CBRNE Ltd

This Handbook aims to help law enforcement professionals understand the ethical issues and challenges inherent in the use of counter-tools for combating terrorist threats in the context of law enforcement and counter-terrorism actions. The Handbook is for use at a strategic level, during the planning and procurement phase. It can act as a reference point for the ethical assessment of tools and techniques in specific scenarios, such as responding to bombing and suicide bombing incidents (IED and PBIED terrorism), domestic law enforcement and counter-terrorism. This handbook may also be used for training of people engaging in this field of counter-terrorism and for raising awareness and making possible the translation of the ethical and legal framework to an operational and practical guideline.

This handbook describes Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for personnel responsible for dealing with Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear incidents. It is intended to provide a general awareness of the research that has been carried out into PPE and the current issues in the field.

This handbook provides guidance on communication strategies when responding to a crisis involving Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear or Explosive (CBRNE) material. It is aimed mainly at those responsible for disseminating information to the public during CBRNE crisis management, but it should also be useful to everyone working in local and national crisis management structures. Its practical approach to the subject means the Handbook can also be used for training.

This handbook is intended to help developers of Less-than-Lethal Technology (LLT) recognise, understand and mitigate the ethical challenges inherent in their work. The term LLT includes not only Less-than-Lethal Weapons (LLWs) but also tactics and methods such as computer warfare, psycological operations, robotics and nanotechnology [Ref 1]. We discuss the ethical issues that can arise during research development, and in the law enforcement and military environments, to reflect “dual use” concerns.

The analysis is based on International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This approach allows developers to maximise the ethical compliance of the technology throughout the design cycle.

This handbook aims to help law enforcement professionals understand the ethical issues and challenges inherent in the use of Less-than-Lethal Weapons (LLWs) in an operational setting.

It should be used at a strategic level, during the planning phase. It can act as a reference point for the ethical assessment of LLWs in specific scenarios, such as responding to suicide bombing incidents, domestic law enforcement, prisons and health institutions and peace operations.

The term LLW includes not only the weapons themselves, but also tactics and methods such as computer warfare, psychological operations, robotics and nanotechnology.

The ethical framework is based on the UN Document: Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and International Human Rights Law, including the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

This handbook is provided to help the demining community understand human error. It describes the theoretical underpinnings of the subject and provides information on ways of predicting error probabilities. Most importantly, it suggests ways of reducing the frequency and consequences of human error.

This handbook summarises the development and contents of an Aide Memoire for people involved in humanitarian demining – Field Managers, Team Leaders and Deminers.

The Aide Memoire contains 41 reminders regarding:

• Code of Conduct
• Ethics and Culture
• Welfare and Safety

We hope this handbook will help the managers of a humanitarian demining project understand the cultural, ethical and legal framework of the host country. The guidelines presented here should promote the goodwill between the local community and the contractors that is vital for successful and efficient demining. This will assist in delivering the project to time, cost and quality.

This report provides guidance in the specification of Safe Rooms designed as a response to the threat to people from Chemical, Biological or Radiological (CBR) incidents. It does not provide guidance in respect of protection from energetic missiles or explosives. The document is to be considered as a route map for those interested in developing their own Safe Room, not detailed design advice. It provides sufficient detail such that an interested party (e.g. a school, office or factory) can understand the key design parameters that they will need to specify to a detailed design specialist. It also provides a stepwise process (to be undertaken with the help of expert parties e.g. security experts, architects etc) to the development of a detailed specification that can be handed-on to other expert parties to develop the detailed solution. Its use will thus ensure that the user is an 'intelligent customer' who procures what is needed rather than what is simply available or offered.

An attack on a building or location using non-conventional weapons will almost certainly lead to a requirement to undertake some form of decontamination of that site. This simple observation immediately raises the question “what decontamination standards and techniques should be used?”. These questions are important and they have been the subject of much technical research – often under the banner of “how clean is clean” and “what is reasonable in terms of clean-up costs and decontamination measures”. This booklet seeks to address some of these issues.

During the Recovery Phase after a Chemical, Biological or Radiological (CBR) type incident which contaminates assets in locations under either private or public ownership, temporary storage of waste could provide a “buffer” such that recovery can proceed unhindered by the logistics of final waste disposal.

Following a terrorist incident involving CBR materials or an accidental release of similar hazardous materials there is likely to be a requirement to undertake some form of remediation and/or disposal of assets . This document is Deliverable D5.12 of Project PRACTICE. It introduces a set of plan templates and guidance notes which organisations may use to help them to plan for and obtain acceptance for such remediation tasks.

The Framework Manual is part of an EU Project PRACTICE Tool Box that enables local, national and international organisations to set up agreements with industry equipment suppliers and consultants ahead of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear incidents. The Framework approach avoids the necessity to negotiate potentially high price contracts during high profile incidents. It is recommended that the Manual is implemented by CBRNE Ltd – expert consultants in the field of CBRN.