Security Honor Roll --Robert Lang

Sep 1, 1998 12:00 PM, KATE HENRY

           

Protecting the integrity of classified government research efforts, defending against intellectual piracy, building a state-of-the-art security command center, consulting on security planning for the 2002 Olympic Games - it's all in a day's work for Robert Lang, director of research security for The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. Georgia Tech, a university of international esteem, is also one of the largest facilities in the Southeast handling classified research programs - that's a little-known fact, according to Lang, which attests to the exceptional security he maintains. Lang, who joined Georgia Tech in 1988 following a tenure with a major aerospace corporation in nearby Marietta, Ga. , is in charge of security for the whole of Georgia Tech. Under his leadership, the research security department's efforts have become critical to many aspects of university life: academic and sponsored research, operations, special event planning, and, of course, student and faculty well-being.

Complex challenges Not surprisingly, the security enterprise at Georgia Tech is driven by information and technology. Lang, who holds a B.S. and M.S. in criminal justice and an executive manager designation from the Georgia Tech Management Institute, is charged with protecting some 10,000 undergraduates, 3,500 graduate students and 778 faculty - not to mention visiting scholars and researchers. One particular security challenge he faces is balancing the climate of an academic institution with the demands of sponsored research. "In a university such as Tech," he explains, "you have on the academic side professors and scientists who believe in free everything - free interface with other countries and collaboration with other scientists. On the other hand, you have largely U.S.-government-controlled sponsored research, which is the opposite of the 'free everything' philosophy. You have to balance the two philosophies, making sure the scientists don't give away information for free - especially if the government is paying for the job." Securing information is a big part of what Lang does. He is, for example, partly responsible for export control issues at Georgia Tech. "The foreign context has escalated unbelievably," he says. "Every time one of our professors gets a request for information via the Internet, we need to know about it to make sure he or she doesn't send anything they're not supposed to. We coordinate with our legal affairs office, which makes the export control request through the State or Commerce departments. My department makes sure that gets done and that no one circumvents the legal office." Alluding to the increasing complexity of information systems, Lang points out that if security directors run a single PC-based program, life is easier; if that program is networked, life becomes a little more difficult; and if you're on the Internet going everywhere, the job of the security director becomes a big one. "We have to make sure that what we're putting on our internal Web pages or giving to external contacts doesn't fall under 'operations security,' which is where one little piece of information means nothing, but if it were to be put together with others, we'd have something to be careful of." Lang believes it is imperative for security directors to become conversant in information technology. "Many companies don't have the money to have their security people trained in IT, but especially if it is the basis of the security operation, security directors must take it upon themselves to be trained," he asserts. Another way Lang and his department have improved operations at Georgia Tech is by supplanting mandatory inspections of classified programs performed by Defense Security Services with a "self-assessment program." "Prior to the creation of this program," Lang explains, "the government would come in for two to three weeks with a team of 10 inspectors and virtually rip apart the research departments, doing inspections; it was disruptive and tense for everyone. We approached the government when they were downsizing and looking for alternative inspection methods, and asked that they allow us to inspect ourselves. They agreed, and we essentially do the government's job. We inspect, we assess and we interview people to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to - it's an assessment of the total contract. But when we do it, we find problems and fix them right away, so the process becomes more user-friendly." Demand is such that two people are dedicated to assessments year-round.

The fruits of Olympic glory Another notable distinction about Lang is that when Georgia Tech was selected in 1990 to house the Olympic Village for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he became the primary security planner. Over the course of six years, he learned about security planning for an Olympic-size event by visiting the sites of former world games, such as Los Angeles, Barcelona and St. Petersburg, Russia. One result of his research was an innovative planning document, detailing 635 separate aspects of security planning. As Lang describes it, "The planning document identifies every aspect youcould possibly think of about security at an event this size. Not only did we use it to develop the Village security plan, but The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) and Atlanta law enforcement communities looked at it and said 'Why reinvent the wheel? Let's use this thing,' and they adopted it as their standard planning document as well," says Lang. Since the Games, the document has become the backbone of security planning for special events at Georgia Tech, and it will be used in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and in the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Games. On Lang's plate these days is construction of a command and control center to be housed in new headquarters for the research security department - progress that is also thanks in part to Lang's Olympic efforts. After the Games, ACOG donated its command control console, complete with monitors, multiplexers, speed dome cameras/lenses and article monitoring portals, to Georgia Tech, care of Lang. The command center will monitor various classified operations, as well as remote campus operations near Dobbins Air Reserve base in Marietta, Ga., using a variety of physical security systems. Lang pushed for the new center not only as a way to use the "free" equipment Tech now had in hand, but also because it was a way to save some $40,000 to $50,000 in monitoring fees per year. Lang continually wrestles with budget management. "We are a state institution, and we don't get a lot of money," he explains, "so using the money in a proper and prudent way is really a challenge." Another challenge he faces and one he advises other security directors to meet is finding balance in life. When Lang is not at work, he can be found coaching youth softball and baseball in Marietta, Ga., where he has served on the board of directors for two park and recreation associations. "You have to do your job well," he says, "but also balance your family life and give something back to the community."

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