The risks of terrorism & schools--a rational assessment.

MANY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS, educations and parents are deeply concerned about the possibility that acts of terrorism may again occur in or near American schools. With many reckless predictions in the American media and at professional conferences since 2001, the hype has increased the fear of

school terrorist attacks even more and far out of balance with the actual level of risk. Though none of these speculative predictions has come to pass, new predictions keeping popping up and yet no viable intelligence source has substantiated them. At the same time, schools have been targeted in the United States and abroad on rare occasions and we all know the very real possibility exists that schools or school-related targets could be hit in the U.S. again. How can schools obtain a realistic balance between the need to address the potential for these devastating events and the rampant hysteria in the media?

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In the book, Jane's Counter Terrorism, the authors maintain there are more than 100 official government definitions of terrorism globally. This illustrates the fact that there is at least some lack of agreement as to what constitutes a school terrorism event. That said, if we use a multinational definition of terrorism, there have been at least six incidents involving American public and private schools being impacted by acts of terrorism. There have also been a number of incidents of: school and school bus terrorism in other countries. Since a Palestinian terrorist attack on an Israeli school bus in May, 1970 left nine children and three adults dead, terrorists have found schools and school buses to be powerful and relatively soft targets. The 1970 bus attack was followed by a massacre at an Israeli elementary school in Maalot where terrorists dressed as Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed 21 school children and several adults in May, 1974. While these and other attacks have been horrific, they are also extremely rare events. Our research indicates that school related terrorist attacks in stable democracies are extraordinarily rare events.

Most acts of school-related terrorism have taken place in Israel, Turkey and in war torn or unstable nations. In the United States, terrorist attacks in New York City and Oklahoma have impacted schools in the vicinity of the targeted sites. In other cases, a public elementary school and a private elementary school have experienced hostage situations perpetrated by individuals who espoused militia beliefs and more recently, the beltway sniper attacks in Maryland included a middle school student among the victims and involved convictions for violations of terrorism statutes during subsequent trials.

Taken out of context, these incidents could present an unbalanced picture. A careful and rational assessment demonstrates that terrorists have and likely will continue to target schools, school buses and school events around the globe, but schools are only one type of target and are in fact one of the least frequently selected by terrorists. For example, while Turkey has experienced several hundred school related attacks, they are a tiny percentage of the more than 43,000 attacks in an eight year period of instability. While our research of school terrorist attacks found a number of incidents, it revealed far more attacks in other settings. We must pay attention to patterns of terrorism in other countries while understanding the significant differences in government stability, law enforcement and intelligence capabilities and other factors that make regions like Southern Russia very different than any region of the Mid West United States. Great care should be taken for example, when evaluating the horrific attack in Beslan in light of its implications on our own risk. The differences between the level of governmental stability, military, intelligence and law enforcement capabilities, and sheer numbers of terrorists living in the region poses a very different set of risk factors than in any community on U.S. soil. As with evaluations of school-related attacks in Israel, the cultural, societal and antiterrorism capabilities as must be taken into account before trying to adapt Israeli methodologies for our schools. The differences in legal systems

While attacks on other targets have been more frequent, school attacks typically create strong emotional reactions and demands for dramatically enhanced security for schools. Failure to prepare for this type of reaction has left school and law enforcement officials in other countries unprepared. For regions of high risk, antiterrorism measures can be extensive. When co-author Michael Dorn traveled to Israel for advanced antiterrorism training, he noticed that school children at tourist sites were accompanied by off-duty soldiers armed with rifles. Further inquiry revealed the State of Israel requires that soldiers be assigned to escort school children on field trips. This relatively successful measure was instituted following two incidents where children on bus field trips were ruthlessly gunned down by terrorists. Students in the territories must ride to school in armored buses due to repeated attacks on these vulnerable targets. Implementing these practices in the State of Israel placed a considerable drain on available resources and had to be balanced with other needs, yet was implemented in a relatively short period of time due to actual incidents, intelligence information and collaboration between variour government agencies. These examples illustrate the importance of understanding the need to look ahead in order to methodically respond to heightened threats of terrorism. Thinking about general possibilities in advance can create a more practical response than making hasty decisions under intense public pressure. Since bus stops and buses have been a favorite target in other countries, pupil transportation should be given thought as well as schools and school events. A solid working relationship between school and area public safety officials can go a long way to help address school terrorism vulnerabilities and preparedness capabilities. At the same time, it is crucial not to become too focused on specific incidents in other countries absent intelligence information that similar risks pertain to U.S. targets. For example, basing a school systems strategy on primarily on the Beslan attack would likely prove to be incredibly ineffective.

Instead, the primary focus should be upon specific core functions rather than specific incidents of school-related terrorism. For example, competency in primary emergency management functions such as sheltering in place, reverse evacuation, remote family reunification and the two types of lockdowns along with solid prevention concepts is not only an effective antiterrorism approach, but will help for a variety of far more likely hazards and vulnerabilities as well.

Fortunately, many effective antiterrorism measures for schools are basic security measures that should already be in place to address other more traditional threats. For example, an elementary school without a good access control system is not only an easier target for terrorists, it is also an easier target for a sexual predator seeking access to children or a non-custodial parent who seeks to abduct a child. The Israeli police officials we have worked with have consistently emphasized the importance of good physical security for schools as one of the most effective antiterrorism measures within the power of schools to implement. Access control is among the most important of these measures. For schools, this means interior as well as grounds, entryway access control and visitor screening protocols. If a fourth grader in a Catholic school was able to kill more than 90 people in our country because a boiler room door was left unlocked, how much devastation could a trained and highly motivated adult cause? Preventive and emergency preparedness measures should be integrated into traditional efforts and driven by a risk and vulnerability assessment process.

The potential for terrorism to impact any community and thus any school makes it necessary that schools have robust emergency preparedness plans that can help staff address even catastrophic incidents such as a multiple victim shooting, hostage situation, detonation of an explosive device, major hazardous materials incident or other types of attacks available to terrorist groups. Globally, the use of firearms and explosives have been the predominant methods of attack, but other types of attack methodologies have and could be used. Schools should work to provide balance for their preparedness efforts. For example, a school that has conducted six lock down drills but no reverse evacuation or shelter in place drill is severely unprepared not only for terrorism, but for accidental incidents as well (such as a bear wandering onto campus or a tanker truck accident involving hazardous materials).

Of particular importance in planning are effective crisis communications, solid functional protocols to move, shelter and evacuate large numbers of students and integrated plans with role specific plan components for all major categories of employee such as teacher, administrator, bus driver, custodian etc. With the exception of small public or independent schools, a single version of a ready reference emergency chart to guide all school staff will not prove effective for a major event such as an act of terrorism because one set of action steps cannot effectively guide different categories of employees who will have related but different duties.

To emphasize an earlier point of considerable importance relating to schools and terrorism is best to remain focused on functions rather than specific incidents. The very nature of school terrorism makes it difficult to predict when and where attacks will occur and even what types of attacks to expect. By focusing on solid prevention measures such as effective access control, visitor screening, supervision of students and core emergency preparedness capabilities such as incorporation of the National Incident Management System into plans, training, drills and exercises, any school can be more effectively prepared to face the potential for rare but devastating terrorist incidents.

About the Authors: The most well known school safety experts in the world, the Dorn's have produced more than 20 school safety videos which are now in use on every continent. The FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, TSA, BATF, Israel Police, Security Services of the United Kingdom, People's Republic of China and thousands of other national agencies have utilized their training videos. Their book Innocent Targets-When Terrorism Comes to School is the standard work on the topic and is used as a textbook at universities and has been utilized by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Ranking Israeli Police officials and offices of state police, emergency management and homeland security in all 50 states and all U.S. territories, One of the nation's best-known and most widely published school safety experts, Michael Dorn serves as the Executive Director of Safe Havens International, a global non profit school safety center. Michael previously served as the State Antiterrorism Planner and later as the Lead Program Manager for the Terrorism Division of the Georgia Office of Homeland Security. He is one of only three experts with government school safety center and antiterrorism experience in the United States. Chris Dorn has lectured on the topic of schools in terrorism for groups as diverse as the Washington State Department of Education, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Vietnam National University. For more information on schools and terrorism and a free 20-minute plan evaluation checklist, visit www.safehavensinternational.org.

RELATED ARTICLE: What's Being Done?

Organizations like the Foundation for the Advancement of Life Safety and Security are steadily making progress with campaigns to promote a safer built environment by informing interested parties through research, education and communication.

The Foundation, in its partnership with the Door and Hardware Institute (DHI), works with recognized experts in the construction of more than 95% of the door openings in the nation's schools. The owners of these buildings rely on the advice and expertise of a door and hardware consultant to keep them current on standards and technology as they pertain to safety and security. Current standards and technology need to offer a combination of the best possible and most reasonable amount of security that allows for the safest entry and eqress into and out of a school building.

Those who do this work in conjunction with the Foundation understand the balance of life safety and security. DHI works with more than 1,500 Architectural Hardware Consultants (AHCs) whose role in is to design every door opening from a use, life safety and security perspective.

This is an important area of expertise that needs to be included by every country and school board reassessing the life safety and security requirements of our nation's schools.

In an effort to further our industry's efforts on this front, The Foundation was in attendance at the April 23rd hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Foundation board member Richard Barnhard, FDHI, DAHC/CDC, attended the hearing chaired by Senator Joseph Liebeman (I-CT) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-ME).

"it was important for the Foundation to attend this hearing," said Barnhard. "In light of the tragic events that took place at Virginia Tech, it is critical that the Foundation continue to be present and to gather--and eventually present--information that will help lawmakers make important legislative decisions regarding life safety and security."

Another example of efforts to further safety in schools was the recent life safety and security inspections for a number of Head Start Centers located in the San Diego, CA area. This Foundation sponsored event was hosted in cooperation with the Neighborhood House Association in SanDiego. The inspections consisted of walking through 15 centers over a two-day period to determine what changes, if any, could be made to doors at the points-of-entry and to fire-rated doors.

"With recent school-related incidents across the country and with the known dangers of fire, we knew that we could play an active role in helping organizations understand the balance between security and life safety," said James Tartre, an Architectural Hardware Consultant (AHC) and Foundation president. "Doors are instrumental to a child's safety and we felt that we could have a positive impact at the Head Start Centers."

Efforts to further this cause are on-going. Be sure to visit the Foundation Web site, www.LifeSafetyAndSecurity.org for more information on current activities and efforts.

Call to Action

Working with officials on a new school project or school renovation? Make sure you consult a DHI-certified consultant at each stage of planning, design, and building to best address all issues of access control. Using the knowledge and experience of a qualified industry expert can offer school administrators the tools they need to implement sound policies that ultimately ensure the safety of everyone within a school building and minimize the potential for unauthorized entry into these halls of education. Visit the DHI Web site, www.dhi.org to find a certified consultant in your area.

For a listing of past school related terrorism events, visit

www.schoolterrorism.org must also be taken into account. For example, there is no legal concept of an illegal search in any Israeli court. This significant legal concept dramatically alters one aspect of antiterrorism strategies.