Counter-Terrorism Consulting for Crowded Places and High-Risk Sites
Agilient assesses an organisation’s exposure to terrorism and politically motivated violence, and designs the protective measures that reduce it: vulnerability and threat assessments, security audits, protective design, and the response arrangements that operate if prevention fails. Independent advice, aligned to Australian counter-terrorism guidance.
What Is Counter-Terrorism Consulting?
Counter-terrorism consulting establishes what an organisation is exposed to, how well prepared it is, and which protective measures are proportionate to the risk. It covers the physical environment, how people and vehicles approach and enter a site, who is authorised to be where, and what happens in the minutes after an incident begins.
Attacks in Australia are assessed as likely to be low-cost, using readily available weapons and simple tactics, with crowded places in major cities the most likely target. Shopping centres, transport hubs, entertainment and sporting venues and other publicly accessible sites therefore carry a different planning problem from a controlled corporate building: the people at risk are members of the public who cannot be vetted, inducted or instructed in advance.
Agilient’s advice draws on the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee’s crowded places guidance and on ASIO’s published assessment of the security environment, and is delivered through the same risk method as a security risk assessment. Australia’s National Terrorism Threat Level is published by ASIO and can change; the current level and its meaning are stated at nationalsecurity.gov.au.
why choose us
Why Choose Agilient for Counter-Terrorism Advice?
Agilient is an independent security, risk and resilience consultancy. It does not sell bollards, screening equipment or guarding, so the measures it recommends are shaped by the assessed risk rather than by a product range.
Independent and Vendor-Neutral
Protective measures are expensive and highly visible. Agilient holds no product range and installs nothing, so the recommendation is driven by the threat and the site, not by what a supplier has to sell.
Standards and Guidance Aligned
Advice is grounded in the ANZCTC crowded places guidance, ASIO’s assessment of the security environment, and the risk method in AS ISO 31000, so it holds up when it is reviewed by a regulator, an insurer or a board.
Prevention Through to Response
Agilient covers the whole picture: assessing exposure, designing protective measures, and preparing the emergency and crisis arrangements that operate if an incident happens anyway.
The Importance of Counter-Terrorism Planning
Terrorism is a low-likelihood, high-consequence risk, which is exactly the profile organisations manage worst. It is easy to defer because nothing has happened, and the cost of being wrong is measured in lives rather than dollars. The security environment is also not static: ASIO’s assessed threat level has moved in both directions over the past decade, and the drivers now include individuals radicalised quickly and acting alone, which shortens the warning available. Protective design and rehearsed response are what remain useful when intelligence gives no notice.
services offered
What Agilient Delivers in Counter-Terrorism Consulting
Each element can be delivered on its own or as one program, scoped to the site and the assessed exposure.
Preliminary Vulnerability Assessment
A first-pass assessment of how exposed a site is, and where the obvious gaps are, before committing to a full program. Often the fastest way to establish whether there is a problem worth funding.
Threat and Risk Assessment
Structured assessment of the threat actors and threat acts relevant to the site, the likelihood and consequence of each, and the treatments that reduce them, written into the organisation’s risk register.
Security Audits
Independent audit of existing measures against the guidance and the stated risk appetite, identifying what is in place, what is assumed and what is missing. See security audits.
Protective Design Strategies
Crime prevention through environmental design, access authorisation, perimeter treatment and hostile vehicle mitigation, applied so that protection does not make a public place feel like a fortress.
Emergency and Crisis Response
Developing the emergency manuals and response procedures that operate during an incident, and the crisis management arrangements that handle the strategic and reputational consequences afterwards.
Exercising and Assurance
Testing the arrangements with the people who would have to use them, then folding the findings back into the plan. An untested response plan is an assumption, not a control.
Contact Agilient About Counter-Terrorism Consulting
Agilient is appointed to multiple Australian Government procurement panels and is a DISP member. It is independent and vendor-neutral, its founder is a former Executive Director of Standards Australia, and it is licensed to operate in each state in which it works. Agilient has delivered more than 300 projects for Australian organisations.
Security Solutions Nation-Wide
With a national footprint, our security consulting services support organisations across Australia in managing risk, compliance, and security strategy. We combine industry expertise with a practical approach to deliver consistent outcomes across all states and territories.
faqs
Frequently Asked Questions
The National Terrorism Threat Level is set by ASIO and published on nationalsecurity.gov.au. It has moved in both directions over the past decade, so the current level and its official definition should always be read from that source rather than from secondary commentary. The level describes the assessed likelihood of an onshore attack or attack planning; it does not describe any individual organisation’s exposure, which is what a threat and risk assessment establishes.
A crowded place is a location readily accessible to large numbers of people on a predictable basis, such as a shopping centre, transport hub, stadium, entertainment precinct or public event. It matters because the people at risk are members of the public who cannot be vetted, inducted or instructed in advance, and because Australian guidance assesses crowded places in major cities as the most likely target for an attack.
No. Agilient is an independent advisory firm. It does not sell, supply or install bollards, screening equipment, cameras or guarding, and holds no product range. It assesses risk and designs the protective strategy; procurement and installation are carried out by others, which is what keeps the advice independent of what any supplier has to sell.
It uses the same method applied to a specific threat. A security risk assessment considers the full range of risks to an organisation; counter-terrorism consulting focuses on terrorism and politically motivated violence, and goes deeper into protective design, crowded-place considerations and response. Both are conducted in line with AS ISO 31000, so the findings integrate with the organisation’s existing risk register rather than sitting apart from it.
Agilient advises government, critical infrastructure, transport, health, education, public venues and events, and places of faith and worship, among others. The common factor is not the sector but the site: publicly accessible locations, symbolic or high-profile assets, and places where large numbers of people gather predictably.
