Most US infrastructure and major chemical manufacturing facilities as well as their supporting utility systems are inherently vulnerable to a terrorist attack. Force protection is a military and civilian term used to protect personnel and critical facilities and assets against would-be aggressors or terrorists. The war on terrorism is a 200-300-year war. Terrorist attacks on US soil could become as commonplace as in the State of Israel. It is very easy to penetrate infrastructure or plants as evidenced by vulnerability assessments performed for states, cities, plants, and military facilities by Versar and others around the country. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive weapons can be readily used to attack facilities in the US. This paper will explain some of those vulnerabilities, outline the current DoD standard as it relates to vulnerability assessments, and explain how this may be used in commercial applications to deter potential aggressors. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.