Terrorism at Harvard?

Could Memorial Church one day find itself in the shadow of a doomed aircraft? Could someone posing as a freshman detonate a bomb in the middle of Ec 10 lecture in Sanders Theater?

Most importantly, are these questions even worth asking?

Although Harvard, in the years since 9/11, has been developing response plans for terrorist or other emergency situations, officials, professors, and students agree that these types of scenarios are unlikely.

AT RISK?

Before 9/11, emergency preparation plans were “competent, but less formalized,” says Director of News and Public Affairs Joe Wrinn. Nowadays, though, he says the University’s official protocol is clearer and in writing.

For example, he says that if a suspicious package were found in the mail center, its discoverer would inform the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), who along with building managers, would evacuate and secure the building. If the package, upon investigation, seemed to be a bomb, the Cambridge Police bomb squad would be called.

Ultimately, if they suspected the package came from terrorists, government officials would be notified, as well as top Harvard administrators. Responsibilty for investigation, however, would lie with the FBI and other intelligence agencies.

Wrinn says that a plan is in the works for an entire Harvard community evacuation. In the past week, members of the University’s Incident Support Team—which is comprised of Wrinn, the director of University Health Services, and the HUPD chief—have met to discuss a perhaps more likely scenario: avian influenza. The group met with other emergency management teams from across the University to draft a pandemic emergency plan, according to the Harvard Gazette.

Wrinn emphasizes that none of these plans are new or additional, but part of the University’s ongoing work with emergency management planning.

And of course, no specific details about methods currently being taken to increase security can be released, because any such information could easily get into the wrong hands, writes Wrinn in an e-mail.

don’t sweat it

Response plans may be important to have, but perhaps you (and your mom) shouldn’t obsess over what ifs.

“I don’t think people ought to spend a lot of time worrying about it, because I don’t think it’s a very high probability,” says Herman B. “Dutch” Leonard ’74, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government and the Business School whose research includes crisis management. He adds that of course security officials should be concerned, but not the general public.

And Harvard is a small fish in a pretty big barrel. Arnold M. Howitt, Executive Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, says that there are lots of potential targets, reducing the likelihood of an attack in the Yard.

“The general national risk is at most, moderate, given hundreds of potential targets,” he says. “The chances that terrorists would strike Harvard are quite small.”

And while Howitt is paid to be concerned about this stuff, some students are putting terrorism on the back burner.

When asked if he thought Harvard was a plausible terrorist target, Brian A. Haut ’08 says, “did you say ‘tourists’ or ‘terrorists’?”

“I’m much more afraid of E. coli, because E. coli exists,’ says Haut. His tablemate Parker J. Meares ’07 agrees that Harvard isn’t the most likely target.

“They would hit MIT first,” he says.

Haut and Meares may have a good point. There is not a specified threat level for places of higher learning, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke.

“If intelligence suggests that there is credible information about an attack at a given location or an industry sector, then the department will consider the merits of elevating the threat level,” he says.

Thanks, Russ. We’re counting on you.