be polite, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet...
Posted on 09/05/2009 7:57:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
One of the messages I hear over and over during conversations with security professionals is that security is everyone's responsibility. Yet, if I didn't work in this field, issues of security would remain very far off my radar. I recently asked several of my friends if they had ever heard of a fusion center. All of them looked at me strangely and politely changed the subject. And why should they have heard of such a thing? The public has no role in such initiatives. But should they?
In my two years of covering the security field, I continue to be puzzled about why security remains such a secret. In my regular attempts to cold call security professionals, I'm often given the 'proprietary' line that disclosure about security initiatives is not for public knowledge. But if security practitioners don't want to share professional insights with their own peers (via a trade publication), how can we possibly expect 'regular' people to play a role in security?
A New York Times article about a speech by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano recently caught my attention for its effort to extend security to the masses. In this speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Napolitano said, "For too long, we've treated the public as a liability to be protected rather than as an asset in our nation's collective security. This approach, unfortunately, has allowed confusion, anxiety and fear to linger."
Imagine that. Imagine considering the public to be an integral part of our national security plan instead of a burden that must be protected. And as thought-provoking as that concept was, the last part of the article brought me back to reality, as it noted that while she encouraged voluntary participation in local emergency preparedness programs, she acknowledged that at present there was no educational program in place. If we really wanted to make security everyone's job, we would tell them how, right?
Perhaps the concept is too lofty. Educating Americans as a whole about how to be more security-conscious is certainly a tall order. But, we should at least be able to do this at the organizational level, right? That, I'm finding, is fairly rare, too. During an interview this month about the fatal shootings at the L.A. Fitness Club in Pittsburg (see cover), I was told that fitness centers don't train employees how to deal with violent acts because they never expect such things to happen. Employees are much more concerned about me getting flung off a treadmill (for good reason) then they are about an active shooter situation, which, in the game of probability, is certainly far more likely. But, that doesn't seem to excuse it either. Emergencies tend to be far from predictable.
But I don't want to just pick on fitness centers and their employees. This kind of thing could happen anywhere, any time. The first order of business is to get people out of the I'm-sure-everything-is-fine mindset. The "If you see something, say something" campaign that was plastered on bus stations and television airwaves after 9/11 was a step in the right direction (and catchy, I must say). But, as often happens, people have become complacent.
Not too long ago, I was in the grocery store with a friend and noticed a man holding an empty hand basket, lingering in the aisle just watching people. After he followed us down the aisle and then the next, I told my friend I was going to go tell security. She acted like I was the crazy one and protested that it was none of our business. After I told her that it was obvious he wasn't there to grocery shop, she finally conceded. I never found out what happened (although I didn't read about anything in the newspaper the next day, so I'm assuming security took care of it), but it's exactly my friend's social apprehension that needs to be eliminated from our collective consciousness. Because, after all, security is everyone's business.
The shopper with the empty basket probably WAS security...
Listen, Leischen, buddy, you have to understand. There are two kinds of security.
And the one that works for the establishment has nothing to do with with the one in place for our warm and fuzzies.
be polite, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet...
ping
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