Bomb expert updates security, safety issues

Real Estate Weekly, July 7, 1993

Three months after the World Trade Center bombing and subsequent arrest of the alleged terrorists, former New York Police Department Bomb Squad Detective and Hostage Negotiator Kenneth J.Dudonis offered this warning to the 450 assembled at the June 9 BOMA/NY (Building Owners' and Managers' Association of Greater New York Inc.) luncheon: "With the World Trade Center, the media claimed terrorism had come to America. That's not news. This is the news: Terrorism has been with us since the 1970's. The World Trade Center had such an effect because it was the largest target to date. The terrorists may be arrested hut the threat is not gone--they are sitting back and regrouping."

While the World Trade Center made a Herculean--and visibly successful recovery, Dudonis, who now serves as associate director of Security and Safety at the Swiss Bank Corp., characterized the bombing as "a success for the terrorists. They invested $1,200 'including the van rental--and got a return of $1.3 billion in damages."

Building managers and owners alike must remember, Dudonis stated, "that terrorism is theater. It is the primary tool for putting fear into the business segment of the community." While terrorism is relatively new to the U.S., Europe and the Middle East have experienced threats for years. It has been in the United States since the radicalism of the late 1960's and active days of such fringe groups as the Weathermen in the 1970's.

Reminding the luncheon guests that the 1975 bombing murder of 11 people at LaGuardia still remain unsolved, Dudonis offered these guidelines:

* The emphasis of a security program should not be on the bottom line, but the level or extent of security of the facilities for which you are responsible

* Take every bomb threat seriously. Never doubt the intention of the caller an d be aware of the various signatures the fringe groups use to identify themselves when phoning in a threat. In New York, some groups are following the lead of the IRA which uses a special code when phoning in threats to Scotland Yard.

When evaluating the cost of preserving human life versus the bottom do you answer the victims's family when you have to explain that you drew the line, Dudonis said, "you must evaluate what realistically can be done. How bottom line, for example, at installing a $2,000 camera that might have spotted the terrorist?"

"The key," said Dudonis, "is to strike a workable medium between expenses and needs that all sides can live with."