LEE ROBERTS : Keeping Terrorists Out of Work : Timely Advice From a Corporate Security Consultant

Saddam Hussein has promised to carry his “jihad,” or holy war, to the streets of the United States. Just last week, the Iraqi president called for worldwide “commando” attacks, proclaiming that those who died committing terrorist acts would be martyrs in the “mother of all battles.”

Hussein’s threats have brought the subject of terrorism into our daily lives as we face longer waits at the airport security check or tighter security measures in our workplaces. Although the chances of being a target in a terrorist act are remote, security experts say that most corporations could improve security regardless of whether the threat is from terrorists, kidnapers or disgruntled employees.

Orange County has seen some terrorist incidents in recent years, including the 1985 killing of the western director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Santa Ana, when someone rigged a bomb to the group’s office door. About the same time, a Ryder truck manager was disfigured when a letter bomb from a disgruntled employee exploded in his face. And just last month, a prominent furniture company executive from Newport Beach was murdered in the back of his van, his body riddled with bullets.

Lee Roberts investigates such incidents as president of Roberts Protection & Investigations in Santa Ana. Founded 10 years ago, the company has grown into a major security firm with nearly 100 employees and a long list of corporate clients including Fluor Corp., Loral Corp., Western Digital Corp., Hughes Aircraft Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp.

Roberts, an 11-year veteran of the Newport Beach Police Department, teaches classes at Golden West Criminal Justice Training Center in Huntington Beach and lectures on the subject of security.

Later this month, he is scheduled to speak to 200 Southern California executives in a seminar that will focus on how to deal with the escalating threat of terrorism against U.S. corporations.

Roberts, 42, recently sat down with Times staff writer Gregory Crouch to talk about corporate security.

Q. How real is the threat of terrorism to a company in Orange County?

A. I think we have as much if not more of a concern here in Orange County than any other place in the nation, excluding maybe Washington, D.C. Orange County has a very diverse population, a great number of aerospace companies and a number of military installations.

Q. How likely is it that a corporation would be targeted?

A. The FBI has some statistics that indicate companies are the most at risk. Of the bombings, assassinations, sabotage and the like committed against U.S. entities around the world between 1985 and 1989, one was directed at a public security personnel establishment, 15 were directed at military establishments, five against private residences, four against educational establishments and here’s the one that answers your question--17, the most incidents, were against commercial establishments. Most people think if we are going to be attacked by terrorists they are most likely to hit government buildings, but that isn’t what’s happened so far.

Q. How concerned should the average employee be?

A. We in the security sector firmly believe that even today you have more of a chance of being gravely injured or killed on the streets of Orange County than you do from a terrorist act.

Q. What should companies do to protect employees?

A. Something very important is the nature of your product or service. Someone producing military weapons may have a larger exposure than someone who is producing medical supplies, even though both of them are ultimately going to be used by our military. What we always suggest to a company is that someone like us sit down and do a good planning and assessment study and that we look at what type of a security plan now exists. Security, like everything else, has to be tempered with management concerns such as money. You can break a company’s back by coming in and doing an overkill on security that is not warranted under the present circumstances. Business leaders tend to be reactive in their nature as opposed to preventive. For instance, we have seen major corporations respond to a breach in security, such as an internal theft, by spending $40,000 or $50,000, when for half that money they could put in place some prevention programs.

Q. When you survey a company, what do you examine?

A. Normally, the first thing we look at is deterrence. If we can prevent a crime from occurring or deter it, then security has done its job. At the same time, we have to recognize that prevention alone will not accomplish the task. That is where you come into assessing physical security. Do we need cameras? Do we need access control? Do we need to lock the facility down and prohibit ingress and egress? Do we need an alarm system? What type of identification do we have for employees? That way we know who the good guys and the bad guys are. We also talk about compartmentalizing certain businesses where an employee may have a need to go into the shipping and receiving area. But does that employee have to go into the management section? You can grant different employees different clearances.

Q. Is it a company’s obligation to provide tight security?

A. Sometimes we say that it matters not so much what reality is as is how it’s perceived. If we have several hundred employees who perceive an immediate threat, then for their mental well-being a company may want to take some security measures for the peace of mind of those employees. And that’s just as important as doing it when there really is a verifiable or demonstrable threat. The other concern that no one really likes to talk about is liability. If someone is killed or injured, the general populace looks for a way to go after someone and hold them responsible.

Q. Do companies legally have the right to search people coming into their buildings?

A. Most companies do not search their employees per se. Some companies may ask that you open a briefcase or lunch pail. I can tell you that one of our major companies here in Southern California within the last three months installed an X-ray machine similar to those in airports. They are actively X-raying all packages that come and go from the facility. This was done at an electronics firm to look for items that were being stolen. With the climate being what it is today, there has already been talk of using (the machine) on people coming into the facility. To arbitrarily begin searching people, I think, is very intrusive. In this country, where we relish our freedom and are guaranteed to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, I think that could create an extreme problem for most corporations.

Q. Do you recommend searching briefcases and other items?

A. Yes, we do. In a manufacturing environment that lends itself to easy theft, then there is certainly nothing wrong with it and employees should cooperate.

Q. What should a company do if it receives a bomb threat? Immediately call the police?

A. Yes, certainly. We have a pamphlet--most law enforcement agencies do--that addresses bomb threats and what to do if you get one and certain things to listen for. Try to keep the caller on the line. Listen for an accent, common mispronunciation of words, background noise. Get as many specific details as you can like where the bomb is, who planted it, when it is to go off and why. It is permissible in the state of California to record a threatening phone call or a phone call in which someone is making a bomb threat. That does not mean you can record all conversations in the hopes of catching the bomb threat when it comes in. You must specifically record only the threatening phone call.

Q. Should the company have a recording device on hand?

A. Absolutely. That is one of the things we recommend in a security survey is that the receptionist have a telephone recorder hooked up. If we receive a lewd or threatening telephone call, that recorder should be turned on and the action should immediately be reported to law enforcement. The police and telephone company may set up a tap on the line to identify from where the call is being made.

Q. What about mail bombs? They seem like a rather effective tool for terrorists.

A. There are sprays out on the market today that enable you to more readily see through an envelope. Some companies have X-ray machines that are used in their mail rooms. Some of the things to look for on potential letter and package bombs are no return address; a cancellation from a foreign country; misspelled words; addressed to a title only as opposed to a person; excessive postage; protruding wires; strange odors; oily or unusual stains; stiff packaging. If you are a traveling executive staying at a hotel and all of a sudden someone is delivering a package to you in the hotel and the first thing in your mind is, ‘Gosh, wonder who is sending me that? No one knows I’m here but the office,’ then don’t accept it, and don’t open the door.

Q. Some AIDS activists got into the CBS News studios in New York recently using phony copies of the company’s identification cards. How effective are ID cards?

A. There is an ID card we like that is self-destructing, and it’s primarily used for visitors at facilities. They come in, they are given a white piece of paper with a couple of blank lines on it to write in the date, their name and what they are there for. Once that card is exposed to light for a period of time--usually from one hour to four hours--then all of the writing fades and it becomes a blank piece of paper. That prohibits people walking away with a visitor’s pass and returning a day or two later for less-than-honorable purposes.

Q. How effective are cameras in crime prevention?

A. We are real big on cameras and notices telling people we are recording. If something happens, you don’t have 10 or 15 witnesses who most likely are going to give you different accounts; you are going to have some demonstrable visual evidence of what occurred. And they are a great deterrence. We have several industrial facilities where we have concealed cameras . . . recording what is being done or not being done from a security and investigative standpoint.

Q. Should security guards at companies carry weapons? If an armed terrorist came in, it would seem the guard would be helpless without a weapon.

A. That’s a question we get asked a lot. We are extremely hard-pressed to sell armed security officers out of this business. You and I still see armed security officers in jewelry stores at the mall. If the bad guys came in and began shooting, you are into a “shoot, don’t shoot” scenario. Could you safely return fire inside a crowded mall? Virtually never. The purpose of security officers is to observe and report to the local police. They should be trained observers. And they are there for a deterrence effect more than anything else. The security officer is there to ensure that people are not carrying large boxes out of the facility, that unauthorized persons are not entering, that our safety rules and regulations are followed, that people have proper identification and so on.

Q. What about companies who know they are potential targets for terrorists?

A. If we planned to commit a terrorist act . . . at a target that had an armed guard out front, don’t you think we would first plan on how to take out that armed guard?

Q. Are executives more at risk than mid- or low-level employees?

A. During the last year we have handled a number of incidents where disgruntled employees or employees . . . have made threats against management and supervisory people. We have never had one of those threats carried out, fortunately. These usually consist of telephone calls, maybe a personal visit. Whether it’s a disgruntled employee, an external problem or a terrorist, you still have to respond to those threats and prepare for the worst. I know of no direct threats against any executives here in Orange County that are related to (the war in the Persian Gulf). However, at least one company executive was recently killed, but we’re still investigating whether it was connected to his position.

Q. What can managers do to protect themselves?

A. If we have an executive that has exposure for any reason, we talk to them about not setting patterns. Not driving to work the same way at the same time every day and parking in the same place. It makes it easier for someone--a terrorist, a kidnaper or a disgruntled employee--to make you a target. We talk about locking vehicles, making sure that you take your keys, all of these type things. We’re real big on cellular phones or radios that have some range where we keep that executive and his family members in touch. Some are so small they’ll fit in your pocket. It’s a grand means of executive security. And there are, of course, a lot of bulletproof clothing and vehicles. Quite frequently we may assign someone as a protective officer to an executive or his or her family. We may alter travel plans and set up meetings in places you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as an executive environment. For a number of corporations, we frequently sweep their facilities as well as certain executives’ homes for electronic listening devices.

Q. If you are a small- or medium-sized business, what is the cheapest way to improve your security?

A. One of the things we talk about is lighting. The way to properly light a building is to place the light away from the building and shine it up on the building. As you drive around Orange County, you can look and see how many of these buildings here are lighted from an artistic standpoint as opposed to a security standpoint.

Q. What else?

A. I’m very big on signs as a deterrent. Whether you have cameras or not, whether you use security or not, whether there is an alarm present or not, a company should put the alarm stickers or video camera stickers up.

Q. Some companies have curtailed all travel abroad. Is this an extreme measure?

A. Yes, I think it’s an extreme step to stop all of your travel. What you have to do is some pretravel planning. Most of us . . . know which countries are more likely to have terrorist activity. For instance, if I had business right now in Italy, Spain or France, then I would certainly consider flying into someplace like Zurich or maybe Belgium and renting a car and driving.

Q. What are some more precautions workers should take when traveling abroad?

A. Try to avoid staying in large hotels that are well-known and easy targets. Ask yourself some hard questions before you venture out: Do you have a contingency plan to get out in a matter of minutes if necessary? Have you arranged for 24-hour contact for safety? If you are in France, for instance, you may not always get a policeman who speaks English. Do you have someone who can serve as a translator for you in the event of a crisis? Do you have a safe place--what we call a safe house--to go to? Also, you should try to avoid public transportation, particularly in certain countries.

Q. Is the largest security threat to a company from its employees, even in these tense times?

A. Yes. From an overall standpoint, the largest threat to any company is internal.

TERRORIST INCIDENTS, BY TARGET

Here is a listing of 53 terrorist attacks against American personnel or property worldwide from 1985 through 1989 documented by the FBI. Public Security: 1 Entertainment: 2 Educational: 4 Private Residences: 5 Government: 9 Military: 15 Commercial: 17

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation.