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Heard enough about sequestration and its potential impact?

Well, here's some more, pertaining to security if the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts totaling $85 billion for fiscal year 2013 go into effect March 1.

I've read numerous news reports over the past few days dealing with everything from the Department of Homeland Security saying it would be forced to shut down its research and development lab, to the TSA stating it will need to furlough employees—resulting in longer lines at airport security checkpoints. The Pentagon says is would have to furlough civilian workers as soon as April. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol says its ranks would be cut. Port security could be threatened by sequestration as well, according to a report in the U-T San Diego.

Meanwhile, some nuclear arms sites would need to put employees on unpaid leave for weeks or months. Remember the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee? It would have to furlough 700 to 1,000 personnel for as much as six months, reports said.

"Clearly, these layoffs will adversely impact efforts to improve security" at Y-12, where three elderly peace activists, including an 82-year-old nun, last July reached a secured area that houses weapon-grade uranium, the Knoxville News Sentinel quoted an analysis from Democratic House Appropriations Committee members as saying.

And that's just the short list. But Y-12? Oh, my.

Update:

I just read a USA Today article on the sequestration's impact on FBI background checks for gun purchases. You can read it here.

Kudos to SIA for its initiatives to help lead the industry's efforts in school safety and security in the wake of the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

Chairman Jay Hauhn recently wrote to President Obama expressing SIA's support for specific, holistic school security measures, including funding for security assessments, investment in technology such as digital video cameras and access control systems and training for education and law enforcement personnel. Hauhn noted in his letter that those strategies and others can be quickly implemented if the Department of Justice's Secure Our Schools program is fully funded and if the president's Comprehensive School Safety Grant program is successful.

SIA board members Ron Zivney and Sandy Jones are working with CEO Donald Erickson to develop "Industry Groups" that will allow members to address common topics, including education and school security.

A new SIA LinkedIn group page, "SIA Safe Schools," has been created so that stakeholders can exchange ideas and concerns.

In addition, SIA will offer a four-session School Safety Series at ISC West in April that will cover monitoring remote areas, using smart phones as campus credentials, intelligent response to critical incidents and a case study on IP video surveillance in a campus setting.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has named Steve Asher, a retired Air Force colonel and former Spokane, Wash., Target store manager, as its acting head of nuclear security.

Asher served 33 years in the Air Force, including 10 as a nuclear security expert with the Air Force Office of the Inspector General, according to news reports. He also was commander of Malmstrom Air Force Base's 341st Security Forces Group in Montana, where he was in charge of security for 200 intercontinental ballistic missiles. According to some reports, Asher got less than glowing reviews in that role; the facility failed a security inspection some five months after his departure.

In his new job as chief, Asher will be overseeing, among others, the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Y-12, you will remember, was the target of three elderly protesters, including an 82-year-old nun, who last July went undetected as they cut through perimeter fences and defaced a building housing high-grade uranium.

That breach has cost taxpayers about $15 million in direct costs so far, OakRidger.com reports the NNSA as saying. That includes security modifications and additions and additional personnel. The cost is probably higher, OakRidger reported, as investigation costs and refresher training were not part of the $15 million estimate.

Post-installation service is becoming more and more of a critical concern for most end-users today. However, when qualifying potential vendors, they often make the simple mistake of asking this question: "Do you provide service after the project has been completed?"

The standard response from any vendor is: "Yes."

Unfortunately, the vendor gave the right answer while the real problem resides in the question. This question treats service as a peripheral commodity without fully understanding what it takes to meet the client's expectations for service.

Instead of asking the above question, a better question would be: "How do you achieve responsive excellent service?"

While there are many factors that go into establishing an effective service program, one of the most critical components is your prospective vendor's approach to product standardization. For instance, if a security integrator carries more than two access control products, the chances are that they will be less likely to fulfill the client's service requirements since their technical infrastructure is not standardized to a specific solution.

For those firms that adhere to strict product and design standards, the benefits and efficiencies of standardization surface in many areas. First, by standardizing to a limited number of name-brand products, a security integrator can afford to invest in technical training for their service personnel. At our firm, where we carry one and only one access control product line, with a total of 48 employees, we invest more than $100,000 annually in training. If we carried more products, this number would most likely have to double, maybe even triple.

If you select an integrator that believes in standardization, you are less likely to hear one of their technicians utter the most horrifying words: "I've never seen this product before."

The second benefit of standardization is that it enables an integrator to maintain a reasonable service inventory of spare parts. Using basic logic, if a company carries a broad range of products, its inventory would have to be so large that most firms would be unable to afford a large inventory. The default service plan would be that they would depend on the manufacturer to maintain a service inventory. Of course, when your system is down and you need an immediate response, you do not want to hear the technician say on Friday evening: "There is a spare part in California, and we will have it here by Monday, Tuesday at the latest." It happens all of the time.

At our firm, by adhering to strong standardization principles, we are able to maintain a $500,000 (wholesale) inventory local to our market, and all of our service vehicles are fully stocked with spares. There is an added benefit of stocking our service vehicles with spares. It decreases the downtime of our clients, thereby increasing client satisfaction. Most important, it also lowers our operating costs since it makes us more efficient.

So, when it comes time to investigate a potential vendor's service ability, go above the norm and ask the real questions:

1. How many access control products do you support?
2. How many of your technicians are factory-certified on the products that you install?
3. What is the wholesale value of your service inventory?
4. What is the wholesale value of parts on each of your service vehicles?

The above questions will get you the right answers to make the best-value decision for your organization.

Alan Kruglak is senior vice president of Genesis Security Systems, an electronic security systems integrator based in Germantown, Md.