MITIGATING MALICIOUS USE OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

MITIGATING MALICIOUS USE OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS1. THE THREAT FROM MALICIOUS USE OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS What if the next vehicle that a terrorist drives into a crowd carries dangerous chemicals? What if a small bottle with harmful biological material is released at a concert? What if harmful substances or materials were released into the air via drones? ‘CBRN’ is the abbreviation commonly used to describe the malicious use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials, or weapons with the intention of causing significant harm or disruption. This is sometimes referred to as a ‘dirty bomb’. The possibility for malicious use of hazardous materials poses substantial risks, requiring organisations to rethink their traditional risk management approaches. Commonly, the ultimate purpose of such attacks is to cause harm or fear, by targeting critical infrastructure, public spaces, or a specific business or large venues, and sadly, the past decade has been marked by a sharp rise in the use of extreme means to achieve these goals. Besides the obvious threat to human life, the business disruption following a CBRN incident could compromise an organisation’s ability to maintain its normal operations, thus causing significant financial losses, damaging its reputation, or even threatening its continued existence as a corporation. The severity of this interruption depends on the type of incident and ultimately the length of time required to decontaminate the affected area. The first hours of response to a CBRN incident are particularly critical to containing the most severe impact. Based on a set of modular technology components and a tried-and-tested contingency programme, our approach can accurately estimate control and exclusion zones in near-real-time, thus significantly reducing the time it takes to start interventions. Summary of the threat This guide describes how to better protect against CBRN threats. As a starting point, we will begin with summarising the nature of the threat. C - Chemical Chemical releases are often divided into two categories. ● Toxic Industrial Chemicals Hazardous materials that have legitimate use, but which still pose a danger if released either by accident or intentionally. Example: Chlorine (used intentionally as a weapon by The Islamic State). ● Chemical Warfare Agents Chemicals that are designed to harm human beings. Example: Sarin, a nerve agent (used in the Tokyo subway attack, Kuala Lumpur 2017 (Kim Jong-nam), Salisbury 2018 (Skripal) and Russia 2020 (Navalny). 1Side 2Side 4