We all have classified information to protect. How we do this is governed by vast numbers of regulations and professional experiences turned into practical guides. One of the latter is hard to quantify. That is, how do you quantify ‘security awareness’ at all times? On this very day, a huge street-side sign advises ‘Vigilance at all times!’ at the entrance to a nearby military facility. Even when times are quiet, and such awareness seems unnecessary, we need security consciousness.
Intelligence Before 9/11
The current Secretary of the Navy counsels sailors and Marines to tighten what they share on their personal email and social media accounts. Naval personnel are reminded of the new and invasive methods adversaries use to identify, harass, and approach people online. What to do? One colleague said it best. How were we thinking about security on September 10, 2001, the day before the great attack on the twin towers in New York City? All security professionals connected to that historic attack have asked this question over and over. Was there anything I could have done differently to preclude or mitigate this disaster? Was there complacency that might have made it worse? After-action reports aplenty have flooded the security sphere in the years after that astounding event. What can they tell us?
What could have been done differently before the disastrous event on September 11? One takeaway I recall is a report assessment from a Minnesota-based FBI agent. She wondered why a man had signed up for flight training on a major aircraft only to quit upon completing takeoff training. He took only takeoff training, then left. Why? It turned out the man who took that training, then left half-finished, was one of the future hijackers. He’d signed on for training to slaughter all those people by flying the plane into a building.
Training and Preparedness
What preparedness would have mitigated that disastrous event? Today we have air marshals. Almost all aircraft today have them, and their presence is kept secret. Rather than having to rely on valiant passengers – such as those who brought down the hijacked plane in remote Pennsylvania, rather than the White House – now we have trained, armed professionals who fly routinely. In fact, whole-citizen awareness programs like ‘See something, say something’ exist across the country to keep everyone alert. This concept comes from the Special Forces’ motto, ‘Stay alert, stay alive,’ and has proven to be the best deterrent to danger yet devised. People no longer feel reluctant to report something, fearing officials will consider them silly or paranoid. Now they know they’ll be responded to, and their reports acted upon.
What most offices, factories, and facilities with classified material now do is generally effective periodic training. Federal guidelines exist to facilitate these paid training periods, with the goal of keeping the whole company aware of potential threats. No facility holds such training without a senior executive in attendance. She takes her seat after offering a welcome and endorsing what a professional counterintelligence investigator is about to present. This executive changes with every iteration, showing staff that leadership and the annual personnel reports are taken seriously.
Companies Crowdsource SECURITY
Companies have sponsored imaginative security contests. One offered monthly bonuses to the employee who provided the best new ideas to the security staff, which leadership then approved for use. In fact, $500 per winning employee per month motivated people when the program was implemented after 9/11. What would motivate your company employees today?
Among the new ideas implemented were daily online security notices. When an employee first turned on their computer, a reminder of a security practice would appear. These would often be in the form of a question. The ‘winner’ was the first correct answer, and the respondent was given a small reward! Another was a poster created by an employee with certain artistic skills. The poster was reprinted and posted all over the plant with his name prominently affixed for all to see. Advisories about vehicle safety were well received, so much so that the guard staff was given the additional requirement (with union approval) to check vehicles in the parking lot for unlocked doors or valuables left visible in the seats. Likewise, many automobile windows were treated with a reflective screen that limited the searing impact of sunshine. This also made cameras unable to photograph through those windows. No one could identify the driver or what he carried from the outside. Overseas, vehicle license plates associated only with Americans stationed in a given country were changed to match local national license plates.
If your security office is small, you are not limited. Multiply the eyes, ears, and ideas that come to your aid. Make everyone in your company or agency aware that professionals await their reports at any time of day. One of the best ideas was how to reach an intelligence professional twenty-four hours a day, every day, in an emergency.
