This is the edited version of my newsletter submission. Our editor's reigned me in a little, but did okay...I guess. ( I tried to modify the format but could not get rid of the bold font)

 

Original Link

 

HEADLINE: Despite Tucson shootings, gun control push falters

SUMMARY: The shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson again put the spotlight on gun violence, but gun rights advocates and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said Thursday there was little chance the attack would produce significant new legislation or a change in a national culture that has long been accepting of guns.

 

STORY LINK: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41071206/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

 

 

ANALYSIS: This tragedy resembles others in many ways. The hope is to prevent future harm by learning from this experience as well as the hundreds prior. This incident like most, a variety of sources and self-proclaimed experts jumped to incorrect conclusions based on flawed information. Generally speaking the majority of the information you receive within the first 24 hours of a crisis is wrong. We had reports that the congresswoman was dead, that there was a second gunman, that someone had returned fire, the gunman was right-wing/left-wing extremist, etc.

 

What we know to be true is that history has unfortunately repeated itself and the lessons learned from previous tragedies went unheeded. The gunman was very likely mentally ill, had numerous red flags that were largely ignored and followed a predictable path that other murderers have tread before him. We can look to our gun laws or the pitfalls of being an open society as scapegoats. But ultimately, the gunman took advantage of our society. His family and friends will forever be soul searching on why they missed his obvious need for professional help. Another similar case involved the Virginia Tech shootings.

 

The event organizers broke protocol by not notifying the U.S. Capitol Police or the local law enforcement agency prior to the Congresswoman’s appearance. Had the organizers followed protocol there would have been a security element present, which arguably would have prevented this tragedy. Interns or untrained professionals should not be tasked with the security of these events.

 

A large percentage of elected representatives resist having security because it can be viewed in a negative manner. The fact is, if you are a judge, a celebrity, a CEO, or a high net-worth individual, you have an elevated risk to danger. The recent 2010 campaign cycle had much higher amount of threats then previous years. We also experienced a significant increase in threats to executives when corporate bailouts and big business failures were everyday news items.

 

In light of these events, we need to reevaluate our security measures and begin to conduct more appropriate threat and vulnerability analyses for high-risk people. Applying the lessons learned from this event to businesses, Brian Rutter, Firestorm Risk Analyst and former Diplomatic Security Agent, adds:

 

In the forefront of the organizational leader’s mind is one’s responsibility to the bottom line. Also of paramount importance, but often underrepresented is the organization’s obligation to provide employees and key executives meaningful and effective security. Through Firestorm’s Predict.Plan.Perform.® strategy, it will be possible for leaders to create a comprehensive risk profile that identifies overlooked threats to employees (executives), business infrastructure as well as threats to normal business operations. Once specific and foreseen vulnerabilities are identified, reassurances may be issued to stakeholders through effective formulation of mitigating strategies that result in the significant lowering of threats to life, safety and business operations.

 

Good security can be invisible to the untrained eye. Good planning, or “advance work,” is designed to identify, prioritize and address threats. Elimination of all threats is impossible. However a good security practitioner can address the most likely ones.

 

By holding an elected office, these public stewards have forfeited their anonymity and are no longer a regular citizen. Upon taking the oath of public office they begin to represent something bigger than themselves. They are now a U.S. Interest. The existing specialized U.S. agencies have the tremendous task of protecting these individuals. But they cannot do it alone and the private sector to do its part.

 

Stratfor Global Intelligence has provided information that makes a nice footnote on this commentary. Stratfor released a report that illustrated how rare attacks are on U.S. elected officials. The office of the President has experienced 20 assassination attempts, four being successful. Attacks on Congress members, whose overall numbers are significantly higher, are quite rare, with five recorded attacks including this one. For an open society, these are amazing low statistics.

 

But the bottom line is, threats should not be ignored or discounted, and disaster plan needs to be in place to prevent, or minimize the effects of those seeking to do harm.

 

--Scott Watkowski, Firestorm franchise principal

EDITOR’S NOTE: For a thorough look at ways to minimize the threat of workplace violence to your organization, attend one of Firestorm’s upcoming free webinars on Feb. 9 and Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. EST. Visit www.firestorm.com for more information on the webinars or Firestorm’s Workplace Violence Prevention ToolKit.

 

 

Excellent article!

I tell all my customers weather they are just small mom & pop shops or large corporate firms that as business owners, they must acknowledge the fact that they are a target and asses their security accordingly. Sadly most do not listen until a loss occurs.

I agree this is a well written and well thought out article. I've often told many of my clients that the costs of recovering from a known risk that you do not plan for can be the demise of your organization. I like to use the analogy that everyone plans for a vacation because that's fun but many people do not plan on what they will do to reduce their risks.

 

Insurance is a good thing but if you ask the people impacted by September 11th and other disasters how easy it was to collect on an insurance policy after the disaster took place you'll find that it was extremely difficult. Many insurance companies did not have the funds to pay for such catastrophic events.

 

In many presentations I've done I always stress to people that they need to prepare for disasters or emergencies as individuals and as businesses also. A significant portion of businesses that do not have plans in place for disaster recovery, risk reduction etc. are unable to resume operations after a disaster event. The US economy is primarily made up of many small "mom and pop" type businesses and the economy can come to a screeching hault after a disaster if these businesses can not resume due to a lack of a business continuity plan. I believe as both an individual and as a business we need to take personal responsibility and not wait for "Big Brother" government to come in and bail us out. The government is already running on limited resources and we all must do our part to help.

If you guys don't mind me asking, what profession are you in?

If you guys don't mind me asking, what profession are you in?

 

I do emergency management/disaster preparedness consulting and have been in the field in some way shape or form for the last 10 years or more.

I do emergency management/disaster preparedness consulting and have been in the field in some way shape or form for the last 10 years or more.

 

Me too...Firestorm I still dabble in security and aside from general DR / BCP, I specialize in high risk / violence issues. I got the nod from corporate to expand into India and will be getting involved to help sure up their infrastructure and help to harden some of their soft targets. We should talk off line one day.

Me too...Firestorm I still dabble in security and aside from general DR / BCP, I specialize in high risk / violence issues. I got the nod from corporate to expand into India and will be getting involved to help sure up their infrastructure and help to harden some of their soft targets. We should talk off line one day.

 

Wojo I just sent you a PM through the site. I hope you get it....

 

Nick

Me too...Firestorm I still dabble in security and aside from general DR / BCP, I specialize in high risk / violence issues. I got the nod from corporate to expand into India and will be getting involved to help sure up their infrastructure and help to harden some of their soft targets. We should talk off line one day.

 

If you don't mind me asking, how did you guys get into that field of work? It sounds really fascinating! I currently work in the Technology field, operations and project management... but have been contemplating a career change some day.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you guys get into that field of work? It sounds really fascinating! I currently work in the Technology field, operations and project management... but have been contemplating a career change some day.

 

Tony, for me it came along a weird career path that unbeknown to me provided a great background to do what I do now. I am involved with Firestorm 40 hours a week, and a mix of Security / Executive Protection / Firearms instruction as details come around that take about 10 to 20 hours a week.

 

I've always lead kind of a dual life, white collar college educated that loved to fight, take risks and the willingness to help or hurt someone without hesitation. Not the typical college student. Left college after the bombings in Beirut and enlisted within two months. Got involved in areas with the Coast Guard I never knew existed in Central America because of the Reagan Doctrine. We supported some covert ops for Army / Marine commandos and conducting some hot boardings of questionable vessels. Went to Alaska for Search and Rescue with helicopters and continued some of that when I turned civilian. Then I returned to office work and did a lot of consulting work for a LARGE company and specialized in government facilities and military bases. Fast forward, found myself in an office as a department head of a financial institution and hated it. I need to have some risk, travel and push the envelop. Changed careers and found myself doing EP work and covering royalty / VIP's / doing diplomatic security with other agencies. On a detail, I spent some time with a recently retired Secret Service agent and he suggested I get involved with Firestorm as a buddy of his was on our Expert Council and here I am.

 

Some take a more direct path and get a degree in DR / BCP, but I have lived thru a lot of disasters and had to help recover from them. OJT if it were. But nothing I do follows the normal path and wouldn't change my life experiences with anyone. I have had waaaay too much fun and continue to.

 

Tony, we talk about that IT DR only works if people can get to work and the building is functioning. IF you have a pandemic, workplace violence incident, natural disaster, all the IT plans in the world may not be of any value unless you have good plans. The other factor is that over 80% of BCP have never been fully tested and about 90% are out of date. When the fan is on high and the shovel keeps feeding it crap, it is not the time to discover shortcomings. We got in after the shootings at VA Tech and are behind the scenes for some national companies that we have NDA with.

Wojo,

 

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like you've had some really awesome experiences in your lifetime, and your current job sounds pretty awesome as well.

 

I don't directly work in DR for IT... but work with lots of folks that do. I work for one of the big telecomm companies and specialize in project managment of very large IT projects, mostly for Fortune 100 clients. I've been in the tech field for over 17 years... but I'm kind of getting tired of it. The good thing is that operations management, project management, risk assessment and other skills can be transferred to other disciplines and fields... It just a matter of finding an interesting field and how to get your foot in the door.

If you guys don't mind me asking, what profession are you in?

 

Hi WOJO:

I own and operate an independent Security Company. We integrate, design and install both commercial and residential security and fire alarm systems through out NJ an PA. Our customer base mostly consists of small to medium sized companies, warehousing, distribution, pharmaceutical, and industrial and some private sector government sponsored business. We are not a wham-bam company like Solmins or ADT, we actually give our customers what they pay for. We have no packages, we assess their security needs and concerns then provide them with a system that fits within their budget. Best Regards, Dean

Hi WOJO:

I own and operate an independent Security Company. We integrate, design and install both commercial and residential security and fire alarm systems through out NJ an PA. Our customer base mostly consists of small to medium sized companies, warehousing, distribution, pharmaceutical, and industrial and some private sector government sponsored business. We are not a wham-bam company like Solmins or ADT, we actually give our customers what they pay for. We have no packages, we assess their security needs and concerns then provide them with a system that fits within their budget. Best Regards, Dean

 

Dean, I hate ADT and all the wham-bam alarm companies that give the industry a bad name. When people ask about alarm companies I always tell them to avoid the big names and go with a local / regional company. The public has no idea on how poorly these massive call centers are operated and how the sales people are only concerned about rolling out the product of the month our suck you into a financing 'deal' or long term contract. At the bank I used to work at, it took me years and years to slowly get out of contracts and hook up with good companies. Every time we bought out another bank, I inherited a bag a steaming poo it seemed.

 

I did a big write up on people's false sense of security on residential alarms can bring and why it is still important to be able to defend yourself. People are amazed that a SWAT team isn't dispatched every time the call center gets a signal and that the average response time for most PD's is close to twenty minutes. Not the alarm companies fault, just PD protocol for alarm response.

 

PM me your company name and some contact information. I'm not in the position to select companies anymore, but if the occasion presents itself with a client, I'll pass along the information.

 

Scott

Tony, for me it came along a weird career path that unbeknown to me provided a great background to do what I do now. I am involved with Firestorm 40 hours a week, and a mix of Security / Executive Protection / Firearms instruction as details come around that take about 10 to 20 hours a week.

 

I've always lead kind of a dual life, white collar college educated that loved to fight, take risks and the willingness to help or hurt someone without hesitation. Not the typical college student. Left college after the bombings in Beirut and enlisted within two months. Got involved in areas with the Coast Guard I never knew existed in Central America because of the Reagan Doctrine. We supported some covert ops for Army / Marine commandos and conducting some hot boardings of questionable vessels. Went to Alaska for Search and Rescue with helicopters and continued some of that when I turned civilian. Then I returned to office work and did a lot of consulting work for a LARGE company and specialized in government facilities and military bases. Fast forward, found myself in an office as a department head of a financial institution and hated it. I need to have some risk, travel and push the envelop. Changed careers and found myself doing EP work and covering royalty / VIP's / doing diplomatic security with other agencies. On a detail, I spent some time with a recently retired Secret Service agent and he suggested I get involved with Firestorm as a buddy of his was on our Expert Council and here I am.

 

Some take a more direct path and get a degree in DR / BCP, but I have lived thru a lot of disasters and had to help recover from them. OJT if it were. But nothing I do follows the normal path and wouldn't change my life experiences with anyone. I have had waaaay too much fun and continue to.

 

Tony, we talk about that IT DR only works if people can get to work and the building is functioning. IF you have a pandemic, workplace violence incident, natural disaster, all the IT plans in the world may not be of any value unless you have good plans. The other factor is that over 80% of BCP have never been fully tested and about 90% are out of date. When the fan is on high and the shovel keeps feeding it crap, it is not the time to discover shortcomings. We got in after the shootings at VA Tech and are behind the scenes for some national companies that we have NDA with.

 

 

You're an interesting mofo

Nothing special here, just a regular Joe.

Dean, I hate ADT and all the wham-bam alarm companies that give the industry a bad name. When people ask about alarm companies I always tell them to avoid the big names and go with a local / regional company. The public has no idea on how poorly these massive call centers are operated and how the sales people are only concerned about rolling out the product of the month our suck you into a financing 'deal' or long term contract. At the bank I used to work at, it took me years and years to slowly get out of contracts and hook up with good companies. Every time we bought out another bank, I inherited a bag a steaming poo it seemed.

 

I did a big write up on people's false sense of security on residential alarms can bring and why it is still important to be able to defend yourself. People are amazed that a SWAT team isn't dispatched every time the call center gets a signal and that the average response time for most PD's is close to twenty minutes. Not the alarm companies fault, just PD protocol for alarm response.

 

PM me your company name and some contact information. I'm not in the position to select companies anymore, but if the occasion presents itself with a client, I'll pass along the information.

 

 

Scott

 

I've been in security integration for about 22 years. I worked for ADT at the very end of their good days in 1990. I watched the Hawley Group destroy that company. I currently work for a large pharmaceutical company's security department. We were using SST as our primary integrator for several years before ADT bought them. As usual the quality of their work and support has gone straight down since the acquisition as they lost their premier talent. Like the Borg they keep assimilating companies and killing their accounts...

BRN169, sounds like what Honeywell did to the small company I worked for in the very early 90's. Once they came in, it was all about volume and pumping products to the client that they didn't need or want. I used to conduct audits on government bases / buildings and very large commercial facilities for them. My territory was anything east of the Mississippi River and lived on the road most of the month. Electrical panels, control panels, lighting (security and interior), site assessments etc.

 

Once you bought a Honeywell system you were screwed. They could have given the junk for free and still made money on repairs that weren't included under the warranty or fixing the piss-poor engineering work they did. I kept records of EVERY thing I did knowing at some point that some was going to frag my a**. It happened at the U of Indy. They flew me back out there to see what I did wrong. They changed my design and recommendations to increase the profit margins. They didn't expect me to retain my AutoCAD files and reports. CYA baby.