Bob Randall, chief operating officer of Inkerman, took Mark Rowe out to lunch. The terror threat is as high as it's ever been, he said; but don't panic.
Bob Randall became the corporate risk, intelligence and investigation consultancy's Chief Operating Officer recently (featured in our September issue). A career Metropolitan Police man, he retired as a detective chief supt. His work took in counter-terrorism, covert operations, security, major investigations, mass disaster response, and hostage negotiation. We meet at the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall. For those who find it significant what paper someone reads, Bob was carrying a Daily Telegraph.
We descend stairs, leave our coats at a cloakroom, and enter a basement restaurant. I ask what the soup of the day is; it's tomato. Bob has that and I go for onion soup. Over that course, he goes through the three types of terrorist targets: iconic, symbolic and opportunistic. "Well, iconic - I don't want to draw attention to any particular landmark," Bob says, but we are talking of postcard scenes - the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, and not just in London. As for symbolic, it's targets that strike at the heart of government, such as the offices of the security services; government buildings and residences.
"Then you have the opportunistic - a football match; the much touted Manchester United versus Liverpool game a couple of years ago, when there was a scare. Somewhere, where a lot of people are going to be; and, to use one of Mrs Thatcher's famous phrases, they will achieve the ‘oxygen of publicity'." Part of the danger, he added, was that an individual may not think it through, and may just seek to cause casualties, anywhere.
Key to survival
The key to business survival, Bob went on, is to do some thinking; what if? What if your business is at the end of the Northern Line, and the transport system closes down; how are clients going to get to you; what are your alternative means of communication? "And the over-riding message is: don't panic. If you don't have the in-house capability, it's companies like Inkerman who can give that assistance. The state can only provide so much in terms of terrorism; the security services and the police can give generic advice, and very good generic advice." And in London there are business forums. But to get a bespoke crisis management service, Bob suggested, you need a bespoke solution.
Staff worry
I mentioned 7-7. Besides the actual bombs, among the day's issues was staff worried about what was going on; and how to get home. Bob replied that one lesson learned was that it was no good ringing inner London taxi firms - so ring taxi firms from outside, where people live. Provide comfort and reassurance, informed reassurance, to your staff.
"It's no good saying, ‘it's all right'. This is where training comes in, particularly for middle and senior managers. How do they send the message convincingly to their own staff; and then to their customers, in that order?"
A message may point staff to more informed sources of information, such as the radio - as Bob said, it would take something extra-ordinary to bring down radio communications. Besides the content of the message, there is the style of it - face to face, if you can. "And then someone has to make themselves the conduit for information coming in, and pass it on to staff. Somebody has to have the specific role," to ask of the outside world, what is the state of play? what is forecast? And that person co-ordinates the well-being of staff. Bob's point is that you cannot fire-fight a crisis on the day; you have to plan for it, maybe even have a practice, like people have a fire alarm practice.
He mentions the police term ‘golden hour' which may not be an hour, but it's the time crucial to a case when police are first gathering evidence. It has to be done, in a structured way: "Being indecisive is not an option."
Outside London?
I mentioned the interview with Nigel Churton, chief executive of Control Risks, after 7-7 (featured in the September issue). He had said that the emergency services on the day did pretty well. Bob agreed, calling the response first-class, but asked - not knowing the answer, he added - how well it would have been outside London. There was no great walk-out of staff after 7-7, Bob noted; business did not grind to a halt. Planning for a crisis, he repeated, needs a little bit of thinking, a little application, and some financial outlay, but it's minimal.
Domestic
By now the main course was here; fish for Bob, and the thinnest chips you have ever seen; mushroom and asparagus risotto for me. We declared some eating time to do justice to the food. Next I said that it was interesting he was not suggesting a lock on everything, or a whizzo and expensive security system?
Bob widened the conversation to what the consultancy offers: covering corporate threat, and business continuity; providing specialist intelligence, to highlight a threat or mitigate one; and travel advice and training for staff, in case of kidnap and ransom; and investigations including counter-espionage and surveillance. Inkerman staff are ex-police or military; or graduates, who enter the firm as analysts. Anything else? I asked. Bob raised animal rights extremists, drawing a distinction between extremists and protesters. Extremists, the sort who dig up bodies, and carry out arson, a menace to lawful business. Many companies, he said, have been a target for animal rights protestors-extremists and the government is now striking back with legislation to combat non-democratic processes.
Bob said: "And it's something police cannot deal with in isolation. They [police] cannot be a panacea for everything. They do take it very seriously indeed. They cannot give as many resources as they would wish to policing animal rights." He returned to 7-7, to the comment by police (from former Met Police Commissioner John Stevens down) of a terror attack being a case of not if, but when. It could happen again, Bob added: "And that's the mind-set that people need to come to terms with. And that's where we assist."
Powder scares
It was coffee time by now. Bob spoke of how in late 2001 there were ‘white powder' scares - powder sent in the post to firms, much sent by disgruntled staff, or people with a grudge against a company. Mercifully, none were truly dangerous chemicals; but what is a company's fall-back position in such a case? Bob asked. He stressed the word pragmatic: know what to do, and occasionally try it out. Test individuals, and groups.
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