Catalyst Interactive: Training for the security industry

of clientele. Thus, within our company, we have a large group of people who have the proper security clearances and training and background to deal with defense and security agencies and another group of people that are really more focused on the analysis of business and corporate requirements, not necessarily in the security area, but in the product, banking, insurance and medical sectors.

HSNW: Getting back to your mailing handling example - is that an area of ongoing security concern? It seems that one hears about it — as with the Anthrax scare — and then it drops off the public radar.

KK: Interestingly enough, the danger seems to appear, stick around for a while, when you usually see a bunch of copycat activity, and then it quiets down again until the next time. The threat, however, is always there. A lot of organizations are reluctant to report all the incidences, so a lot of them go unreported.

HSNW: Is that a problem in the security industry in general that a great many companies and agencies aren’t able or willing to disclose an incident?

KK: Yes. I think it is safe to say that organizations want to protect what is one of the most important aspects of their business, which is their brand, their reputation. When organizations find a weakness in any form — if it values its organization and its people — then it works internally to rectify the problem. This includes, of course, security concerns. This is where we come in.

HSNW: This lack of disclosure, however, must be overcome - at least in the sense of companies and organizations disclosing to each other, so that they can assess these situations and learn from them.

KK: Security agencies are working on that, trying to give organizations forums that are semi-private in order to share ideas. A good example is the RPDE (www.rpde.org.au) program — known as RAPID — created by the Australian defense force the purpose of which is really to allow industries, in a non-competitive forum, a chance to share ideas with a potential customers in a round table environment. The customer, in this case defense entities, can decide whether to procure those services or to undertake or recommend their further development leading perhaps to their commercial offering. Such a forum helps organizations to speak more openly.

HSNW: This sounds like something that should be emulated in the United States.

KK: There are quite a few forums available to organizations that allow them to exchange information in a circle of peers as opposed to doing so in a public media. The general opinion is that the general media tends to be opportunistic in reporting news when its convenient for them, as opposed to a publication likes yours that focuses on information of interest to the industry.

I know that at one point, post 9/11, organizations from around the world where invited to contribute white papers to the newly formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This was basically the same thing, sourcing ideas from really anybody and everybody who had something they thought they could contribute. I remember that there were multiple categories to which you could contribute. I don’t know if that program still exists — but it seemed to be a good initiative and conceptually quite similar to RAPID, though in the case of the United States, their initiative was focused on Homeland Security, while the Australian RAPID program is focused on technology across a broad range of topics including infantry or army personnel safety.

HSNW: How do you see the immediate future in the security training industry?

KK: In my opinion, even though the general public is aware of security threats, such threats are more real than often perceived. In addition to national security, Australia has the problems of people smuggling and other illegal immigration. What the public sees are the people on the front line, but its important to remember that putting those people on the frontline requires a fair bit of investment to their training. That’s were we come into play — to make sure that those people have the skills and the attitude they need to do their jobs.

Think of it as a pyramid, you know for every person that’s doing the job right at the frontline, there’s a broad group of people in a variety of roles that make sure they have the assets and intellectual capability and physical skills to do the job.

HSNW: Thank you.