Recent vehicle attacks highlight need for ‘deterrence and prevention’

YARMOUTH, Maine— The recent vehicle attacks in Germany and New Orleans that caused mass chaos and devastation could have been avoided if perimeter security measures were already in place, security experts say.  

Rob Reiter, principal at Reiter and Reiter Consulting, says "deterrence and prevention” are needed to keep vehicles out of places they shouldn’t be. 

“The reason it's so easy is because it is,” explained Rob Reiter, principal at Reiter and Reiter Consulting. “The vehicles are used as a weapon, they’re readily available, and it doesn't take a lot of training. They are anonymous in the sense that they're one of however many thousands of vehicles around, and how do you pick out the bad guy from the thousands of vehicles coming through a tunnel or whatever? It’s a tried-and-true methodology.”  

The German Christmas market attack on Dec. 20 killed six people and injured more than 200 in the city of Magdeburg, while a suspected terrorist drove his pickup truck onto Bourbon Street in New Orleans and slammed into revelers on New Year’s Day morning, killing 14 and injuring dozens more.  

Jake Parker, SIA’s senior director of government relations, says the “era of vehicular attacks” started during the peak of ISIS-related activity in 2016, when a cargo truck deliberately rammed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, killing 86 and injuring more than 400.  

“The truck attack in Nice really was a catalyst for action to do something about this,” he noted. “It's very clear that organization has identified vehicular attacks as a viable thing that they encourage their followers to do because it's so easy to use a vehicle for these things. What’s following that is where you've seen a lot of initial investments in protective measures. There's definitely a targeting of mass events that are happening in public spaces.”  

Bollards and other anti-vehicle barriers are among the physical security measures that are implemented when protecting public spaces with large crowds. Reiter noted that if anything, the main physical security challenge when it comes to preventing vehicle attacks is being proactive in installing bollards and barriers, rather than reactive.  

“These things aren't that hard to prevent,” he said. “If you go to Disneyland and if you go to airports and so forth, these places have done it. It’s not that hard.”  

Parker noted that there is an opportunity for communities to invest in perimeter security when it comes to risk mitigation. He cited SIA’s efforts to support additional federal assistance for these kinds of projects, specifically the Stopping Threats on Pedestrians (STOP) Act that authorized new grant resources for perimeter security as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021. Parker noted that this program has yet to have direct funds allocated.  

“We have been raising this with members of Congress helping the sponsors of that provision,” he said of the STOP Act. “We're hoping that with more attention on this issue and the vulnerability that was evident in New Orleans, this will get some action by the new Congress.”  

Reiter summed up the importance of implementing strong protective measures to prevent another vehicle attack like the ones in Germany or New Orleans from happening.  

“You do the right things in the right way for the right reasons, that's how you keep bad guys out,” he concluded.