Keeping Security Purity

Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Larry Anderson, Editor

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report emphasizes the nation's vulnerability at the 5,000-mile U.S.-Canada border, where congressional investigators found it easy to smuggle radioactive material from Canada into the United States.

It seems ironic that we hear so much more about our risks at the southern border with Mexico and scant mention in the media about the risks to the north. One can only conclude that the nature and tenor of the discussion is being influenced by something other than the specific risk of terrorism from our “open borders,” whether it be concerns about illegal immigration, drug smugglers or whatever.

Drawing a parallel to the world of corporate security, I wonder how often our companies and institutions emphasize a small group of risks to the exclusion of others. How often do we suffer from tunnel vision related to how we look at the broad spectrum of ways our people, facilities and resources are at risk?

And how often is the focus directed by something other than the specific security considerations involved? As security becomes more “integrated” into a corporate culture, it behooves us to guard against the security mission being diluted and compromised by outside forces inside the company. While struggling to be part of the larger corporation, let's not lose our focus on the mission at hand.

In a company or institution, as on the national scene, there are benefits to keeping the politics out of security.

We welcome your feedback: E-mail landerson@securitysolutions.com

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© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

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