Objectives of Physical Security Measures

Physical security measures should deter or discourage someone who has malicious intent, known as an attacker. An attacker could be a thief, a vandal, a terrorist, or a disgruntled employee. An attacker could be an individual or a team of people.

Rational attackers can be deterred or discouraged by effective physical security measures. Deterrence occurs when rational attackers choose not to launch an attack because they realize they have little chance of achieving their objectives.

Unfortunately, some attackers are not rational. For irrational attackers, the attack itself is the objective. An irrational attacker will make the attack, even when faced with the overwhelming likelihood of failure. Physical security measures can cause an undeterred irrational attack to fail.

Physical security measures should delay or completely deny the attacker the access needed to complete his attack successfully. Physical security barriers and devices are used to keep attackers away from their objectives or targets, reducing or eliminating their chances of success.

It is best if an undeterred attack can be detected before it begins. Threat assessment and effective intelligence are used to warn of an attack before it reaches a Forest Service facility. Once the attack approaches or encroaches on a Forest Service facility, physical security measures need to detect it at the earliest possible moment.

Once the attack has been detected, the attacker needs to be delayed to allow time for security response and intervention. Delay and access denial may be complementary strategies.

While these objectives are presented sequentially in this Web site, they can occur simultaneously or in a different order. If attackers see enough obvious security measures that may deny them timely access to their objective, delay them from reaching their objective, or detect them at the earliest possible moment, they may not even attempt an attack.