Big business still 'top terrorist target'

THE terrorist threat to Western companies and their personnel is growing, and they will remain prime targets for groups such as al-Qaeda.

That is the stark warning from Alastair Morrison, one of the security industry's leading figures, who believes that, after a series of strikes against commercial interests, further attacks by extremists on international businesses are 'almost certain'.

Morrison, chairman and chief executive of Kroll Security International, the physical security subsidiary of risk consultancy Kroll, says the disruption caused by and publicity generated from strikes on commercial operations mean terrorists are especially eager to continue hitting big business.

In the wake of the attacks on New York's World Trade Center three years ago, commercial interests have continued to be a focus for terrorist activity. Three people died after bombings at HSBC offices in Istanbul last November while attacks on expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia have sought to destabilise the country, linchpin of world oil supply.

Speaking at an oil conference in London, SAS veteran Morrison urged firms to put security at the top of their agenda, and for governments and companies to co-operate more closely over counter-terrorist intelligence. Insufficient collaboration between public and private institutions means companies are 'on their ownî in the fight against terror, he said.

'It is almost certain that al-Qaeda will continue to attack economic targets,' said Morrison, who received the OBE in 1977 for his part in rescuing passengers held hostage by terrorists on a Lufthansa aircraft in Somalia. Commercial interests offer terrorists spectacular and accessible targets that cause economic and social damage in a highly visible and disruptive way.

Pointing out it was IRA attacks on the City of London that sparked a reversal in the British Government's policy of not negotiating with terrorists, he said: 'That lesson will not have been lost on al-Qaeda.'

The oil industry, because of its power, global economic importance and wide international footprint, is particularly at risk, and a major attack on energy infrastructure is 'only a matter of time'.

However, despite repeated low-level attacks on pipelines in Iraq, no major concerted terrorist campaign has been waged against the country's oil industry. It is 'almost as if' terrorists are 'deliberately not' targeting oil infrastructure, so that if they gain control of the country that asset is intact, suggested Morrison.

Iraq, he said, remains an 'almost impossible working environment'. Although reconstruction efforts proceed, threats to the safety of vital workers are severely hampering progress. The danger to foreign workers was highlighted this month by the brutal kidnap and execution of civil engineer Kenneth Bigley, who had been working in Iraq for more than a year.

Morrison believes, however, that Saudi oil facilities are 'well-protected' and in 'quite remote' areas, making them less vulnerable to attack than the softer target of Western personnel.