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Is Toronto Prepared for a Terrorist Attack? By JOE FRIESEN AND KATIE ROOK Saturday, July 16, 2005 Page A11 <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/hubsv3/tgamHub?searchT ext=page%3DA11+and+sortdate%3D20050716&searchDateType=searchDateRange&sort=S core%2Csortdate%2Csorttime&hub=SearchAdvanced&searchType=Advanced&from_date= 20050716&to_date=20050716> Key <http://images.theglobeandmail.com/imagesv3/icons/subkey_sm.gif> <http://adcounter.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/AdletCounter?ad1=GAMstory_TPNa tional_300x250> At the end of the day, I don't know how you can prevent all this from happening. There's things you can do reasonably, and people are trying to do the best they can, but it's never enough and it never will be enough in this new world, this new norm that we live in.' Julian Fantino, Ontario commissioner of emergency management TTC Even before the suicide attacks on London's Underground last week, Toronto's subway was routinely referred to as the likeliest target for terrorists, should they strike in Canada. <http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;18217755;6958408;x?http://www.trumptoronto.ca /Landing.aspx?src=gm1n> <http://adcounter.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/AdletCounter?ad1=talon_120x90_ 18217755> Since Sept. 11, 2001, the city has undertaken several studies to improve safety underground, but still lags behind major cities like London, New York and Washington. There have been additional installations of closed-circuit security cameras, which now number more than 800. Rick Ducharme, chief general manager of the TTC, said the effectiveness of the cameras is due more to their location, rather than how many are in place. He said that not all of the cameras are watched all the time, but all of them are taped. Unlike the London Underground, however, the cameras are not sophisticated enough to automatically detect unusual movements and pedestrian patterns. Mr. Ducharme said the system relies on its customers and employees to stay alert for anything suspicious. The TTC employs 70 special constables, but only 15 or 20 would be on duty at a peak time, he said. To augment their presence, uniformed Toronto Police officers are encouraged by their supervisors to use the TTC as much as possible when travelling to appointments. Metal garbage cans, which disappeared long ago in the U.K. after the IRA used them to conceal bombs, will soon be phased out in favour of clear plastic bags for trash and recycling. PEARSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT The Greater Toronto Airports Authority won't comment on security changes since Sept. 11, 2001, for fear of providing the wrong people with information, says Connie Turner, a spokeswoman for the agency. Ms. Turner said, however, that emergency procedures are reviewed regularly. After last week's bombings in London, canine-unit patrols were increased at Pearson and there was greater vigilance about unattended baggage. The most significant change to airport security began in April of 2002 when the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority took over all preboarding baggage screening from airlines. With an operating budget of $1.9-billion over five years, the agency hired 800 additional personnel for the federally funded program, spokeswoman Renée Fairweather said. Every screening officer must complete a 180-hour training course that covers topics ranging from customer service to the use of technology. Although employees are contracted from various security firms, their performance is rated according to national standards. Transport Canada conducts criminal background checks in concert with the RCMP and CSIS, spokeswoman Julie Iannetta said. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority also introduced explosive-detection trace machines at airports across the country to test passengers' carry-on baggage. Items are swabbed, identifying the presence of an explosive substance within seconds. Since 2002, the agency claims to have recovered more than one million prohibited items -- ranging from tweezers to guns, knives and other weapons used in martial arts, Ms. Fairweather said. Both the federal and the Toronto authorities are able to conduct random spot checks of people who have already passed through security, including passengers, airport employees, vendors and concessionaires. According to Gunnar Kuepper, an aviation-terrorism expert from Los Angeles who attended this week's disaster-management conference in Toronto, access to tarmac and airfield sites has been significantly curtailed at airports around the world since 9/11. At airports in the United Kingdom and the United States, for example, delivery trucks cannot enter the premises without registered identification and freight. All deliveries to Pearson International Airport are made to one site where they are repackaged and delivered throughout the airport, Ms. Turner said. While EDT machines are laudable, Mr. Kuepper is concerned they are not ubiquitous. Airports need to take greater advantage of the technologies that could prevent terrorist attacks, he said, citing as an example new technology that allows planes to be flown from the ground -- without pilots. This technology is advantageous for stopping terrorists from flying planes into targets. The technology would allow planes to be landed the moment ground control was notified of distress, he said. TORONTO HARBOUR Everything has changed in Toronto harbour since Sept. 11, 2001, Angus Armstrong, harbour master and head of security for the Port of Toronto, said. The first priority was to put fences up around any international pier to restrict access to the cargo-loading areas and to make mandatory identification cards and security badges for employees. Fears were also raised that ship-borne cargo containers, few of which are ever inspected, could be used to transport arms for a terrorist attack, or even material for a dirty bomb. Mr. Armstrong compares the task of examining containers to searching every passenger on the TTC. "If you suddenly stopped and tried to look inside every container, you would literally slow the economy down to a crawl." Most ships that arrive in Toronto, however, have cleared security at either Halifax or Montreal. Those ports are equipped with more sophisticated equipment, such as a large radiation-detecting gateway that monitors the radiation levels in the containers as they are unloaded onto trucks. Ships docking in Toronto mainly carry bulk cargo such as sugar, cement or steel, which Mr. Armstrong described as relatively easy to check. Even before Sept. 11, 2001, the Toronto harbour denied entry to ships originating from certain ports, many of them in Africa, with poor security and inspection records. Nor does it allow entry to ships carrying dangerous cargo such as oil or liquid natural gas, for fear that an accident or terrorist act could trigger a large explosion. PICKERING NUCLEAR PLANT Nuclear facilities are often mentioned as possible terrorist targets because they are ready-made weapons of mass destruction. A successful attack could create an ecological disaster comparable to what occurred after the reactor meltdown in Chernobyl. Untold numbers of citizens would die in the explosion and later from radiation sickness or cancer, and the Pickering plant is only about 30 kilometres from Toronto. John O'Dacre, senior security adviser for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, said his organization moved quickly after Sept. 11, 2001, to upgrade security at all facilities across the country. At Pickering, concrete barriers have been put in place to guard against a truck-borne suicide attack and armed response units are on-site at all times.Enhanced security screening for employees, such as CSIS and criminal background checks, have also been put in place for all employees and contractors who work in the protected area, the sector of the plant closest to the reactor. A training program for supervisors was also created to teach them how to detect unusual or changing behavioural patterns in their employees that might indicate some kind of plot. After the attacks in 2001, the CNSC considered placing anti-aircraft missiles at Pickering, which is close to the Pearson Airport flight path, in case of a hijacking. But it was decided that with the air force able to scramble CF-18s from nearby Canadian Forces Base Trenton, missiles were not necessary. WATER SUPPLY The greatest threat to Toronto's water supply is not a poison attack but an explosion that would disrupt service, said Patrick Newland, the city's director of water treatment and supply. "Our water infrastructure is so large and it would take such a large amount of toxic chemical to be adverse to human health that it is a minimal risk," he said. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the city has spent $2.5-million improving security at its four water treatment plants and more than 30 other water facilities. Closed-circuit surveillance, monitored by the city's corporate security, has been put in place, as have regular patrols by security and police. CSIS has also been brought in to consult on how to mitigate the risk to the water supply. David Parsons, head of an Australian water safety advisory group who attended an emergency preparedness conference here this week, said Toronto is on the right track. But he cautioned that even though a widespread contamination is very difficult to achieve, a small-scale attack could have devastating economic and psychological consequences. Striking further down the line of water supply, by getting in to the system at a tap or hydrant and pumping a contaminant such as cyanide back into the pipes, is a strategy that has been investigated by terrorists, he said. The United States is investing in research that would monitor water for contaminants as it moves through the system, but, at the moment, most utilities can test only chlorine levels. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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