal polarization, do you anticipate that there will be fewer skyscrapers, high-rises and high tower structures built in the future? Would security concerns be enough reason to not build as many of these types of buildings?
A: Terrorists, whether as groups or lone actors, especially those who are ambitious, always seek to attack and damage high-value targets, such as iconic tall buildings, because, as I discuss in the article, the ensuing publicity will solidify their stature as ‘world-class’ destroyers. Because terrorism, in general, is a surprise attack, it is considered to skyscrapers’ security departments as one of their top threats because it is “truly the unknown.”i The most catastrophic example of attacking skyscrapers was al Qaida’s use of two hijacked passenger aircraft to fly into the World Trade Center’s twin towers on September 11, 2001, with both quickly collapsing, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 people and billions of dollars in physical damage. There was also a follow-up plot by al Qaida in 2002 to fly a hijacked airplane into the 73-story U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, which, fortunately, was thwarted during the plot phase. Other types of attacks have included firearm-shootings inside these buildings, often involving workplace violence, and on January 6, 2021, some 800 assailants took over the U.S. Capitol Building, which can be considered a “tall building.”
Despite these attacks and plots, the threat of terrorism has not deterred the construction of new skyscrapers, although they are now subjected to new construction and safety requirements. New government and municipal building safety regulations and codes are now requiring that security considerations are included in the construction of tall buildings to address terrorism and other security threats, including, in their construction, ensuring that such buildings will not quickly collapse if attacked, including accidentally, such as by damaged aircraft hovering nearby.
One of the most prominent examples of the implementation of such new security-based construction designs was the construction, in New York City, of the 78 floors high “Freedom Tower” skyscraper at One World Trade Center, at Ground Zero, which was completed in 2013. Its construction was based on new post-9/11 designs of a “high performance” skyscraper as “stronger, safer, and smarter than those of the Twin Towers' epoch.”ii In this tall building, new construction designs include utilizing redundant building systems to prevent a structure’s “progressive collapse” from the spread of local failures, the use of minimal amounts of glass windows, 30-inch concrete walls, and separate elevators for firefighters.iii Specific security systems include a large number of surveillance cameras throughout the building, with other security measures beginning in the lobby.iv To prevent vehicle ramming attacks, concrete bollards were constructed at the building’s exterior, as well.v
Q: If a terrorist attack or other type of security disaster were to happen in a tall building that prevented victims from going downstairs and out the doors, what types of evacuation plans do you think could be put into place to maximize the chance of all occupants getting out safely? How could technology be used to aid these plans?
A: Tall buildings present unique challenges in evacuating their inhabitants in case of disasters, including terrorism, especially when the upper floors are affected, such as by a bombing’s physical damage and raging fires. One challenge is that the higher the building, the more complex and longer it would take to evacuate it, with several hours required, than would be the case with the few minutes it would take to evacuate a lower building of five floors or less.vi Attesting to this challenge, with the majority of people in a tall building reaching their destination through the use of elevators, they would likely be out of commission in an emergency,vii resulting in an overflow of people attempting to descend staircases, exacerbated by the difficulty of assisting people with disabilities in such manual evacuations. Thus, deploying effective technologies to facilitate the evacuation in tall buildings of large numbers of people in a short time is a major challenge for their facility and security departments. Some of the new evacuation technologies being discussed (with some that may already be deployed) include a combination of staircases and interior and exterior slideways, fireproofing elevators and their shafts,viii vertical self-descending lifts, landing escaping bags, tilt slideway escapers, and special spiral slideways.ix
Q: An interesting fact you mentioned in your article was about staff working in places such as hotels being trained to look out for suspicious activity, like a “do not disturb” sign hanging on the door of a guest’s room for extended periods of time. How could staff members investigate this type of potential threat while maintaining everyone’s safety and without causing unnecessary escalation and panic?
A: On October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock carried out a shooting rampage from his 32nd-floor suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, killing an estimated 58 people and wounding more than 700 othersx who were attending an outdoor concert outside the hotel. Even though the hotel reportedly had a state-of-the-art security surveillance system,xi Paddock still succeeded in carrying out his attack because he was able to hide his more than 23 rifles and ammunition in his luggage,xii which was taken to his hotel room. In another activity that should have aroused suspicion, for three days prior to his shooting he had placed a "do not disturb" sign on his hotel room door,xiii thereby preventing any hotel staff from seeing his room.
In the attack’s aftermath, hotel security departments have been exploring new security systems and measures to prevent such catastrophic attacks from recurring on their property. It was easier to implement them in Las Vegas because their hotels constituted iconic targets, although it was admitted by security practitioners that such measures were not appropriate for hotels in other parts of the country which face different threat portfolios. Also, with hotels in America striving to provide an open, inviting and convenient environment, they do not wish to inconvenience or frighten guests that their facilities may not be safe. In other countries, such as Israel, where security guards are placed at the entrances to all hotels, such security measures are commonplace and accepted by the guests as a necessary condition for staying at the hotels.
In Las Vegas, some of the security technologies and measures underway since Paddock’s attack include placing guards at hotel entrances, scanning guests in the lobbies with metal detectors and placing their luggage through X-ray machines.xiv Other security measures include placing security surveillance cameras throughout a hotel to identify potential anomalous behaviors of concern by some guests. In another security measure random background checks are likely conducted on some guests for suspicious activities, which might be shared with local law enforcement for follow-up actions, if necessary.xv An important protective measure is for a hotel’s security officers to patrol their facility’s floors for various signs of suspicious activities, such as guests who behave in a suspiciously evasive manner, or for cleaning staff to be aware of large amounts of unusual substances in the rooms, or denial of access to clean their rooms for a long period. In another deterrence measure – although this might raise civil liberties issues – there is some discussion of requesting guests to sign a form that they are not possessing firearms on premises.xvi
Overall, at all hotels, staff and security teams need to be trained in suspicious activity awareness under the formula of “if you see something, say something.”
Q: Are there currently any emergency measures that can stop an in-progress bioterrorism attack? For example, if a contaminant was released into a building via the air, could anything actively stop it from spreading? Do you have any ideas for how to tackle that specific type of attack?
A: To mitigate the effects of a bioterrorism event in a tall building, several preventative measures can to be implemented. The first measure is to conduct a risk assessment of the facility, using the formula of Risk = Threat (by a threat actor), Vulnerability (of a facility to being attacked), and Consequence (of an attack). This risk assessment will generate a prioritization of what are considered to be appropriate defensive, response and recovery resources to result in an effective anti-bioterrorism security program.
Specific technological security measures might include the placement of sensors to identify the potential release of a biological agent to alert facility and security officials of an attack that could trigger preventive measures such as shutting down of a ventilation system.xvii New technologies for protecting building inhabitants from biological (and chemical) attacks might include deploying ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) and photocatalytic oxidation air cleaning (PCO) systems.xviii
Since terrorists are always seeking to employ new unconventional weapons in their attacks to inflict catastrophic fatalities and physical damage, facility and security managers need to anticipate other types of weapons, as well, such as chemical, radiological and even cyber- devices, with each of them requiring tailored mitigation measures.
Q: Are there any ultra-advanced, not widely known or available types of security measures in place specifically for tall buildings with extreme prominence? How would the sophistication of the security inside the Empire State Building differ from security inside a lesser known skyscraper in the D.C. region or Baltimore?
A: Interestingly, the security departments at nationally iconic skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building, in New York City, and the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), in Chicago, likely have security departments that are comparable to those of some cities, since they present attractive ‘world-class’ targets for terrorists. In response, their security departments, together with their facilities departments, likely conduct risk assessments that are continuously updated to address the changing threats facing them, including new types of weapons their adversaries are likely to employ in attacking them. Because of their iconic stature, they likely exercise their emergency response plans with local police, fire, and emergency medical departments, including national law enforcement agencies. Their technological security systems are likely to be ‘state-of-the-art’ and deployed throughout their buildings, internally and externally.
While lesser known skyscrapers in places such as Baltimore and the D.C. region also likely have robust security technological systems in place, including coordination with local response agencies, they likely do not match those in the Willis Tower and the Empire State Building.
Q: Where do you see the future of safety in tall structures going? What kind of advanced technological security measures may be put into place in the future that go beyond cameras and ID badges?
A: As discussed earlier, security technology systems are being continuously innovated to address the ever-evolving threat challenges facing tall buildings. In addition to the globally disruptive threat of biological pandemics, which has already transformed the way tall buildings are now protecting their facilities and personnel, including checking people for their temperatures (and possibly requesting to check their vaccination ‘passports’), new types of technological threats that need to be addressed include weaponized unmanned aerial systems (UAS, also known as drones), that could attack tall buildings, especially at elevated heights, which might be difficult to detect. In response, security departments need to conduct UAS risk assessments, and have an appropriate UAS detection and response plan in place.xix As a demonstration of how real is the UAS threat, in February 2016, in what turned out to be a mishap, a commercial drone crashed into the Empire State Building’s 40th floor and then fell on to a ledge five levels below.xx
Thus, the ever-evolving threat landscape facing tall buildings is requiring their security departments to remain continuously vigilant and innovative in their security response measures. To help address this challenge, security technology companies, laboratories, and technology universities need to continuously innovate in order to produce new security technology products that will enable tall buildings to be safe in overcoming whatever new threat landscapes might emerge in near future.
SOURCES:
2 https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-decade-after-9-11-new-innovations-in-skyscraper-design/.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 https://www.towerfast.com/press-room/mega-skyscrapers-present-fire-safety-challenges.
9 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215098616310047.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
14 https://www.businessinsider.com/las-vegas-shooting-changes-hotel-security-2017-10.
15 https://www.businessinsider.com/las-vegas-shooting-changes-hotel-security-2017-10.
16 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
Dr. Joshua Sinai is Professor of Practice, Counterterrorism Studies, at Capitol Technology University. He has more than 35 years’ experience working on these issues in the U.S. Government (as a contractor), the private sector, and academia. From 2016 to 2018, as a contractor, he was part of a team that supported the Federal Protective Service’s (FPS) training division in an initiative to establish a center-of-excellence on protective security technologies and programs, as well as training courses for their protective officers and building tenants on active threats (terrorism, active shooters, and workplace violence).