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Editor's Notes

Advice for job seekers

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Thursday, October 11, 2012

I just watched a web video from Jerry Brennan, managing director of Security Management Resources, the global search firm that fills executive- and professional-level roles within corporate security programs. He was offering advice for job seekers in the security industry.

Brennan reiterated the common hew and cry from those who need top-level security officers—candidates need “a business orientation.” Gone are the days, he says, of “gates, guards and guns” when companies would hire a local police sergeant to serve their security needs. Now successful job candidates are those who understand business and speak the language of the specific business they will be protecting, he said. A business education is important.

Employers today want the “best and the brightest,” he said. They want diversity and a “good cultural fit for the organization, someone who can grow with them, even outside of security.”

The number of high-level security vacancies has dropped off by about half, he said, due to the economy, including the fact that many senior-level people who would ordinarily have retired by now have not. The drop can also be attributed in part to sending jobs “offshore,” he said. “It’s not that we’re offshoring in the sense of a manufacturing firm, but where in the past we would put a regional position in a corporate headquarters in the host country, now we’re putting it out in the field in the regional offices.”

Still, Brennan said, security is “an emerging field,” so there’s reason to be optimistic.

Tags: 
Jerry Bowman,
Security Management Resources
Editor's Notes

TWIC woes, again

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Benny Holland Jr., executive vice president of the International Longshoreman’s Association and a trustee on the Port of Galveston’s governing board, wants tougher restrictions on the use of escorts for truck drivers and others who arrive at docks without cards supplied through the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, according to a report in the Galveston Daily News.

Maritime and transportation workers are coming on to the docks without background checks or reliable ID, Holland said. Anyone who does not have a biometric TWIC ID is turned away or must wait for an escort.

More than 1 million TWIC cards have been issued, but the Coast Guard, which administers the program along with the TSA, has missed a number of deadlines to come up for a rule for card readers. The Coast Guard said last month it expected the rule would be issued by the end of the year.

Holland told the newspaper that some private firms tout their escort services as a way to circumvent stringent FBI screening. Although the escort is required to have the proper credentials, the arrangement does nothing to keep people from entering a port, Holland said. “I can go up there without a TWIC card and pay someone to escort me on a facility and be a terrorist or undesirable,” he said. “That is defeating the purpose—walking up and being escorted on without any background check.”

Holland said he wants to meet with officials in Washington to discuss the issue.

I have a few calls out about this, so far unanswered. You’d hope these escorts screen those that they’re escorting, right? Wouldn’t they be responsible if something goes wrong? I, for one, would definitely like to know more about that. Will keep you posted as I learn more.

Editor's Notes

Hospitality industry gets advice on preparedness

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Friday, October 5, 2012

Panelists at this week’s 2012 Global Congress on Travel Risk Management in Houston advised attendees to hold mock emergency drills for employees.

Participating in the session, “Special Considerations for Securing Critical Mass Events and Attractions,” were Michael Amaro of the law firm Prindle, Amaro, Goetz, Hillyard, Barnes and Reinholt; Thomas R. McElroy, principal and managing member of The Hospitality Security Consulting Group; and James Eiler, partner at the law firm Kaiser Swindells Eiler. All agreed that simulating an emergency situation is a good way to prepare hospitality industry employees for actual incidents and point out where security vulnerabilities lie, according to a report from HotelNewsNow.com.

“It goes beyond the emergency manual that you pull off the shelf and have to blow the dust off of it,” McElroy said.

Engaging in mock drills can reduce liability as well, said Eiler said.

“I like to see the training because it shows me there was training, and it was reasonable,” he said.

The panelists also debated the pros and cons of hiring an in-house vs. third-party security staff. One benefit of having in-house guards is that they are loyal to their employers, who can also determine the amount of training they receive, they said. On the other hand, in-house staff might become too friendly with other hotel staff members, causing them to be negligent in overseeing potential problems with employees, they said. 

 

 

 

Tags: 
2012 Global Congress on Travel Risk Management,
Michael Amaro,
Thomas R. McElroy,
James Eiler
Editor's Notes

Supreme Court won’t hear body-scanner challenge

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a Floridian’s attempt to challenge the TSA’s use of full-body scanners and enhanced pat-downs at airport security checkpoints.

Jonathan Corbett, who writes the blog “TSA Out of Our Pants” and produced the YouTube video “How to Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners," filed the suit in Florida federal court, which said it could only be filed with the federal appeals court in Washington D.C. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld the dismissal and the Supreme Court decided yesterday not to reopen it, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Corbett, in his blog Monday, said he will continue to forge ahead with his challenge against the TSA in the hopes he may have another shot with the appeals court in Atlanta. Meanwhile, he recently filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department over an incident in which he was stopped and frisked by police officers while visiting Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

Tags: 
tsa,
full-body scanners
Editor's Notes

Who tries to bring a gun through airport security?

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Monday, October 1, 2012

Apparently, a lot of people. Even though your bottle of water will most certainly be confiscated at your checkpoint, some folks, albeit apparently unwittingly, think little of trying to get a firearm through.

The TSA has found 1,105 firearms at security checkpoints so far this year. Last year, it found 1,320 total, and in 2010, 1,123, according to a UPI report.

A TSA spokesman told UPI that most people found with guns at airport security checkpoints bring them there “unintentionally.”

Some still slip through. Last week, ABC News reported, two loaded handguns were allowed to pass through TSA security checkpoints. An executive for the New Orleans Hornets mistakenly flew with his from New Orleans to Newark, although there are conflicting reports as to whether it was in his carry-on or checked baggage, and, a day earlier, a firearm in a firefighter’s carry-on bag made it safely from Orlando to Newark.

Even appropriately checked firearms must be unloaded.

“Unfortunately the reports I get . . . it's hundreds of times every day,” Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told ABC News. “It can’t be tolerated.”

 

Tags: 
tsa,
Rep. John Mica,
R-Fla.,
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Editor's Notes

New England ORC show grows

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Friday, September 28, 2012

I had a brief chat with Ryan Kearney the other day. He is the general counsel for the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, and I wanted to check in with him to see how things fared at the recent New England Organized Retail Crime Symposium and Trade Show.

Attendance was up to about 300, he said, an increase for the event's sixth year. About 25 vendors partipated. Joe LaRocca, the former vice president for loss prevention for the National Retail Federation, now vice president and senior advisor, loss prevention, at RetaiLPartners, gave the opening address and was also honored for his work in the industry.

A highlight of the show, Kearney said, was the keynote address from Albuquerque Police Chief Raymond Schultz, who was accompanied by Karen Fischer, Albuquerque's strategic support division manager. They talked about their ORC partnerships with retailers, prosecutors and others. Albuquerque's private-public program for fighting ORC has been used as a model across the country, and it continues to grow. I hope to check in on that shortly and do an update on a story SDN wrote about it a year ago.

Topic: 
Retail and Hospitality
Tags: 
orc,
New England Organized Retail Crime Symposium and Trade Show. Ryan Kearney,
joe larocca,
Albuquerque Police Chief Raymond Schultz,
karen fischer
Editor's Notes

Hotel chain may give boost to TSA PreCheck

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I blogged last week about the TSA’s expansion of its PreCheck program at the Philadelphia and Washington Dulles airports. Now there’s a hotel chain jumping on the bandwagon.

New York-based Loews Hotels & Resorts said this week that it will pay the $100 application fee for the expedited check-in program for members of its YouFirst Platinum loyalty program, according to a report  in the Los Angeles Times.  

The offer is for the 2,400 current members of the hotel chain's loyalty program and expires in 60 days, although Loews says it may consider extending the offer to new members.

How many other hotel chains will follow suit and help out the TSA?

Editor's Notes

TSA gets a compliment, sort of

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Monday, September 24, 2012

I read this morning that the TSA’s Spot program—Screening Passengers by Observation Technique—hasn’t caught a single terrorist yet, as it was designed to, but it has, indeed, accounted for hundreds of arrests of suspected criminals.

TSA officers at about one-third of U.S. airports eyeball passengers for suspicious behavior, such as excess anxiety or sweating, according to a report from BloombergBusinessweek. From 2004-08, the U.S. Government Accountability Office says Spot resulted in 1,083 non-terrorism related arrests, based upon referrals from suspicious TSA agents, who aren’t allowed to make arrests themselves. Of the 353 arrests from November 2010 to 2012, the news report said, 68 percent were for immigration offenses, drug charges or outstanding criminal warrants.

The TSA is taking another look at Spot after complaints, including racial profiling, and officers are expected to get further training in assessing passenger behavior.

Tags: 
tsa,
GAO,
airport security
Editor's Notes

Cats and snails in suitcases, monkeys in pants

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Friday, September 21, 2012

It’s Friday, so I figured we all could use a little light news. And the following is something that’s been giving me a laugh all week.

It seems it has been a busy month in the clandestine-animals-at-airports department.

First there was the case of a cat that sneaked into its owner’s suitcase and flew from the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio to Orlando undetected by the TSA. The cat survived a one-hour car trip to the airport, the airport X-ray scanner and, fortunately, the two-hour flight, not to mention the wait until its owner finally unzipped her suitcase at her hotel hours later.

The other two news reports I read about animals vs. airport security had less than successful outcomes as far as the humans were concerned.

At the airport in Delhi, three men were arrested for trying to smuggle monkeys, get this, in their pants. The lorises—7-inch long primates—are popular as monkey pets in some realms, apparently.

Then, this week, a man traveling from Amsterdam to Glasgow was found to have in his suitcase 36 giant African land snails, which have shells the size of a human fist, news reports said. The man didn’t have an import license for the mollusks, which he said he intended to eat. The snails were confiscated and the snail-ophile got away with only a warning.

And these are just the reported cases, mind you. I’m wondering what other wonders from the Animal Kingdom have slipped through the cracks—or security detection devices—or at least tried to, intentionally or otherwise.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Editor's Notes

New report on importance of corporate security

by: 
Amy Canfield
  - 
Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Conference Board’s Council Perspectives Report, out this month, focuses on security’s evolution into a value-added function since 9/11. The CSO’s role, the report says, is “more than ever, a business one … integral … a fundamental part of the business process … embedded in disciples like finance law, human resources, quality, supply chain, marketing and operations.”

Not big news to you folks, I know, but it’s nice to be validated by The Conference Board Council of Corporate Security Executives, right? The board developed its report using information from its CEO Challenge 2012 survey.

To meet challenges this year and beyond, the report says, “security leaders must continue to develop their business acumen and risk management skills.”

The report, “Leveraging Corporate Security for Business Growth and Improved Performance: The Transformative Effect of 9/11,” concludes, in part, that it is reliant on a company’s leaders, including the CSO, “to change any lingering perceptions that security is an imposition rather than an essential component of how you do business,” and that execs may still underestimate the role CSOs play in “promoting business growth and improving performance” so it is incumbent upon them to better understand that role and assemble the best team possible.

If you’d like a copy of the report, call The Conference Board’s customer service department at 212 339 0345 or email customer.service@conference-board.org.

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