[iwar] [fc:FBI.warns.buildings.to.watch.ventilation.systems]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-24 18:21:38

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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 18:21:38 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:FBI.warns.buildings.to.watch.ventilation.systems]
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FBI warns buildings to watch ventilation systems

(For use by New York Times News Service clients.)

By ERIC ROSENBERG =

c.2001 Hearst Newspapers =

WASHINGTON _ The FBI has warned local law enforcement officials about
possible terrorist attacks in which chemicals could be released into
heating and air conditioning systems of office buildings, an FBI
official said Tuesday. 

The FBI official, who asked not to be identified, said the warning
wasn't instigated by any specific threat to a particular building but,
instead, was based on the bureau's view that a ``terrorist threat
advisory'' would be ``prudent to put out as a precaution.''

The FBI warning prompted a building managers trade group, the Building
Owners and Managers Association International, to alert its members
about the potential threat. 

The trade group's alert said the release ``of a toxic chemical into an
air handling system is a credible threat because toxic chemicals are
readily available in quantities and in forms making them easy to
disperse.''

The group warned its members to step up security around air intakes. 

``If the intake is on the street, perhaps a door could be built to
shield it,'' the group advised, adding that guards or security cameras
might also be useful. 

``Of course, for intakes located on the roof, it should be easier to
restrict access and alarm the area,'' the group said.  The trade group
cited hydrogen cyanide as a particular threat because readily available
literature tells how to make the gas that can be harmful and possibly
deadly.  A person who survives exposure to hydrogen cyanide isn't likely
to suffer long-term health problems, unlike exposure to chlorine and
other chemicals, the group said. 

The FBI advisory was issued Oct.  6 over the bureau's national threat
warning system _ the method the agency uses to alert local and state law
enforcement _ and included advice from an FBI hazardous materials expert
on how to combat any chemical release in a building by turning on water
sprinklers. 

It advised managers that military or commercial detectors for chemical
and biological agents are ``of little or no use'' as a frontline defense
because the response time is too slow.  Mike Coleman, vice president of
Allied Security, a security consulting company in King of Prussia, Pa.,
said he has advised several thousand building managers in group
teleconference calls in recent weeks on how to improve security. 

Because building ventilation systems can shut down the outside air
intakes and use recycled air, most office buildings are safer than
individual homes or many shopping malls, Coleman said.  Stephanie
Oppenheimer, an assistant vice president of the building management
group _ whose members administer 8.5 billion square feet of office space
in the United States and Canada _ said the FBI advisory has caused the
office building business to rethink security. 

``Without a doubt, all of our members _ and the industry in general _ is
reexamining all security plans, which includes assessing the security of
all vendors, such as cleaning crews,'' she said.  ``But the problem with
security for office buildings is that there is not one prescription _ no
one size fits all.'' In one measure of increased security in
Washington-area office buildings, the National Press Building, home to
several hundred national and international media outlets, recently
implemented a policy of requiring that its outside janitorial service
provide information on all new hires for cleaning crews, said Jeanette
Gavel, director of building management. 

Coleman said this kind of closer scrutiny of cleaning crews and vendors
who regularly visit any given building is a likely trend across the
industry. 

``I think we are moving to a security framework in which everybody who
walks into a building as a contractor or vendor should be held to the
same level of scrutiny as a security professional.''

They should require regular employee background checks, Coleman added. 

``Let's face it, many have access to all points of a building, in
particular janitorial and maintenance staff,'' he said. 

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