Brian Connor over at Animal Crackers has offered us information on the recent postponing of LSR (Life Sciences Research - otherwise known as Huntingdon Life Sciences) listing on the New York Stock Exchange (he draws from here, here and here). Further, it looks like there will be more hearings concerning the radical Animal Rights movement.
For clarification on the issue - because few others will bother - there are LOTS of people involved in the animal welfare/rights/liberation movement and they are not all the same. Think of a continuum with Animal Welfare on one end, Animal Liberation on the other and Animal Rights in the middle. If you think of Democrats and Republicans in the same way you get the picture of how different these groups are; both Dems and Reps want what's best for the country but differ on how to get there. Now you may understand the vast differences in the movement. There are two significant demarcations in the movement: whether an individual believes that animals are equal to humans in terms of the value of their lives and whether an individual feels it is acceptable to commit criminal acts that surpass the notion of civil disobedience - in other words property destruction and threats of violence. That's a very short description of the spectrum of the movement.
So why do I care and consider this a point to be discussed in security? Simple; if it's not Animal/Eco folks then it's some other type of militant that is willing to affect you business. Just give it time. Since the cultural revolution (and I apologize if I'm wrong but this is how it was taught to me) every idea is as valid as the next - meaning anyone is now justified in targeting you. Who knows, maybe the paint used for your establishment uses chemicals that affect groundwater (and shame on you not knowing this when your vendor used it), or maybe the paint was mixed by someone in an impoverished country, or maybe you like to fly the U.S. flag, your state flag, or for that matter the Jolly Roger; you could become a target. My personal experience has to do with the Animal Rights/Liberation movement targeting a client.
The broader issue here is understanding your threats. Is it local crime - burglaries and vandalism, or something more sinister? In the case of the AR/AL movement it is important to understand that they believe that every animal is as valuable as your life. Professor Steven Best at the University of Texas - El Paso stated in a speech that he would save his dog rather then an unknown human if they were both in a fire. See his dog means more to him than a unknown human. It's as simple as that. In Terrorists or Freedom Fighters (I'm not linking to it - because I'd rather you not buy it and fund more of his activities) Dr. Best argues that violence cannot be committed on property and therefore the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) is non-violent. This is also an underlying theme of supporters of the ALF; however it is important to keep in mind that property destruction carries with it an inherent threat.
This post could go on for a long time discussing this topic but I'll keep it short. The tactics used by the Eco/Animal Liberation movements are in fact terrorism [how the few affect the many by affecting the few with violence or the threat of violence] and it must be addressed as such. Collect data, know your threat, develop/implement effective countermeasures, and stay orientated toward your threat - it is an intelligent and adaptive threat.
For additional information concerning Eco-terrorism in the U.S. check out this document.
Rob
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