Taylor explains that the best protection against terrorist attacks is simply to make a target less desirable, therefore encouraging a terrorist to strike elsewhere.
Simple security measures—guards and metal detectors at building entrances, ID checks, and bollards, which are concrete pots that guard against car bombs, around key buildings—can have a strong deterrent effect.
“You just can’t be a soft target,” Taylor says.
Harvard, though, faces a unique concern in securing its facilities: as an educational institution it prides itself on openness, access and freedom.
“There’s going to be a lot of debate about how far we go in response to last Tuesday’s attacks. We need to ensure that whatever measures are taken do not undermine what is so great about a place like Harvard,” Kayyem says.
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