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  When Workers Get Targeted
     (Kristen B. Frasch, Human Resources Executive Online, February 2008)

In light of a recent firebombing of an animal researcher's home, experts and consultants say HR leaders and their organizations need to be more proactive in dealing with outside threats and ensure that employees, customers and clients be informed of potential problems.

A recent firebombing at the home of a UCLA faculty member by animal-rights activists has once again sounded the security alarm among academic, corporate and research organizations intent on protecting researchers and other employees.

The Feb. 5 incident — in which an incendiary device charred the front door of Edythe London, a UCLA professor of psychiatry and molecular and medical pharmacology — was the second time in four months that London has been targeted for her use of monkeys in the study of nicotine addiction. Members of the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the first incident, in October, the group claimed responsibility for flooding London's Los Angeles home using a garden hose, causing $30,000 worth of damage. Both incidents are currently being investigated by the university and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as are earlier acts of intimidation at UCLA by extremists.

"For several years, members of the UCLA faculty and administration have been subjected to violence, harassment and other forms of intimidation [including] threatening phone calls, e-mails and property trespass and damage," said the university's chancellor, Gene Block, in a recent statement.

Experts and consultants working closely with HR and security officials say this latest incident underscores the need for employers to be more proactive in monitoring outside threats and ensuring that all employees, customers and clients — even those indirectly associated with animal research or other controversial activities — are informed of potential problems. These incidents have grown due to Web technology, are intensifying in degree of violence and are continuing, says Bruce T. Blythe, CEO of Atlanta-based Crisis Management International.

While there are federal and state laws that deal with terroristic tactics, there is still a great deal employers and organizations can and should be doing to secure their businesses and protect their workers. HR should more aggressively use background screening, pay more attention to suspicious behavior by "moles" and be more communicative with employees. "If your company in any way deals with research animals and/or deals with any company that deals with research animals, you're a potential target and all your employees are potential targets," says Dr. John S. Ellis, executive director of the Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research, based in Camp Hill, Pa.

Several years ago, he says, protesters went so far as to show up at the home of a University of Pennsylvania bookkeeper who only provided informational services to a team of animal researchers at the school.

HR executives, particularly those at larger pharmaceutical and biomedical companies where animal research is performed, should be aware of the sophistication of animal activists, especially at securing Web-accessible information on research projects and individuals or organizations associated with those projects, says Mary Hanley, executive vice president of the National Association for Biomedical Research in Washington.

Many activists even become "moles" for their groups, she says, applying for jobs on the very projects they aim to destroy. Some hide cameras on their bodies to capture evidence and feed security information to their groups. "These absolutely are terrorist cells," says Hanley, whose group works with businesses and institutions to help protect scientific research.

Many HR professionals "are not well educated in these issues," Hanley says. And security personnel are often frustrated, she says, at the availability of information on projects and employees, and the lack of adequate background screening.

"HR and security people should really get together on all this and start dialoguing in meaningful ways," Hanley says. "We always tell them they need a team — HR, IT, security — to [establish the proper policies and protocol and to] fight against hackers into their systems."

Human resource practitioners also need to be much more attuned to the potential for physical infiltration, according to Hanley. One suspicious signal is the eagerness of job applicants to work at night. "These people go after these jobs," she says. "We've found at some [infiltrated] institutions, if HR had just tracked the applicants' information down, if they had just done normal screenings," activist connections would have been discovered.

Another proactive move HR could make is to inform employees about controversial projects their company is involved with, although the tendency is often is to keep such projects quiet. "We always think it's a good idea to keep everyone in the know," so individuals who are only slightly associated with the project are aware of the need for caution, she says. Communication is also important "because it's good business practice to have your workforce informed about your product and [to] feel good about your work."

Blythe says organizations should go on the offense — as well as the defense. He encourages companies that suspect infiltration to hire and train people who can join the suspected extremist group and filter information back. "Call it espionage and counter-espionage if you want," he says.

Another tool at HR's disposal is a relatively new linguistics-deciphering tool called scientific content analysis, or SCAN, which serves as a viable lie-detector test based on patterns of speech and word choice. Training in this technique, Blythe says, is intensive, but can provide employers with potentially life-saving information.

Blythe also stresses the need to properly inform — and even market — the company's notification system to employees, and ensure their confidentiality. "More times than not," says Blythe, "employees hear things before anyone else does."

Yet another option for companies is to donate to local animal shelters or Humane Society branches, making it clear to suspected extremist groups that the contributions will end — and the group will be publicly blamed — if violence occurs or threats continue.

"Trust me," says Blythe, "there are ways of fighting back."

The federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, passed in 2006, and some similar state laws, have elevated acts of violence and property damage by animal-rights extremists to criminal status.

There are also federal laws that very thoroughly dictate and govern proper and humane procedures for animal experimentation, but, Ellis says, "many of these [extremists] aren't interested in ensuring that research animals are well-cared for, according to [these] stringent federal guidelines. They just don't want the animals in there at all."