Going Undercover

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Jul 01, 2008

An interesting thing about infrastructure security is people’s tendency to examine and prepare for security of things seen above ground while ignoring below-ground security. Cities should consider security improvements to the underground infrastructure. It’s a wide world underneath a city’s streets.

On Feb. 26, 1993, Islamic militants detonated explosives in a van that they had driven into the World Trade Center’s underground parking garage. The blast killed six people and injured nearly 1,000 others, foreshadowing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that brought down the towers and killed nearly 3,000 people.

In early May, a New York appeals court ruled that the New York and New Jersey Port Authority was liable for damages caused by the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The court said the Port Authority knew about but ignored “an extreme and potentially catastrophic vulnerability that would have been open and obvious to any terrorist who cared to investigate and exploit it.”

The Port Authority was ruled liable because, in July 1985, an outside engineering consultant issued a report indicating that it was not only possible, but probable there would be an attack on the World Trade Center. A bombing of this magnitude was singled out as likely to come from the underground parking lot.

According to the court, in November 1985, a study group sponsored by the Port Authority’s Office of Special Planning offered a scenario eerily similar to the actual bombing. The study described a plot in which a time bomb-laden vehicle could be driven into the World Trade Center and positioned in the public parking area. What’s more, the arch nemesis of the United States— Osama bin Laden—had said publicly that he would like to break the economic backbone of the United States.

Another infrastructure concern below ground is the security of manholes. In Philadelphia this year, a graduate student was awarded a multimillion-dollar settlement after falling 18 feet into an open manhole. The student broke his back. It’s not like this is something new. Manhole covers have been disappearing for at least the last 10 years.

Among the highest priorities of maintaining the integrity of the U.S. critical infrastructure are new imperatives to protect citizens. Just a few feet beneath the pavement is a complicated web of pipes, wires, cables and conduit used to transport electricity, natural gas, potable water, waste and steam. This also includes some underground transportation and road traffic.

Manholes are the street-side access point to this infrastructure of public utilities and telecommunications. It’s hard to believe, but the majority of manholes in the United States are not secured. Lack of security provides ample access for terrorists and others intent on malicious behavior that could easily disrupt business and commerce.

At the same time, underground infrastructure must be accessible for routine maintenance, repairs and upgrades as well as monitoring and control functions. The only security typically offered is the weight of the manhole cover, which is about 100 pounds. However, it does not require a significant effort to remove a cover.

Scrap metal thieves in urban areas consistently take the covers, especially when scrap metal prices increase. Another trend is for homeless people to remove and sell the covers. It is imperative that high-risk manhole covers be secured.

New statutory requirements classify high-risk areas as Tier 1 that are located at critical utility junctions near a strategic location. A manhole that gives access to an electrical transformer near the New York Stock Exchange is considered a strategic location, for example. Tier II areas are found near key landmarks, including transportation hubs and centers of commerce and government. Tier III locations are found on main streets in a suburban center or can be manholes located in national parks. The manhole cover situation has become so critical that Wall Street recently upgraded its underground security. Manhole barrier devices were the product of choice, which, in fact, improved the underground infrastructure security.

Ensuring the protection of U.S. critical infrastructure and assets is a vital step to thwarting terrorism and other malicious acts. Congress would be wise to review new statutory requirements for Tier I and II manholes nationwide. Perhaps owners and operators of manholes should be required to assess vulnerabilities and identify such locations.

Using funding from the Department of Homeland Security, resources should be allocated for urban centers and strategic locations to purchase and install manhole barrier devices at all Tier I and II sites. To assist owners and operators of manholes, the government should offer incentives such as tax and insurance credits. This should include municipalities, but particularly utilities and telecommunications companies that would purchase and install manhole barriers. All of these considerations should be included in the best practices and procedures from DHS.

Manhole security is essential. Without it, the United States may once again face the attacks on underground infrastructure, which also could include an untold number of casualties.