The festive season is the period in which a heightened awareness for terrorism attacks is needed.
Terrorism inspired by ISIS and other violent causes is a possibility, especially over the Christmas and New Year period. This opinion is based on threats and intelligence reports indicating that terrorism is refocusing in the Southeast Asia region and people with extremist intentions live in Australia.
The threat particularly relates to city CBDs and other ‘crowded places’ like ferries, public transport hubs, airports, places of worship, museums and Christmas carol venues. We consider that the higher threat period is from mid-December to the end of January.
Cities that have internationally recognised and continuing events over the period, for example Sydney (Festival of Sydney which attracts large numbers of domestic visitors and foreign tourists) requires sustained security vigilance and resources. Although the national threat alert will most likely not change, police and other agencies will be well focused.
It’s time to assess your security resilience and preparedness for your organisation and the properties from which you operate. Your crisis management team and your emergency planning committee should revisit your security risks and vulnerabilities for this period.
To support our clients over this period, we will continue our Critical Incident Management service and have introduced a targeted physical security vulnerability audit service for the period.
