Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems

A physical protection system (PPS) integrates people, procedures, and equipment for the protection of assets or facilities against theft, sabotage, or other malevolent human attacks. The design of an effective PPS requires a methodical approach in which the designer weighs the objectives of the PPS against available resources and then evaluates the proposed design to determine how well it meets the objectives. Without this kind of careful assessment, the PPS might waste valuable resources on unnecessary protection or, worse yet, fail to provide adequate protection at critical points of the facility. For example, it would probably be unwise to protect a facility’s employee cafeteria with the same level of protection as the central computing area. Similarly, maximum security at a facility’s main entrance would be wasted if entry were also possible through an unprotected cafeteria loading dock. Each facility is unique, even if generally performing the same activities, so this systematic approach allows flexibility in the application of security tools to address local conditions. The process of designing and analyzing a PPS is described in the remainder of this chapter. The methodology presented here is the same one used by Sandia National Laboratories when designing a PPS for critical nuclear assets (Williams, 1978). This approach and supporting tools were developed and validated over the past 25 years through research funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and development totaling over $200 million. While other industrial and governmental assets may not require the highest levels of security used at nuclear weapons sites, the approach is the same whether protecting a manufacturing facility, an oil refinery, or a retail store. The foundation of this approach is the design of an integrated performance-based system. Performance measures (i.e., validated numeric characteristics) for various system components, such as sensors, video, or response time, allow the use of models to predict system performance against the identified threat. This effectiveness measure can then be used to provide the business rationale for investing in the system or upgrade, based on a measurable increase in system performance and an associated decrease in risk to the facility. Looking at system improvement compared to costs can then support a cost–benefit analysis. By following this process, the system designer will include