Terrorist attacks that know no bounds

The imaginative ways that terrorists have come up with to kill people in recent years have alarmed governments worldwide as they try to protect the public. But authorities are also aware that such imagination extends to planning possible attacks to bring down vulnerable infrastructures which are vital for societies to function.

Disabling a telecommunications network would cost billions of euros for economies while contaminating water reservoirs could cost thousands of lives. While some EU member states have strategies in place for the protection of critical infrastructure, others do not. But with energy pipelines running across national borders and nuclear power stations situated close to borders, any weakness in one country’s security could have knock-on effects on the critical infrastructure of neighbouring countries.

In 2004 EU leaders asked the European Commission to examine if there was a need for a Europe-wide response and since then the Commission has been working towards a European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection.

This autumn the Commission’s directorate-general for justice, freedom, and security will publish a proposal for a framework law on the programme. At the same time the directorate-general for transport and energy will publish a communication on sectoral issues.

The Commission is looking to define what are Europe’s critical infrastructures and assess vulnerabilities.

Later the Commission may propose setting minimum standards or requiring security strategies on how to protect a list of facilities.

But from a policy point of view it may be that Europe is very limited in what in can do in this area. Not only is the competence over the management and control of critical infrastructure based in member states, it is often in the hands of private companies.

For them the cost implications of increased levels of security using expensive technology are difficult to bear. "The question of costs and who will pay for the extra programmes is important…will they be covered by the companies, by the governments?" says Carlos González-Finat, adviser in the international department of UNICE, the European employers’ federation. This cost dimension might also distort competition if some member states help fund companies to upgrade the security of critical infrastructure while others do not.

Security technology is developing all the time. For critical infrastructures housed in buildings, such as banks, for power stations and water reservoirs, devices can be fitted to doors or openings to detect vibrations which might indicate someone trying to break in. Surveillance cameras and infra-red devices to detect the presence of humans are being made ‘smarter’ with the addition of image sensors which can detect if someone is trying to outwit the device.

One possible Europe-wide response to the problems faced in protecting critical infrastructure would be to encourage universities and companies to come together to work on new technology projects. "There needs to be a motivation for European partners to work together," says Hansjürg Mahler, who is involved in research and development in Siemens and is also a member of the board of Euralarm, a body representing the security systems industry. "Sometimes initial efforts are regarded as too big and too risky for one company."

Mahler adds that Europe could also provide some minimum level of standards in security systems, an idea also being proposed in a European Commission Green Paper on detection technologies. In this the Commission has asked for industry, researchers and interested parties to propose ideas for technology which could be used better to secure airports and areas of public use, such as sports stadiums and railway stations.

But technology can only go so far. Often protecting power stations and oil pipelines is about having better co-operation across borders to guard against power-outs or blackouts, says Eric Luiijf, principal consultant in the TNO & Clingendael Centre for Strategic Studies in the Netherlands. He will address a conference in Brussels on 2 October hosted by the Security and Defence Agenda think-tank on how to protect Europe’s critical infrastructure. "Blackouts are often a problem when the organisational sides do not understand each other, often across borders," says Luiijf.

The imaginative ways that terrorists have come up with to kill people in recent years have alarmed governments worldwide as they try to protect the public. But authorities are also aware that such imagination extends to planning possible attacks to bring down vulnerable infrastructures which are vital for societies to function.