NSAWW in the News:
Courtney Banks interviewed for the Jeff Santos radio show on "Revolution Boston" - Audio (1/10) Nat’l Security Associates Worldwide Adds Six New National and International Clients
Company also Significantly Expands its Board of Advisors (1/2010)Leadership Profile: Dana Brown, President of Nat'l Security Associates WorldWide (12/2009) Courtney Banks Honored as "Rising Star" by Washington Business Journal (11/2009) Growing Security (9/2009) Nat’l Security Associates Worldwide Hires President (8/2009) Securing Government Money for Security (8/2009) Mario Possamai Conducts Webinar for ASIS International (5/2009) NSAWW Welcomes a New Member to its Board of Advisors (5/2009) Nat'l Security Associates Rides Government Contracting Wave (4/2009) NSAWW Signs 20th Client and First Fortune 100 Client
Two NSAWW Clients Also Score Big with $250 Million Government Contract Win (4/2009)Peter S. Probst Visits India Following Mumbai Attacks (3/2009) Securing the Homeland: A Narberth Native Becomes a Defensive Linchpin Against Terrorism (2/2009) Women in Business Radio Interview - Audio (1/2009) An Advisory Boutique for Security Firms (1/2009) Women of Our World: Courtney Banks (1/2009) Courtney Banks Selected to Participate as a National Journal National Security Expert (12/2008) CBS Interview: Courtney Banks - Video (12/2008) Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide Announces the Addition of Two New Members to Board of Advisors (12/2008) Courtney Banks Breaks the Mold in the Security Industry (11/2008) Pandemic Preparedness: It's Time to Plan - PDF (9/2008) Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide Welcomes Three New Members to its Board of Directors (09/2008) Slight Limp, Not Lame (7/2007) Defeating terrorism: is it possible? Is it probable? (5/2007) Women in Technology Announces Finalists for Eighth Annual Leadership Awards (04/2007) Terror Response Technology Report: International Experts Assess Non-conventional Terrorism Threat (10/2006)
Courtney Banks interviewed for the Jeff Santos radio show on "Revolution Boston"
Click the Play button to listen to the full interview.
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Nat’l Security Associates Worldwide Adds Six New National and International Clients
Company also Significantly Expands its Board of Advisors
January 11, 2010 – Nat’l Security Associates Worldwide (NSAWW) today announced the addition of six new clients from across the globe, as well as four new members to its Board of Advisors.
The new clients include a leading provider of voice biometrics solutions for the public security sector based in Madrid, Spain; a company specializing in network security based in Austin, Texas; a physical security solutions provider based in British Columbia, Canada; and three Finnish companies providing high-tech chemical detection services, blast protection and special ventilation technology, and video software surveillance.
"These new clients solidify NSAWW's position as an international security consulting firm," said NSAWW president Dana Brown. "We understand the opportunities that exist for both domestic and international companies within the federal market space, and we look forward to helping these new clients achieve their goals."
NSAWW also announced this week the addition of four new members to its Board of Advisors.
Mr. Daniel Costello is a business professional with extensive background and knowledge in healthcare policy, state and federal regulation and the pharmaceutical and biotech markets. He enjoyed a long career in the media industry, which included posts at the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. He focused on domestic policy, healthcare and economics, and frequently interviewed business leaders and public figures such as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and many members of Congress, state and local government. Mr. Costello was the recipient of the 2007 LA Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness Award following his reporting, writing and production of a yearlong series on homelessness in LA, which culminated in two dozen editorials driving widespread local reform.
General Robert T. Dail retired in November, 2008 after serving 33 years in the United States Army. At retirement, he was the senior military logistics professional in the Department of Defense. In March, 2009, he joined Supreme Group, Inc, a global logistics services company headquartered in The Netherlands with 2009 revenues of $3.2B. General Dail serves as President of Supreme Group, USA, located in Reston Town Center in Fairfax, Virginia. General Dail‘s last tour on active duty was as the 15th Director of the Defense Logistics Agency. General Dail served in that capacity from August 2006 to November 2008. The Defense Logistics Agency, headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., is responsible for providing the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and other federal agencies with the full range of logistics, acquisition and technical services in peace and war. Prior to DLA, General Dail served as the deputy commander of the United States Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. USTRANSCOM is a Unified Command responsible to the Secretary of Defense for the nation's global defense transportation system, commanding components of the Army, Navy and Air Force. During his military career, General Dail commanded and led logistics and transportation units at every level, from platoon to corps, across the full range of Army combat capabilities. He also had extensive experience in joint operations and strategic level logistics.
Frank P. Pugliese, Jr. held the position of Managing Director for Government Business Development at the DuPont Corporation from 2003-2009. As Managing Director, his primary responsibility was to create and lead a team of marketing executives to help build and expand business opportunities for DuPont in the Federal Marketplace. A major emphasis was placed on the identification and creation of new sustainable streams of revenue for many of DuPont’s available products and services. Prior to DuPont, Mr. Pugliese served as Managing Associate at O’Conner and Fierce Associates, a government affairs firm specializing in government procurement. Mr. Pugliese also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Star Mountain, Inc. a 605-person operating company with over $45 million in revenue. Mr. Pugliese was selected by Government Computer News magazine as the 1997 “Government Executive of the Year” for information technology.
Rear Admiral Norm Saunders is President and CEO of Norm Saunders Associates, Inc., a small Virginia corporation that consults on homeland security, port, border and maritime security, maritime domain awareness and homeland defense. Prior to creating his own company he was Vice President for Corporate Development with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), with responsibility for a number of Homeland Defense/Homeland Security programs, to include Maritime and Port Security matters, U.S. Coast Guard programs, and a range of supporting technology efforts. Rear Admiral Saunders is a veteran of 35 years of Coast Guard service. Before retiring in June 1999, Saunders served as Commander, 7th Coast Guard District, where he exercised direct responsibility for the full spectrum of Coast Guard activities in the Southeast United States and the Caribbean, to include lifesaving, law enforcement, and environmental missions. Previously he served as Assistant Commandant for Operations for the U.S. Coast Guard, where he was responsible for direct oversight of policy development and facilities management for Coast Guard operating programs.
**Nat’l Security Associates Worldwide is a partnership run by executives with proven track records in achieving results for companies desiring to expand in the homeland and national security markets around the globe. Led by senior executives who are leaders in both business development and homeland and national security, NSAWW relationships have led to highly successful outcomes for clients around the globe and billions of dollars in growth. During a weak economy, NSAWW more than doubled its revenue in 2009 and is on track to continue this trend in 2010.**
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Leadership Profile: Dana Brown, President of Nat'l Security Associates WorldWide
By David Silverberg, Editor; HS Today December 2009
Dana Brown fits the classic image of the G-Man: tall, meticulously dressed, very soft spoken, impeccably polite and very discreet – indeed, so discreet it's hard to elicit the stories of a lifetime in law enforcement, the Secret Service, the Federal Air Marshals Service, and now, the presidency of Nat'l Security Associates WorldWide (NSAWW).
NSAWW is a security consulting firm founded in 2007 by Courtney Banks, a former White House national security aide and vice president of homeland security for Raytheon Co. With 20 seasoned security professionals on its roster, its specialty is advising clients on security market opportunities, but it can also assist with business development, due diligence research, project development and the search for security solutions.
The company currently has 24 clients, according to Brown, and in April it signed Computer Sciences Corp., Falls Church, Va., as its first client on the list of Fortune magazine's top 100 companies.
A Career of Service
A native of Fairfax County, Va., Brown joined the Secret Service after stints in the United States Marine Corps, where he served in Vietnam and won the Purple Heart, and the Fairfax County Police Department from 1972 to 1976.
In the Secret Service, Brown guarded former President Gerald Ford and was on President Ronald Reagan's protective detail from 1985 to 1986. He culminated his career there as assistant director and chief financial officer in the Office of Administration.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Brown was in the Secret Service director's office when the news arrived of the attacks in New York and Washington. He and other agents went to the Director’s Crisis Center, where he spent the next day and a half checking on the status of Secret Service agents and trying to identify the perpetrators.
In 2002, Brown transferred to the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) as its director. That service had vastly expanded in the immediate wake of 9/11 and was experiencing severe personnel and morale difficulties.
“When I was nominated to become the director, I met with Secretary [Michael] Chertoff, and he asked me whether I thought the morale in the FAMS was as bad as the media was reporting,” Brown recalled. “I replied that I didn’t, but that I had never really sat with one or more air marshals and asked them about it.”
Brown succeeded Thomas Quinn as director and began a campaign of listening to the people on the front lines and – notably – to their families, with whom he scheduled regular Thursday night dinners. He listened to all the people serving in FAMS, from the mission support people to the supervisors to the marshals who were staying overnight in the Washington, DC, area and he visited offices.
“I found that morale was much worse than I thought,” he noted. To deal with the problem, Brown set up 11 working groups, later expanded to 30, to discuss and solve the problems facing the agency.
Morale and working conditions improved and it all paid off in 2006 in two emergencies: When marshals evacuated US citizens from Lebanon upon the outbreak of war between Israel and Hezbollah and in August when British authorities discovered an Al Qaeda plot to blow up airplanes using liquid explosives mixed in flight. Overnight, Brown deployed hundreds of marshals to the United Kingdom. Some arrived and immediately boarded US-bound flights. The next day, there were air marshals on every known flight to the United States from the United Kingdom.
When Brown announced his retirement from FAMS in May 2008, Kip Hawley, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, was effusive in his praise, saying he was proud to have worked with him. “Dana’s integrity, strength, humility, determination and calm confidence are as inspiring to others as they are unremarkable to him. He is one of a kind, and he is irreplaceable,” wrote Hawley in a statement. “Dana’s extraordinary connection to those on the front lines will be his legacy.”
Confronting Complacency
After leaving FAMS, Brown spent some time at the private consulting firm Vance Security USA, before joining NSAWW.
In looking at today’s security situation, Brown is concerned about the growing complacency he sees in businesses, in particular.
“When I was working at Vance, the further we got away from 9/11, the more reluctant people were to doing vulnerability assessments and those kinds of things. After a while, you look at the dollars and cents of it and you begin to say, ‘Well, it hasn’t happened lately…’” he said. “One time I had one gentleman tell me if what I was offering him was free, he’d do it. If it cost him a little bit of money, he’d consider it. If it was going to cost a lot, he would wait and see what happened.
“That is kind of the way things have developed,” Brown reflected. “The further we get away from 9/11 and that kind of tragedy, unfortunately, the more people get relaxed about security generally. It especially makes homeland security’s job more difficult overall.
“But,” he also noted, “I think there’s enough things happening in the world to keep people’s attention focused.”
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Courtney Banks Honored as "Rising Star" by Washington Business Journal
In an awards dinner and ceremony on November 18th, 2009, at the Four Seasons in Washington, DC, NSAWW CEO Courtney Banks was honored as a "Rising Star" by the Washington Business Journal. Each year, the WBJ selects a class of women to honor in their "Women Who Mean Business Awards," and out of this class, five "Rising Stars" are selected. These awardees represent the region's most influential businesswomen. The nominees for the awards come from every industry and profession; they are women who have made a difference in their communities, blazed a trail for the rest of us and who are leaving their mark on Washington business.
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The University of Pennsylvania's Penn Gazette: Alumni Profiles; September/October 2009 edition
Class of ’96 | Courtney Banks C’96 vividly remembers the moment that her career path revealed itself.
“There was a mini-series on TV called The Winds of War, [based on the book] by Herman Wouk,” Banks recalls, “and that was kind of it for me. I just knew that when I grew up I wanted to work with national security and the military. There were a lot of aspects of it that really, really appealed to me.”
The fact that she was female when she decided to enter that traditionally male-dominated field makes her something of an anomaly even today. What makes her truly singular is that her eureka moment came when she was in the third grade.
“I think at the time [1983] that was very rare,” acknowledges Banks. “Now, post-9/11, there are so many role models—you have Condi Rice, and Madeleine Albright, and Fran Townshend, and women who are four-star generals, so it’s less rare.”
Today Banks is CEO of National Security Associates Worldwide (NSAWW), a firm she founded two years ago that helps private companies address “the world’s burgeoning homeland and national-security markets,” in the words of its website. Before that, she was the first female vice president for Raytheon Company, the international defense and homeland-security firm, and before that she was the first female director of business development for Lockheed Martin.
Banks got there pretty quickly after studying military history at Penn, concentrating first on German military resistance to Hitler, and later focusing on the special-operations programs in Vietnam. From West Philadelphia she moved to the West Wing of the White House, as an intern for head counsel Jack Quinn in the Clinton administration, followed by stints at the Justice Department, at the Pentagon as an assistant for global terrorism, and then as program manager for the Inter-Agency Terrorism Response Awareness Program, which involved cabinet-level exercises for responding to a “terrorism-type incident.” That kind of detailed working experience and contacts with heavyweights in the field gave Banks credibility when the al Qaeda attack of 9/11 shook the nation.
Her constant travel at Raytheon—Banks logged an average of 170,000 miles a year—began to take its toll, as did large-corporation politics. She left the firm in May 2007, and a few months later launched NSAWW, which now has some 20 clients, including a Fortune 100 company, Computer Science Corporation.
“We work with companies to help them grow, primarily in the national-security space,” says Banks. Her clients range from HKS, an architectural firm that wants to improve its design for secure buildings, to ENSCO, an ultra-high-tech firm that develops products like Geo/Nav—“GPS-denied geolocation and navigation solutions”—capable of tracking people in remote locations or buildings where GPS is denied or jammed. (“If Q had a firm, this would be the firm,” says Banks, referring to the James Bond character.)
With her rich head of reddish hair, high heels, and stylish dresses, Banks is still something of an anomaly in a male-dominated profession, and she is frank in her assessment that men are sometimes threatened by her appearance. “I’m girly, and I don’t sacrifice my femininity to blend into more of a male environment,” she says. “I think it can be very threatening to men in that environment if they’re not secure.
“I don’t think this is a commentary on men writ large,” she adds quickly. “It’s just a generational thing—my industry is mostly managed by people many generations above me. In general, I’ve had very positive experiences, but I’ve also had negative experiences. And I’m quite positive that if I’d been a man, the negative wouldn’t have occurred.”
“I think women have a responsibility to other women in the workplace, in particular, to mentor and assist them, and not see each other as a threat,” says Banks. “However, I’m going to caveat that by saying that to a certain point, I do believe that a career in our field is a meritocracy.”
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Nat’l Security Associates Worldwide Hires President
August 17, 2009 – Nat’l Security Associates WorldWide announced today the hire of Dana A. Brown as the company’s new President. Mr. Brown most recently served five years with the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), first as the Chief of Staff; then, from March 2006 until his retirement at the end of 2008, as the Director of the FAMS and the Assistant Administrator for Law Enforcement at the Transportation Security Administration. In 2008, he was awarded the DHS Silver Medal Award and the TSA John W. Magaw Values Award.
Previously, Brown was a special agent with the USSS for 25 years and retired as the Assistant Director and CFO for the Office of Administration.
Mr. Brown’s experience also includes private sector executive consulting in the areas of investigations, risk/threat/vulnerability analyses, security planning, threat mitigation, and security training. He worked for several years at Vance International, Inc., where he held various roles, concluding with his position as Senior Vice President for Global Services. In this position he coordinated the activities of the operational subsidiaries with the administrative elements to enhance day-to-day operations and integration of services between the parent company and Vance International.
About his new role as President at NSAWW, Brown said, "I'm very pleased to be associated with NSAWW, its outstanding management and staff, and grateful for the opportunity to possibly contribute to the anticipated growth of this fine, young company."
Courtney Banks, CEO of NSAWW, said “I am overjoyed that Dana has agreed to fulfill this critical role within our company. He brings an incredible breadth of knowledge and expertise within the security and law enforcement sectors, as well as an innate business savvy that I believe will impact NSAWW in a very positive manner.”
**Nat’l Security Associates WorldWide is a partnership run by executives with proven track records in achieving results for companies desiring to expand in the homeland and national security markets around the globe. Led by senior executives who are leaders in both business development and homeland and national security, NSAWW relationships have led to highly successful outcomes for clients around the globe and billions of dollars in growth. During a weak economy, NSAWW is on track to double its revenue for 2009. **
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Securing Government Money for Security
By Jill Hamburg Coplan; August 7, 2009; Business Week Online
Courtney Banks uses her Defense Dept. experience, and a staff of retired government security experts, to help clients attract federal stimulus cash.
Federal stimulus money may be burning holes in bureaucrats' pockets, but businesses hoping to nab some of it may need to know their way around the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, say, or the Public Buildings Service. That's where Courtney Banks and her Alexandria (Va.) consulting firm, Nat'l Security Associates WorldWide, come in. In exchange for a yearlong retainer, Banks promises to brainstorm business development strategies, find new markets for her clients, and make introductions to decision-makers who award contracts. Some clients are selling the "three Gs"—guns, gates, and guards. Others retrofit transit hubs or nuclear facilities, or provide surveillance, cybersecurity, or satellite mapping. When the deal is sealed, NSAWW steps aside. Says Banks: "I kill it, but I don't eat it."
To get clients to the right people, Banks, 35, employs about 20 former defense and security honchos from federal agencies, as well as veterans of consulting firms and defense companies. Her team includes former FBI investigators, CIA operatives and analysts, Air Force and naval intelligence officers, and diplomats. Many still have their security clearances.
Homeland security spending is growing 10% a year and will hit $178 billion by 2015, according to Homeland Security Research, a Washington research firm. "Because threats manifest in different ways, there's always going to be growth," Banks says. "If it's not hijackers, it's swine flu."
Thanks to stimulus spending at home and demand for American security knowhow overseas, NSAWW is on track to bring in $1 million in revenues in its second year. "It is scary how young [Banks] is and what she has accomplished," says Evan Scott, president of ESGI, an Alexandria recruiter that uses NSAWW as a go-between with governments. "She can white-board a strategy faster than anyone I know, and she is usually right."
CHILDHOOD AMBITION
Banks was inspired to go into the defense industry at the age of nine, after seeing the TV miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, based on the novels by Herman Wouk. "It seemed great," Banks says. "Instead of sitting behind a desk, I could see the world and serve my nation." Banks went on to get a master's in national security studies from Georgetown, then worked at the Pentagon before moving to the private sector, where she became Raytheon's vice-president of homeland security worldwide. When it was time to leave Raytheon, she had more than a dozen job offers. "I said to a few of them, 'Instead of a job, offer me a consulting contract,' and they did," she says.
Banks—and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano—epitomize a group of women who have gained influence in the military and security fields after women were allowed into combat. Banks says men, even some who were important to her early career, have told her many times that women have no place in the security industry. Now her COO, general counsel, and head of staffing are all women. And in an industry in which stares and sexism are common, the fast-talking Banks maintains a consciously feminine image, wearing her red hair long and favoring five-inch heels. "I'm girly, I wear high heels, I like jewelry. This is who I am," she says. "I don't suffer from a lack of confidence." That's been good for both Banks and her clients.
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Mario Possamai Conducts Webinar for ASIS International
On May 27, 2009, NSAWW Board Member Mario Possamai, CFE, CAMS, conducted a Professional Development Course Webinar for ASIS International entitled “How to Effectively Respond to a Possible Pandemic During an Economic Downturn.” It was sponsored by the ASIS Council on Global Terrorism, Political Instability and International Crime. The goal of the webinar was to lay out a prudent approach — based on best practices — to cost-effectively respond to a possible pandemic, while avoiding over-reactions. Topics discussed included pandemic planning, emergency response, the Swine Flu / H1N1 outbreak and the 2003 SARS catastrophe. For more information on this event, please click here.
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NSAWW Welcomes a New Member to its Board of Advisors
May 28, 2009 – Nat'l Security Associates WorldWide announces today the latest addition to its Board of Advisors, the Honorable Jay M. Cohen, Rear Admiral (Ret.) of the United States Navy.
Cohen joins NSAWW after a highly successful and much lauded career with the United States Government. He most recently served as Undersecretary for Science and Technology in the Department of Homeland Security, where from 2006 to 2008 he transformed the division by implementing a high risk/ high gain innovation portfolio and emphasizing output focused, customer oriented efforts. The success brought about by his leadership at DHS S&T has been captured in Hill testimony, press articles, international partnerships and a recent National Geographic TV special “Hi-Tech War on Terror.”
Prior to being sworn in as Undersecretary, Cohen served 38 years with the Navy. His early Navy assignments involved service on conventional and nuclear submarines, including two stints at command, on the USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER (SSN 709) from 1985 to 1988 and the USS L.Y. SPEAR (AS 36) from 1991 to 1993. Following command, he reported to the Secretary of the Navy as Deputy Chief of Navy Legislative Affairs. He was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in October 1997 and reported to the Joint Staff as Deputy Director for Operations, where he was responsible to the President and DoD leaders for strategic weapons release authority. In June 1999, he assumed duties as Director Navy Y2K Project Office responsible for transitioning all Navy computer systems into the new century. In June 2000, Cohen was promoted in rank and became the 20th Chief of Naval Research, where he served an unprecedented five and a half years before retiring in 2006.
Courtney Banks, CEO of NSAWW, commented on what an honor it is to welcome Cohen to the Board. “I could not be more pleased to announce Rear Admiral Cohen as the newest member of our Board. We will benefit immensely from the knowledge and experience he has gathered throughout his monumental career.”
Cohen echoed her statement, saying "I was very pleased to be invited to join the Board of Advisors for Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide. I believe NSAWW represents the professional brand of experience and leadership in international and homeland security that will make a significant contribution towards making the 21st century world safer."
Cohen joins current NSAWW Board members Mario Possamai, Major General Henry Stratman, Lieutenant General Don Kerrick, Dr. Patricia Sanders, Steven Pomerantz, Oliver "Buck" Revell, Lieutenant General Harry E. Soyster, and Dr. Marvin J. Cetron. The NSAWW Board of Advisors lends their considerable resources and expertise in support of the NSAWW mission: to assist companies to successfully realize their full potential in addressing the challenges and opportunities of the world's burgeoning homeland and national security markets. For more information on the Board and bios of these members, please visit http://www.nsaww.com/advisors.html.
**Nat'l Security Associates WorldWide is a partnership run by executives with proven track records in achieving results for companies desiring to expand in the homeland and national security markets around the globe. Led by senior executives who are leaders in both business development and homeland and national security, NSAWW relationships have led to highly successful outcomes for clients around the globe and billions of dollars in growth. During a weak economy, NSAWW is on track to double its revenue for 2009. **
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Nat'l Security Associates Rides Government Contracting Wave
April 10, 2009; Washington Business Journal: Business Smarts Section; By Jennifer Nycz-Connor
In a way, Courtney Banks owes her career to Robert Mitchum and Ali MacGraw.
In third grade, she was captivated by “The Winds of War,” the pre-World War II military miniseries featuring the two stars. By the time the final credits crawled across the television screen, Banks was dreaming of a career in national security.
“I was just captivated by the military, by the idea of people that did something to help their nation,” says Banks, now 35.
Roughly 25 years later, Banks is CEO of Nat’l Security Associates Worldwide LLC, the company she founded in 2007 to help companies identify and win defense and homeland security business.
Unlike many entrepreneurs’ stories at the moment, NSAWW is on track to grow by more than 42 percent this year, says Banks. The Old Town Alexandria company has swelled to 20 employees, and Banks expects to reach more than $1 million in revenue by year end.
NSAWW helps private sector clients win a piece of the federal market, particularly in homeland security, defense and law enforcement. The company makes its money through retainer fees. Opting for a flat fee instead of a commission model “kept us very honest” and transparent, Banks says.
The company consults for clients such as Fairfax-based SoBran Inc., a technical and professional services company and ENSCO Inc., a national security company, also based in Fairfax. NSAWW is helping ENSCO find opportunities in the homeland security field, says Jim Barton, ENSCO’s corporate vice president of business development. No matter what the industry, the process of business development is generally the same, he says, but having someone with the right connections and relationships can greatly accelerate the process.
Banks built the company based on business development work, helping defense contractors find non-military security customers like police and fire departments.
Banks learned to navigate the national security world from the inside out, starting as a White House intern during the Clinton administration, then working in the Department of Justice and eventually the Pentagon. She moved to the private sector, working her way up at Fortune 500 companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co., where she was a corporate vice president.
Contractors hired Banks to foster change in their customer bases. But with change comes unrest, especially in big traditional companies. Add to that the anomaly of being one of the few young women in the field, and “The politics were extremely tough,” Banks says.
That friction culminated in an unceremonious parting of ways with Raytheon in May 2007. In thinking about her next move, she realized she liked helping companies grow. By doing business development for multiple clients, they wouldn’t have the expensive salaries and she wouldn’t have to fight the system.
That formula worked and helped Banks launch NSAWW. Since then, Banks has surrounded herself with a high-powered executive staff and board of advisers, ranging from former military generals to high ranking national security officials.
In the coming year, Banks hopes to expand her business by seeking to help architectural, engineering and construction companies find business within the federal and other governments.
Running a company that helps other companies find contract opportunities is certainly not a bad place to be in the current economic climate. But Banks warns prospective clients that landing and completing federal work has its own special challenges.
Clients come to Banks thinking “You must be short and green and you can help me find that pot of gold,” she laments. But alas, Banks says, she is not a leprechaun. “No, I’m tall and I have red hair.” And stimulus money is less pot of gold and more parental bank account: You need to be able to answer all the right questions and get permission to access it, she says.
She’s also learned that sometimes it’s best to turn down business than take a job she may not be able to deliver on. She recently had one company approach her about starting a homeland security television channel, possibly with the help of stimulus money. She politely declined, as it was out of the company’s area of expertise.
That willingness to say “no” has been a key to her success, she says. Federal business trades on the currency of reputations Simply put, “It has to make sense with what we do.”
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NSAWW Signs 20th Client and First Fortune 100 Client
Two NSAWW Clients Also Score Big with $250 Million Government Contract Win
April 21, 2009 – Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide (NSAWW) successfully signed their 20th client today which also happens to be their first Fortune 100 client, Computer Science Corporation (CSC). NSAWW will provide support to CSC by assisting them in their competitive intelligence pursuits.
“This is an exciting accomplishment for us, “said Courtney Banks, CEO of NSAWW. “Being a thriving small business, selected by one of the biggest technology enabled solutions providers, who could have turned to any number of consulting firms for assistance in navigating the government contracting landscape, is a distinct honor. We look forward to producing tremendous results for them, as we do for all of our clients.”
In addition, NSAWW also learned of two clients’ success with the Office of the Secretary of Defense in securing the $250 million contract awarded to Booz Allen and Hamilton. NSAWW clients Blue Canopy and ENSCO, Inc. were both added as sub-contractors with Booz Allen through a strategic plan implemented by NSAWW.
“This is a great outcome for our clients,” said Banks. “Companies come to us wanting to understand how to tap into the federal market space, sometimes as a prime – sometimes as a sub – contractor. We were successful and responsible for securing ENSCO and Blue Canopy these wins as subcontractors, which is a very satisfying outcome for everyone involved.”
The Blue Canopy team will be working closely with Booz Allen on this contract. “Working with Courtney and the NSAWW team resulted in new business at DHS and a subcontract opportunity with Booz Allen.” said Brad Schwartz, CEO of Blue Canopy.
**National Security Associates Worldwide is a partnership run by executives with proven track records in achieving results for companies desiring to expand in the homeland and national security markets around the globe. Led by senior executives who are leaders in both business development and homeland and national security, NSAWW relationships have led to highly successful outcomes for clients around the globe and billions of dollars in growth. During a weak economy, NSAWW is on track to double its revenue for 2009. **
Peter S. Probst Visits India Following Mumbai Attacks
ASIS Global Terrororism, Political Instability and International Crime Council Newsletter, March 2009
Council member Peter S. Probst was invited to India to speak at a conference sponsored by the Indian government and organized by the Centre for Defense and Security Studies. Attendees were high level Indian military and security officials. The primary focus was terrorism, Mumbai and the state of relations between the military and civilian sectors of government.
Discussion was exceedingly candid, and he appeared to be one of the only two non-Indians present. Participating Indian officials included the Deputy National Security Advisor; the former Defence Secretary; Deputy Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff; Former Chief of the Army Staff; Assistant Chief of the Integrated Defense Staff; Director of the Centre for Joint Warfare; Inspector General of the Police, etc.
Peter’s talk, which was well received, focused on the nature and practice of Political Warfare and examined Muslim Brotherhood operations being conducted inside the United States. Recall that Peter’s article on this significant issue was in the June 2008 edition of the newsletter.
Separate and apart from the conference, Peter also met one-on-one with MK Narayanan, the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, for a one-hour conversation on terrorism and related issues.
On a related topic, Peter also spoke to the Washington Internship Program (WIP) on “Mumbai, Gaza and the Implications for US Security.” WIP has been in existence some 28 years and brings university and graduate students to the United States from virtually every country in the world.
Intern placements have included: The White House, the U.S House and Senate, National Institute of Health, Fortune 500 firms, major banking/finance institutions, major media outlets, etc.
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Securing the Homeland: A Narberth Native Becomes a Defensive Linchpin Against Terrorism
Written by Jim Waltzer; Published in the March print edition of Main Line Today and appeared online on February 19, 2009; Photo by Shane McCauley
In Narberth, where the train stops, the shops beckon and the ball fields stretch to the horizon, townsfolk treasure the charm and safety of their environs. That hasn’t changed since Courtney Banks was growing up here in the 1970s and ’80s.
Unfortunately, the world beyond has.
A leading voice in homeland security and an entrepreneur with a penchant for people, the 34-year-old Banks seeks to shield the Narberths and the rest of our land from the threat of global terrorism. She’s been trained to do so and knows firsthand what failure looks like—her office at the Pentagon was destroyed on 9/11. Now that she’s in business for herself, she’s no less worried about a large-scale attack.
“We’re most vulnerable during formal election cycles and transition periods,” says Banks, whose Nat’l Security Associates WorldWide (NSAWW) helps companies develop their business in the national security space. “Aviation is still highly at risk. When we have success in containing [terrorism], no one ever knows.”
The words pour out of Banks, who’s intense without giving you a headache. “Security is like a Rubik’s Cube,” she says. “It’s constantly changing colors.”
Terrorists are chameleon-like as well. Al-Qaeda and less formal groups are looking to raise the bar. Will they use IEDs (improvised explosive devices)? WMDs (weapons of mass destruction)? What’s more, they have money and Internet access. “Does it matter if you’re in a cave or the Ritz-Carlton?” she asks.
Psychologically, Banks entered the fray early on. She was only 9 when the 1983 TV miniseries The Winds of War captured her imagination. While most kids were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks, she was immersed in the genesis of World War II. “We’d discuss it at dinner,” says her mother, Bala Cynwyd’s Elayne Weisberg.
Says Banks: “I knew I wanted to work in national security.”
First, there were other stops to make. At Episcopal Academy, Banks became the first female head of the debating society. After earning a degree in military history at the University of Pennsylvania, she worked for then-White House Counsel Jack Quinn, the U.S. Justice Department, and defense contractor BDM International (later acquired by TRW), which assigned her to the Gulf War Illness Task Force at the Department of Defense. While on the job, she completed her master’s in national security studies at Georgetown University. From there, it was back to Defense, with a focus on global terrorism. The winds, it seems, had blown her directly on course.
“That [master’s degree] was something we’d never heard of,” says Weisberg. “She was a very determined young lady.”
Determination is an important part of the leadership profile Banks brings to a male-dominated industry. Other qualities, though, may be even more telling.
“Her competence has a humanity,” says Peter Probst, a senior partner at NSAWW. “She’s a most remarkable person.”
Serving 20 years with the CIA before joining Defense, Probst first observed Banks in action from a neighboring cubicle at the Pentagon. When she later returned to the private sector, she was responsible for homeland-security business development strategies at Lockheed Martin and, subsequently, became vice president of homeland security for defense giant Raytheon. The division doubled its revenues in her first year.
“I evolved into a businesswoman,” says Banks, who logged some 170,000 miles of worldwide travel with Raytheon. “People were saying, ‘Why don’t you start your own business?’”
She listened well, launching her own firm and stocking it with experts in business development and national security. Not yet two years old, NSAWW helps established companies grow—and startups gain a foothold—in the expanding market of global homeland security. Headquartered in Alexandria, Va., with a local office in Conshohocken, the company is equal parts strategist and matchmaker. “We say, ‘This is what the [government] agency really needs, and this is the role you can play,’” says Probst.
NSAWW clients are U.S.-based companies—some of which have international involvement. Several are expanding their businesses in the Middle East, a place that welcomes the expertise. “There’s a difference between how people perceive Americans and the [American] government,” says Banks.
The security community’s perception of Banks and NSAWW is more uniform. “We contracted with Courtney to help with introductions to government and larger integrated operators,” says Jim Barton, a vice president at ENSCO, a Virginia-based company that offers high-tech products and services geared for safe air and rail travel.
Banks isn’t the type who signs the contracts and disappears. “She meets with ENSCO folks on a weekly basis,” says Barton, who met his consultant five years ago when they both served on the global terrorism council at ASIS International (American Society for Industrial Security), a 36,000-member association of top security officers.
Apparently, Banks made an impression. “She was adept at building new relationships,” he says, “and not afraid to speak her mind.”
NSAWW’s chief operating officer, Kate Pickworth, echoes that sentiment. “She makes you know where you stand,” says Pickworth, who grew up in West Chester and followed Banks to NSAWW from Raytheon. “People work hard for her because it’s easy to do. She’s extremely loyal—and fun to watch in action.”
Banks labels herself a “good boss,” and points to a high employee retention rate as evidence. She has bolstered NSAWW’s expert roster with raw recruits who catch on quickly under her tutelage. “Interns come and don’t want to leave,” says Pickworth.
Banks may be a nurturing exec, but the language on her company’s website has a martial ring—“strategic and tactical” methodology, acquisition “targets,” opportunities for “pursuit and capture.” In the business of defense, those are “everyday terms,” according to Banks.
And there’s nothing boastful about the company CEO. “You don’t take a job to show it off in a bar,” says Banks, who counts among her pet peeves the ultimate show-off line. “Nothing drives me up the wall more than someone saying, ‘I can’t tell you what I do,’” she says.
In the classroom and on the job, Banks has mustered her share of education. Yet despite being in a business that’s reliant on planning and probabilities, she hasn’t given much thought to the future trajectory of her career.
“I don’t have an actual career plan,” she says. “I haven’t set my sights on anything specific. I try to do what I do in the moment well, and then come home.”
Home now is Virginia, but when she says, “I like coming home,” she is speaking of her frequent visits to the Philadelphia area. It’s a place, among others, that she’s helping to make a little bit safer.
Turbulent Forecast
Why Courtney Banks and other security experts are wary of new terrorist attacks.
The big strikes have coincided with periods of political change. The Madrid train bombings of 2004 occurred three days before Spain’s general election, the World Trade Center bombing during Bill Clinton’s first month in office, and 9/11 within George W. Bush’s first year.
While waiting for President Barack Obama’s January swearing-in, U.S. terrorism analysts were taking deep breaths. Of course, we may not know of foiled plots until years from now, but the question arises: What are they waiting for?
“Either they can’t [launch a major attack] or they’re looking to surpass 9/11,” says Courtney Banks.
Banks’ colleague, Peter Probst, worries about the New York vicinity being a target once again due to its density and economic symbolism. Probst joined the CIA in 1962 in the teeth of the Cold War and worked there for 20 years before moving to the Department of Defense. He co-authored the 1994 study “Terror 2000: The Future Face of Terror,” which anticipated coordinated, large-scale terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists. The study predicted a devastating assault on the World Trade Center, and the deliberate crash of an airplane into the Pentagon.
That’s rather chilling.
The bigger picture of defusing the terrorist threat is one U.S. leaders still don’t see clearly, according to Probst. “We don’t have a comprehensive, counter-terrorism strategy,” he says. “It won’t be solved by military means—it’s political warfare. We need a counter-narrative that resonates on the Internet. Too often, our opponents are playing chess while we’re playing checkers.”
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An Advisory Boutique for Security Firms
January 8, 2009; IntelligenceOnline.com
Espousing an innovative concept, the new firm Nat'l Security Associates WorldWide (NSAWW) provides all the services of a traditional business intelligence company but with an additional twist – it also acts as a small advisory boutique that identifies potential targets for takeovers, oversees rights issues and the like. Working exclusively with companies that specialize in homeland security and intelligence, the firm already counts Triple Canopy, the Visual Defence Inc. Group (a Canadian centralized electronics systems company) and SPADAC (a Virginia-based firm dealing in geospacial intelligence) among its very first customers. NSAWW is endeavoring at present to flesh out its board of advisors. After recruiting former U.S. administration officials in September, it has just appointed Mario Possamai, a Canadian investigator specializing in money laundering and organized crime, to the panel. Possamai worked for years for Lindquist Avey before it was bought out by Kroll. Another recent recruit is major general Henry Stratman, former deputy chief of staff for doctrine at the headquarters of the Training and Doctrine Command. They will join senior U.S. officials already appointed to the board, among them the former director of the DIA, Harry Soyster; ex chief of staff at the National Security Council, Don Kerrick; and the former executive director of the Missile Defense Agency, Patricia Sanders. Founded in June 2007 and headed by the former vice president for homeland security at Raytheon, the 35-year-old Courtney Banks, NSAWW employs several US Secret Service veterans as well as two former executives of Diligence LLC, Charles Kestenbaum, who was in charge of the company's operations in the Middle East, and Whitley Bruner, who worked for the CIA for 27 years.
Women of Our World: Courtney Banks
Click the Play button to listen to the full interview.
January 2009; By Debbie Brannagan; CapitalistChicks.com
Courtney Banks is CEO of Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide, a group of professionals who assist Fortune 100 companies and companies new to the field of homeland and national security. NSAWW addresses the challenges and opportunities of the world's burgeoning homeland and national security markets, helping businesses successfully establish themselves in the world security markets. This venture has taken her to India, Romania, Bulgaria, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Vietnam, Singapore, England, and Belgium.
It all began back in the third grade, according to Courtney, when she watched the TV mini-series “Winds of War.” This instilled in her the desire to work with the military and in Homeland Security, a desire that has never waned.
Her world travels have given her the opportunity to see the world through a different lens and to experience life in other cultures. It has also given her a new appreciation for professional women everywhere who all struggle with the same obstacles in a business environment which still confront women who are trying to succeed in a world that in many places is still male-dominated. This has been complicated by the tendency of people, especially businessmen, to see her youth and femininity as a barrier. She says that when they hear her speak about what she can do for them, “they tend to get over my appearance quickly.”
While in Romania Courtney was meeting with some senior government officials, one of whom was very quiet and reserved and refused to talk to her about his company’s need and how she could help. He was so cautious that Courtney got an interpreter to help break the ice. She was advised to show that she could be trusted and that they could be friends by drinking a huge goblet of wine! So she and her staff proceeded to drink and drink until the man began to feel comfortable talking to her and her associates about how they could work together. She refused to drink the next day, however, and it wasn’t until she produced a “designated drinker” that they could get to work!
(She also ate Black Bear while in Romania and doesn't recommend it).
In the Middle East they drink a lot of coffee, according to Courtney. There are small cups of very strong coffee at every meeting, which everyone is expected to drink (to keep each other awake maybe??).
Surprisingly, the country she would recommend for every woman to spend a year in is Vietnam. "It is changing from a hard-core Communist country to a young, entrepreneurial society where women from the US can find unlimited opportunities".
When asked what gives her the greatest satisfaction, Courtney replied, “Helping young people with their careers and becoming a mentor to those who really want and need it. This is something I missed having when I was starting out in my career so it is something I want to give back.”
Courtney grew up in Narbeth, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. She loves watching football and golf, and loves to cook and to read about science, sports and history.
Courtney is an outstanding example of how women can overcome the many obstacles to a successful career in a world where women are still struggling to compete with men on an uneven plane. Hats off to you, Courtney!
Courtney Banks Selected to Participate as a National Journal National Security Expert
Courtney Banks, CEO of NSAWW, was recently selected to participate on the National Journal “National Security Experts Blog.” Banks will join other executives, leaders, former government officials and scholars in the area of national security, offering her expertise and opinions on topics ranging from U.S. foreign policy and the Obama administration to cyber security and defense procurement. Click here to visit the blog.
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Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide Announces the Addition of
Two New Members to Board of Advisors
Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide (NSAWW) is pleased to welcome two newcomers to its Board of Advisors, Mario Possamai and Major General Henry Stratman. They join current members Lieutenant General Don Kerrick, Dr. Patricia Sanders, Steven Pomerantz, Oliver "Buck" Revell, Lieutenant General Harry E. Soyster, and Dr. Marvin J. Cetron.
Mario Possamai is an experienced independent consultant with expertise in security issues ranging from emergency management and pandemic planning to terrorism, organized crime, black market economies, and money laundering. He most recently acted as Senior Advisor to Ontario Superior Court Justice Archie Campbell, who headed the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Commission, and also served as the Commission's liaison on a pandemic research project conducted by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) at Fort Belvoir. Previously, Mr. Possamai served for many years as an investigative consultant in complex investigations into counterfeiting operations in Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil, as well as the Middle East and Balkans. Prior to this work, he provided forensic consulting services to the Bre-X gold mining fraud investigation in Indonesia in 1997, and served as a forensic consultant to a southern African country (a position in which he gave direct ongoing briefings to the country's Attorney General, Minister of Justice, and Minister of Finance). Mr. Possamai holds the designation of Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). He also sits on the ASIS Council for Global Terrorism, Political Instability, and International Crime.
Major General Henry “Hank” Stratman was promoted to the rank of Major General in 2001. Stratman’s last assignment in the military was as the Army's Multi-National Forces Iraq Chief of Staff for Political/Military/Economic Integration. In this position he was deeply involved in US Embassy and interagency policy developments and DOD/military operations. Prior to that, Stratman served as Deputy Commanding General of the Third U.S. Army in the U.S. Army Forces Central Command (ARCENT). He formerly acted as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Doctrine, Headquarters, Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe in Virginia. Other appointments include serving as Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations of Headquarters for the Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Sarajevo, Bosnia, commanding a battalion in Desert Storm and serving on the Task Force Eagle Staff in Bosnia during the Implementation Force (IFOR) operations. Major General Stratman has also served as Assistant Division Commander (Support) of the 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Georgia, and as the Director of the Operations Defense Security Assistance Agency in Washington, D.C.
"We are our absolutely thrilled with these new additions and look forward to their continued engagement with the NSAWW team," said CEO Courtney Banks. "Both of these individuals draw on decades of service to provide strategic counsel to NSAWW and its clients."
The Board of Advisors lends their considerable resources and expertise in support of the NSAWW mission: to assist companies to successfully realize their full potential in addressing the challenges and opportunities of the world's burgeoning homeland and national security markets. For more information on Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide, please visit www.nsaww.com.
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Courtney Banks Breaks the Mold in the Security Industry
November 19, 2008; NewsOnWomen.com: Breaking News – Inside Scoop from Women Executives
Courtney Banks is definitely a woman CEO who has never heard of the word “can’t”. Her groundbreaking work in the area of national security at such a young age (under 35) is amazing. Courtney, who holds a Masters Degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown, tells us about her challenge to rise to the top in a mostly male dominated industry:
“My interest in Homeland Security started when I was a young girl and saw the television adaptation of Herman Wouk's miniseries, The Winds of War. I knew from that point on that I wanted to work with the military when I grew up and over time that interest expanded into working with law enforcement and in homeland security as well. I was fortunate enough to have been well educated and afforded a lot of opportunities as a child to be exposed to an educational philosophy espoused by many of the role models around me that to whom much is given, much is expected, and I suppose that that altruistic sentiment settled in to my consciousness over time, enforcing my desire to work in support of people who serve others besides themselves. Though certainly many professions fit that bill (teachers, doctors, etc.) the field of national security – as I had originally viewed it in the television epic- stirred an interest in me that I never lost.
When I attended college, picking a major was easy for me- I knew it would be history- and more specifically military history, with a minor in political science. My studies, both at UPenn, and then later on, at Georgetown, broadened my depth of knowledge and interest in national security. This interest of mine captured the attention of many of my future mentors, and after college I began my career working as an intern in the West Wing of the White House and never looked back. My professional experiences over time varied to include jobs at the U.S. Department of Justice, work with defense contractors, and then another government stint as Assistant for Global Terrorism Issues in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations / Low Intensity Conflict. Eventually, I decided to leave the government and entered the private sector first trying my hand in the dot com boom and within the private security consulting world (both not successful experiences for me- but I learned a lot that would become useful later on in my career), and then for Lockheed Martin as the Director of Business Development for Homeland Systems Solutions. I spent three years at Lockheed and formed a very strong basis for my next job as Vice President for Homeland Security at Raytheon Company. Now I am CEO of my own national security firm, Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide having come full circle from my interest n national security as a youth.
When I first came to Washington, DC, to work, after college, well before the success that I have experienced now, I greatly lamented the lack of professional women in my field whom I could turn to for advice and mentorship. Truly, at that time (well before the horrible events of September 11) very few people, at least who I was aware of, specialized in national security and certainly the ONLY female I was aware of in a prominent role in defense had been Maggie Thatcher. Now obviously in hindsight and with greater exposure I realize there may have been a handful of others- but there certainly were not bushels full of women that I could find and get career advice from, unlike my female peers who were on professional tracks to become lawyers or doctors. I swore that if I ever was lucky enough to succeed in any way in the field of national security that I would try hard to make myself approachable and available for other women who wanted to work in the field. Today there are certainly many more women, low and high profile, working in national security, Secretary Rice and Secretary Albright are excellent examples of this, but that promise I made to myself sitting in my first tiny apartment in Washington, eating frozen dinners, is still close to my heart.
As a female CEO in the world of national security, I am still a rarity- there are not many security focused firms run by women, and not one of the Fortune 100 defense firms has ever had a female CEO! Being a woman in a still male dominated field is still a challenge, but my colleagues at NSAWW and I have never shied away from meeting it head on! Certainly my career has had its shares of ups and downs, some – I am quite sure- due to my gender and youth (I am not yet 35….) and I have faced obstacles that many of my male peers have not experienced. However I am sure some of them have faced challenges that I cannot imagine. My company is dominated by women- our COO, our General Counsel, the President of one of our Divisions, and our head of Marketing are all women and all under 40! So we really stand out in the industry. Yet I could not have gotten where I am today without the generosity of many of my male colleagues, and I hope we will be role models for both young men and women, as they look to enter the national security arena today and in the future. Women in national security have come a long way since I watched The Winds of War for the first time! I am proud to now run a firm which is part of that cycle of progress.”
Prior to establishing her own company, Courtney served as Vice President of Homeland Security for Raytheon Company, where she and her team were responsible for growing Raytheon's Homeland Security business to over $1Billion, doubling their revenues in her first year. Before joining Raytheon, Courtney was Director of Homeland Systems Solutions for Lockheed Martin Systems Management, where she was responsible for business development, marketing, and management strategies. Courtney has also worked at the Department of Justice, the White House, and as Director of Force Health Protection for the Gulf War Illness Task Force for the Department of Defense. This is a lot to have done before you're 35!
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Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide
Welcomes Three New Members to its Board of Directors
Nat'l Security Associates Worldwide (NSAWW) announced today the addition of three new members to its Board of Directors, Lieutenant General Don Kerrick, Dr. Patricia Sanders, and Steven Pomerantz. They join current members Oliver "Buck" Revell, Lieutenant General Harry E. Soyster, and Dr. Marvin J. Cetron.
Lieutenant General Don Kerrick is a retired three-star general and former Deputy National Security Advisor to the President of the United States. Most recently, Lieutenant General Kerrick served as Vice President at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, where he was responsible for strategic planning, business development, mergers and acquisitions, international business, and customer and corporate relations. Prior to his White House appointment, Lieutenant General Kerrick served as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Before becoming the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lieutenant General Kerrick served as the Chief of Staff of the National Security Council, where he was responsible for directing a staff of 200 personnel from all agencies of the government. In that capacity he was responsible for developing, implementing and reviewing U.S. foreign and national security policies around the world.
Dr. Patricia Sanders recently retired as the Executive Director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) after a 34-year career in the federal government. She was the senior civilian in the Agency responsible for its management and operations, strategic planning, legislative affairs and external communications. Previously, Dr. Sanders had been the System Executive Officer and Deputy Director for Integration of MDA, managing program content, schedule, cost and technical performance for the Agency's $9 Billion per year program of work.
Mr. Pomerantz is the Associate Executive Director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). Prior to this position Mr. Pomerantz served as Director of Counter Terrorism of JINSA. Mr. Pomerantz is the architect of the JINSA Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP) which brings high ranking American Law Enforcement Executives to Israel to study best practices in counter terrorism methodology. During his twenty-seven year career with the FBI, he rose from a field investigative Special Agent to Assistant Director, the third highest position within the FBI.
"These new additions will be invaluable to our continued work at NSAWW," said CEO Courtney Banks. "Each of these individuals will use their extensive experience and expertise to provide strategic counsel to NSAWW and its clients.
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National Journal; Friday, July 27, 2007; “Intelligence: Lame-Duck Count: 1.”
By Shane Harris
Anyone who questioned whether President Bush maintains a firm grip on the levers of national security needed only to examine last week's flurry of activity over the resurgence of Al Qaeda. Bush and his aides clearly reminded us of a historical truth: The president, any president, is the commander-in-chief and holds wide powers that do not diminish according to the calendar.
A new national intelligence estimate, part of which the administration declassified and released on July 17, concluded that Al Qaeda has regenerated itself and found sanctuary in the hinterlands of Pakistan. That's hardly news -- the president's senior intelligence advisers had been telling reporters so for months -- but the NIE, as a visible, public statement, gave White House officials a platform from which to promote Bush's counter-terrorism strategy and shape future policy.
Bush's homeland-security adviser, Frances Townsend, took to a White House podium the day the NIE was released to declare that Al Qaeda in Pakistan had effectively merged with Al Qaeda in Iraq, the group responsible for some of the most spectacular and deadly violence there. "I think there's a tendency to try and suggest that Al Qaeda core [in Pakistan] and Al Qaeda in Iraq are two separate things," she said. "It's the same organization."
That's a hotly debated assertion, of course, but Townsend had intelligence to back her up -- intelligence that the president effectively controls and can selectively reveal. She said, "We know from intelligence" that Osama bin Laden had directly communicated with the former leader of Al Qaeda's Iraq division, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom U.S. forces killed in June 2006. Bin Laden told him "to create a cell inside Iraq that'll be used to plan and plot attacks against the American homeland," Townsend said.
On Thursday morning, July 19, White House spokesman Tony Snow fielded questions about the intelligence and the administration's next moves. He told reporters aboard Air Force One that the United States does not rule out the possibility of a military strike on Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan. Plainly, the president, through his aides, was signaling his control, using intelligence to justify a potential military action.
Experts saw political calculation in the administration's release of the NIE. "I can only assume there was a big interest in getting this NIE out sooner rather than later, so that if, God forbid, anything happened, the administration could say, 'We're on top of this,'" says Daniel Benjamin, a director for counter-terrorism on the National Security Council from 1998 to 1999 and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "They're not averse to waving the red flag of Al Qaeda," Benjamin says.
Bush's critics seized on the NIE as evidence that his policy in Iraq has failed: namely, that fighting terrorists there hasn't made us any safer at home. But the president focused on one of the document's key judgments: Al Qaeda "will continue to enhance its capabilities to attack the homeland through greater cooperation with regional terrorist groups." This was the salient finding that the White House wanted to convey to the American people and will use as its policy guide for the foreseeable future, regardless of contrary analysis.
The NIE case demonstrates the president's inherent power over national security. The chief executive can direct -- and restrict -- the flow of intelligence; when the time comes to reveal it, the president and his surrogates have an unrivaled bully pulpit. Even Congress cannot use its oversight role to direct the president to take specific intelligence actions. When lawmakers have tried to restrict him, Bush has fought back.
Terrorist Surveillance
Such is the case with the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program. For more than four years, the program ran almost entirely in secret. Direct knowledge was limited to a handful of members of Congress, the president's closest advisers, and some Cabinet and senior intelligence officials. Bush steadfastly resisted any suggestions that more officials and lawmakers be "read-in" on the program's details; that would increase the likelihood that it would be publicly revealed, he insisted, and thereby undermine the NSA's ability to covertly monitor terrorists.
Bush also asserted, and still does assert, that his constitutional authority as commander-in-chief gave him all of the legal clearance he needed to launch the program, even though it bypassed the judicial approval that Congress has required for domestic intelligence-gathering since 1978 and that previous administrations have complied with.
The president used his powers in most extraordinary ways in order to keep the program under wraps. When The New York Times in December 2005 was putting the final touches on a front-page story that exposed the surveillance, the president summoned the paper's editor, publisher, and Washington bureau chief to the Oval Office and told them that they would have blood on their hands if they published the story. The program was too important to national security to be discussed publicly, Bush argued: The Times would be alerting terrorists that they were being monitored, and they would adjust accordingly. The Times had already sat on the story, at the administration's request, for a year but decided to go ahead with its publishing plans after meeting with Bush.
Six months later, when a Justice Department watchdog office attempted to investigate department lawyers' role in approving the warrantless surveillance, the president effectively shut down the probe by refusing to give the investigators security clearances.
Today, the administration has, under pressure, brought the NSA program under the review of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which grants warrants for domestic eavesdropping. But the president has kept many details of that review from Congress and the public. Bush has asserted his executive authority to resist lawmakers' demands for documents and testimony on the subject and will probably continue to do so in court.
The president's political unpopularity doesn't weaken his power over the covert activities of government or any other part of the national security apparatus. "I think it's totally irrelevant," says Lee Van Arsdale, a retired Army colonel who spent 11 years in the elite Delta Force. "Lame duck is a political term. He's more like an 800-pound gorilla, and maybe he has a slight limp."
Peter Probst, a terrorism consultant who worked for the CIA for 20 years, says, "Certainly, his statutory powers have not diminished." But Bush has undermined his credibility not just with the public but also among intelligence professionals, Probst says, because of the way he has tried to use intelligence to justify his policies.
"He made promises to the American people which he has not been able to deliver on. And his continual insistence that Saddam Hussein was connected to Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks has compromised his credibility with the intelligence community," Probst contends. "Portraying Hussein as an imminent threat mischaracterized the intelligence." Bush has retained official power, Probst argues, but "lacks the moral authority to lead."
Presidential Hyperactivity
Some former officials question whether Bush retains enough credibility to set policy. "A budget runs off an agenda," says Courtney Banks, who was the assistant in charge of global terrorism issues in the Defense Department's Office of Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict during the Clinton administration. "The question is, is his standing hurting or helping him in getting things funded?"
It's unlikely that Bush will deviate much from his predecessors' course as he enters the twilight of his presidency. That is to say, he will retain total control over the intelligence and security functions of government, use them to maximum effect in order to achieve his goals, but probably won't focus on the details of how things are accomplished.
Historically, few presidents have had a keen understanding of how the intelligence community works. Richard Helms, who was director of central intelligence from 1966 to 1973, writes in his memoir, "A Look Over My Shoulder," that almost every president has misunderstood the intelligence agencies' capabilities. With the exception of George H.W. Bush, who was DCI not long after Helms, "no American president in a hundred years has had but a slight idea of how clandestine operations are conceived and run," Helms writes. "What presidents do know about secret intelligence seems most often to come from high-spirited movies, novels, press coverage, and, occasionally, bits of Washington 'insider' gossip."
A president's relationship to the intelligence community is a personal one, and each chief executive brings personal prejudices and inclinations. Some presidents mistrust the intelligence establishment, while others, such as the first President Bush, have utter confidence in it, says Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian and intelligence expert, and the new federal director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
But no one should assume that any president relinquishes control or influence over the intelligence realm simply because he's about to leave office, Naftali says. "Presidents don't go quietly into the night." Quite the opposite -- their final months can be characterized by "presidential hyperactivity," he says. President Johnson attempted serious negotiations with North Vietnam in his last months. President Carter's administration was furiously working for the release of American hostages in Iran after he lost re-election in 1980. And the elder Bush sent combat troops into Somalia between his election loss and Bill Clinton's inauguration. "I find that while people may say presidents are in their twilight, presidents don't accept that," Naftali says.
Clearly, Bush doesn't.
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Defeating terrorism: is it possible? Is it probable?
Report by Forecasting International; “Terror 2000: The Future Face of Terrorism”
The Futurist; May 1, 2007
By Dr. Marvin J. Cetron
Forecasting International (FI) is in the business of predicting future developments. Therefore, let us begin with a few of the easiest and least welcome predictions that FI has ever made.
Terrorist events will be more common and bloody in the years ahead than they have been to date. September 11 will prove to have been no more than a taste of things to come. Al-Qaeda, often under other names, will grow much larger and more dangerous than the band of fanatics that attacked the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in 2001. This process already is well under way. Jihadists, or Muslim extremists, will acquire nuclear weapons within the next 10 years, if they do not possess them already. As things stand, the war on terror will drag on for decades, with many tactical successes but little or no strategic benefit. In the long run, this could leave the Western world facing choices even more horrific than the attacks themselves.
The remainder of this article will be devoted to explaining these forecasts and to examining the prospects for changing them. Finding some way to change the obvious direction of the war on terror is the single greatest need that faces not only the United States, but also the rest of the world.
Could 9/11 Have Been Predicted And Prevented?
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, came as a horrifying wake-up call for millions of Americans and their sympathizers around the world. For the first time since the War of 1812, foreign attackers carried out a major assault on the U.S. mainland. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, thousands of Americans were killed without warning.
However, not everyone was entirely surprised by the assault. Every major aspect of the 9/11 attacks had been anticipated in a report called Terror 2000: The Future Face of Terrorism, written in 1994. It was the product of a study carried out as part of the Fourth Annual Defense Worldwide Combating Terrorism Conference, sponsored by the Department of Defense's Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict branch (SO/LIC) and managed by strongPeter <>Probst, then on staff at SO/LIC. Probst was a pioneer in the study of terrorism at DOD and the CIA and, as a private consultant, continues to be a leader in the field. Acting for SO/LIC, Probst contracted with Forecasting International to help manage the conference and to carry out the Terror 2000 study. His contributions to the study itself were so extensive that, had the report been released publicly, Probst would have been listed as co-author.
The common wisdom at the time held that terrorism was quickly becoming obsolete, as rogue states learned that sponsoring terrorist attacks cost far more than any possible benefit was worth. Sponsorship of the Lockerbie bombing had subjected Libya to an air and arms embargo, a ban on some needed oil equipment, and the loss of financial assets. Iraq, long a patron of terrorism, had finally exhausted the world's patience by invading Kuwait and lost a precedent-setting war to a broad coalition of foreign powers led, but by no means dominated, by the United States. With those lessons in mind, no state would be likely to sponsor future terrorist acts, and without that support, terrorism itself would dry up.
The authors of Terror 2000 saw it differently. Terrorism, they said, would grow more common, not less so. It would not be sponsored by states, but increasingly by Muslim extremists motivated by a bitter hatred of the West in general and America in particular. And it would be designed to cause bloodshed on a level never before seen, even at the cost of the terrorists' own death.
Some specific forecasts anticipated the September 11 attack with almost uncanny accuracy. The participants foresaw the execution of a second, much more successful, attack on the World Trade Center towers; the accomplishment of simultaneous assaults on widely separated targets (also seen in the embassy bombings of 1998); and the deliberate crash of an airplane into the Pentagon. (That last was removed from the report for fear that it would give terrorists a valuable idea they had not already conceived on their own.)
Although the Terror 2000 report is now more than a decade old, it still offers useful lessons for the present and future war on terror. It is used in the curricula of the National War College, all three service academies, and their counterparts in a number of other countries.
Many of the analyses and recommendations originating in Terror 2000 have been adopted with little change in later studies of terrorism. The reports of both the Commission on National Security (the Bremer Commission) in 1998 and the National Commission on Terrorism (the Rudman Commission) in 2000 relied heavily on our work. Even the 9/11 Commission used substantial portions of these three studies, including many that first appeared in the Terror 2000 report.
Despite this, the lessons from Terror 2000 have yet to be completely absorbed. Many of our recommendations have been implemented only in part, if at all. And some of the thinking that shaped the study--but was not included in the final report--has since emerged as crucial to our understanding of the dangers the United States faces now, and will face in the years to come.
Futurist Community's Contributions
In its day (1994), the Terror 2000 project was one of the most extensive studies of terrorism ever undertaken. It also was one of the most unusual, due to a combination of resources pioneered by FI.
Like other studies, it involved leading experts in its subject area. Among them were Ambassador Paul Bremer of Kissinger Associates, formerly ambassador-at-large for counter-terrorism and more recently administrator of Iraq (2003 to 2004); Brian Jenkins, then with Kroll Associates and now senior vice president at the RAND Corporation; Bruce Hoffman of the RAND Corporation; Paul Wilkinson of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, a leading adviser in the anti-IRA campaign;Yigal Carmon, counter-terrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers; Major General Oleg Kalugin (Retired), who as head of the Soviet KGB foreign counterintelligence directorate had recruited, trained,funded, and managed some of the most dangerous terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s; and of course Peter Probst, who brought his own expertise to the project.
However, it was a second group of advisors that made the study unique. They were professional forecasters. Few had ever considered terrorism before; their expertise was in identifying trends, regardless of subject, and figuring out where they would lead. These included Clement Bezold, president of the Institute for Alternative Futures; Edward Cornish, then president of the World Future Society; Jean Johnson of the National Science Foundation; and Vary Coates, project director for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment.
The combination of forecasting generalists with terrorism specialists proved to be remarkably productive. The forecasters provided many ideas that did not fit within the specialists' experience. These included new issues that might inspire terrorism, new methods of attack, potential targets, and many similar items. The specialists in turn kept the forecasters grounded in reality. They accepted some of the forecasters' ideas, rejected some as being too implausible, and elaborated on others, seeing implications that could not be recognized without their knowledge of the subject. A few ideas were rejected by the specialists, but were so strongly supported by the forecasters that they were included in the report despite the objections. The future importance of terrorism by Muslim extremists was one such case.
Terror 2000 was not just a theoretical study. It made specific recommendations for combating the growing threat, from hardening American facilities abroad to improving intelligence collection, particularly human intelligence, and rebuilding the "area studies" think tanks that were abandoned after the end of the Cold War. In retrospect, it seems fair to suggest that al-Qaeda would have found it much more difficult to strike at the United States if these and other suggestions had been implemented.
It was not to be. As the report was nearing completion, the Interagency Group headed by Ambassador Barbara Bodine, then acting coordinator for counter-terrorism, objected to its distribution. Bodine feared that a chapter titled "Holy Terror," which forecasted dramatic growth in religiously and culturally motivated terrorism by Muslims, would undermine American relationships with the oil-producing countries of the Middle East, and the threat of higher oil prices seemed more immediate and troubling than any possible risk of terrorism. In addition, she believed that little or nothing useful would be accomplished by releasing the report. As Bodine pointed out, in a democracy you can't deal with a crisis until it has become a crisis. In the end, Ambassador Bodine ordered the report shelved, labeled "Unclassified/Government Use Only," and halted its planned distribution to the president, vice president, cabinet members, and members of Congress. The study was remembered only by a few participants who joined in later studies of the terrorist menace.
Today, terrorism is a crisis, but we still are not dealing with it effectively. It is not even clear that we can do so.
Understanding "Holy Terror"
Widespread hostility toward the West will allow al-Qaeda to make a pivotal transition. Today, the terrorists are merely outlaws; they enjoy a base of popular support, but nonetheless remain outside the formal power structure of the Muslim world as it is recognized in other lands. In the next five years, they are likely to become something far more dangerous: legitimate political factions, and even governments, as first Fatah and then Hamas have done in Palestine.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the world today, and probably the fastest growing. There are roughly 1.7 billion Muslims, compared with about 2.1 billion Christians and 900 million Hindus. By 2025, there will be perhaps as many as 2 billion Muslims around the world. In Europe and America, Islam is expanding even faster, thanks in part to immigration and in part to high birth rates. There are about 5 million Muslims in the United States and 1,500 mosques. In France, at the current rate of growth, more than half the population will be Muslim within 20 years.
Islam, we are told, is a religion of peace. Non-Muslims are second class, but they are to be tolerated unless they show themselves to be enemies of Islam. Yet, some aspects of the Muslim world seem difficult to reconcile with claims of tolerance and piety. Consider these statistics, collected by Forecasting International and Battelle:
One-third of Muslims believe that the 9/11 attacks were justified. Two-thirds are unshakably convinced that no Muslims were involved in those events. Two-thirds believe that the attacks were carried out by the intelligence services of Britain, the United States, or Israel, and perhaps all three, in an attempt to discredit Muslims. These beliefs are held, in roughly those proportions, in every country of the Muslim world, at every socioeconomic and educational level. In short, two-thirds of the world's 1.7 billion Muslims, roughly 1 billion people, take it as a matter of faith that the U.S. "war on terror" is no more than a fraud carried out for the purpose of returning them to colonial rule. It did not help that, in the initial phases of the global war on terror, it was referred to as a "Crusade," a word that Muslims have neither forgotten nor forgiven in more than 700 years.
Also significant is the view that, just as there is no god but Allah, and no source of true knowledge but the Koran, there is no valid authority save that of religious leaders. Secular government is illegitimate under God's law, and secular law an oxymoron, inevitably as weak and corrupt as the men who operate it. There is a vast and impassable gulf between secular governments throughout the Muslim world and the people whom they claim to rule. We see it in Pakistan and Iraq, Egypt and Jordan, and even Morocco and Turkey, where decades of secular tradition and rule have not erased the appeal of fundamentalist extremism.
Extremist Muslim attitudes and beliefs create extraordinary volatility when they come into contact with the West. For all their belief in the moral superiority of Islam, many Muslims find the freedom and material prosperity of the West to be enormously seductive. Westerners are hated not for what they do or what they have, but for what they are. The temptation that the West represents -- to abandon pious self-denial, to accept freedom and comfort here on Earth and thereby lose Paradise -- makes Westerners "enemies of Islam" in a way that no specific action ever could. This is why jihadists no longer seek to change U.S. or Western policies but instead aim simply to destroy these "enemies of Islam."
That implacable hatred takes much of its power from a long history that is every bit as important to Islam as any event in the present day. Time is of little significance to the Muslim worldview. The triumphs of Saladin in the Third Crusades rank alongside the destruction of the World Trade Center, without regard to the centuries that separate them. The pan-Arabism of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1920s is an obvious extension of the battle to drive infidels from Muslim lands. More recent successes include the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, the African embassy bombings in 1998, the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, and so endlessly on. Osama bin Laden's jihad is simply the latest expression of an everlasting war against the evils of the West, for the greater glory of Allah.
This is a context in which the terrorist cause can never be lost, much less abandoned. Successes are forever remembered, failures ennobled. It does not matter that Osama now hides in the mountains of Pakistan; he struck a valiant blow against the great Satan. It is not important that Saddam has now been executed; he sent the Americans packing after the first Gulf War and serves as an inspiration to jihadists around the world. Both these heroes will rise again, or live on in Paradise, glorified for all eternity. Through fantasy and repetition and in the light of the eternal battle against evil, losses become gains, defeats become triumphs. And if the terrorist war can never be lost, there is reason to wonder whether the war against it can ever be won.
Forecasts and Recommendations
At Forecasting International, we see three major changes coming in the years ahead that will fundamentally alter both the terrorist threat to the United States and the terms on which the "war" on terror must be fought.
1. The terrorist ranks are growing. In deposing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and depriving al-Qaeda of a safe haven there, the United States struck a major blow against the terrorist movement as it existed five years ago. Yet by failing to follow up on that success effectively, the nation has squandered much of the benefit that should have been gained from that first step in the counterterrorist battle. And by invading Iraq, the United States has supplied al-Qaeda and its sympathizers with a cause around which to rally their existing forces and recruit new ones. As a result, the terrorist movement is now growing stronger, not weaker.
There is ample evidence to support this assessment. Up to 30,000 foreign fighters are believed to have gravitated toward Iraq, where they are now gaining contacts and experience that will serve them well in future campaigns against Western nations. In this, Iraq is now serving the function that Afghanistan provided in the 1980s. The war in Iraq is building a skilled and disciplined terrorist cadre that will fan out across the world.
Saudi Arabia even has been forced to build a major program aimed at keeping young men from going to Iraq. The Wahhabi in Saudi Arabia are teaching that joining the jihad is the Muslim man's second-greatest duty, behind going to Mecca. After fighting in Iraq, the Muslim men must come back and be available to fight for fundamentalist Islam in Saudi Arabia. Thus are terrorist cells built, independent of al-Qaeda but firmly committed to its goals and methods.
Similar developments are seen elsewhere. The Madrid railway bombings were carried out by a semi-autonomous terrorist cell based in Morocco, whose members cited the invasion of Iraq as one inspiration for their efforts. In Britain, the London subway bombings in 2005 were the work of a small, independent band of British citizens inspired by al-Qaeda. In France and Australia, authorities have arrested a number of Western converts to Islam, many of whom are believed to have joined al-Qaeda or associated organizations since the invasion of Afghanistan. A report by French intelligence officials estimated between 30,000 and 50,000 such converts, and by implication potential terrorists,in France alone.
It is clear that terrorists have considerable sympathy among Europe's Muslim population. The riots in October and November 2005 affected at least 20 cities in France and touched off lesser violence in Belgium, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, and even Switzerland.
More such events are all but inevitable. Saudi Arabia funds an extensive network of religious schools, from New York to Pakistan. Saudi authorities have admitted that as much as 10% of the curriculum in those schools contains material preaching hatred of other religions and the West. At times, those schools even have coordinated their sermons to deliver consistent anti-Western messages in far-distant locales. In a preliminary study during 2003, Borik Zadeh of the Battelle Institute found that mosques in Ohio, London, Frankfurt, and Paris were delivering virtually identical sermons, the key message of which was an endorsement of global war against the West. In Pakistan, where Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi movement supports thousands of madrassas, the call to jihad is even more enthusiastic. Those schools are recruiting extremists, sending money and fighters to Iraq, and systematically building an extremist cadre that will pursue the battle against the West for generations to come.
They are most dangerous in their target countries: Saudi Arabia, Australia, Europe, and to a lesser extent the United States. Individuals from these countries are absorbing the extremist creed, going to Iraq and learning to fight, and returning to their own countries. France, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, and too many other lands are now home to revolutionaries with all the rights of citizens. Identifying these homegrown, foreign-trained terrorists will be one of the most difficult tasks for antiterrorist forces in the years ahead.2. Terrorists will gain weapons of mass destruction. The elite among tomorrow's terrorists will have more than plastic explosives with which to make their point. They will have nuclear weapons. Pakistani engineer Abdul Qadeer Khan ensured that when he gave Pakistan what most extremists regard as an "Islamic bomb" and then spread the plans far and wide. If terrorists cannot lay hands on a stolen weapon from the former Soviet Union, they soon may be able to obtain them from either Islamabad or Tehran.
3. Terrorists will rise to power in governments. Rather than obtaining nuclear weapons from a sympathetic government, al-Qaeda or its spin-offs will likely become the government in any of perhaps a dozen countries. Wherever secular government is weak, it might easily be replaced by a much stronger and more virulently anti-American theocracy with leaders drawn straight from the terrorist movement. Candidates for a terrorist takeover include Iran (where the job already is half done), Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the "stans" of the former Soviet Union, and perhaps the Gulf states.
However, our own choice for "most likely to undergo a religious revolution" is Saudi Arabia, where the royal family has supported the extremist Wahhabi sect for some 200 years. At FI, we will not be surprised if Osama bin Laden returns to his homeland and sets up an Islamist government in Riyadh, with dire consequences for the U.S. economy and for national security.
There is precedent for the transformation from terrorist movement to legitimate government, even among Muslim extremist organizations. In Palestine and other parts of the Middle East, Fatah, Hamas, and Hezbollah provide the kind of social safety net that governments in the region do not. Food, clothing, education, shelter, jobs, and medical assistance all flow from these organizations, bringing them a kind of legitimacy that violent action, however widely admired, never could. This service, combined with the corruption of the Fatah government, was the primary reason Palestinians voted Hamas into power, not the organization's intransigent rejection of Israel's existence.
If the terrorists do manage to gain control of a functional country, the nature of the game changes radically. When terrorists become the government, all terrorism is state sponsored. The budget available to fund terrorist activities grows manifold. The nation's laboratories and scientists become available to develop chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons for the cause. If the country is Pakistan, where Pervez Musharraf enjoys the support of virtually none of his citizens, nuclear devices already are available. Preventing terrorists from gaining control over those weapons is one of the most pressing necessities now facing the counterterrorist community.
Countering the Terrorist Threats
Unlike any government in the Muslim world, Osama bin Laden already has the allegiance of between 60% and 90% of the people in each country. Equal numbers consider the United States to be a menace intent upon returning the Muslim lands to Western domination. There was a time when that would not have mattered, because most Muslims were so impressed by American wealth and power that the United States seemed invincible. The attacks of September 11 destroyed that useful illusion and told extremists everywhere that the United States could be hurt. U.S. problems in Afghanistan and Iraq have reinforced this lesson. From an antiterrorist perspective, this has probably been the single most dangerous result of the events of the last few years.
As we have seen, the hatred of the West in the Muslim world runs deep. It grows more inflamed with each incident in which terrorists strike effectively at the West. It is further nurtured by the Muslim religious schools sponsored by Saudi Arabia throughout the world. The sight of Osama bin Laden or one of his successors as a head of state could unite the Muslim world in a way that nothing thus far has even approached. It is likely to happen quickly. At FI, we expect to see major changes within the next three to four years.
A nation like the United States might try to expel its Islamic community and wall itself off from Muslim lands, but such measures will not eliminate the danger. For one thing, it wouldn't prevent infiltration of tactical nuclear weapons, which are becoming increasingly portable. Also, for the foreseeable future, the United States will need oil much too badly to cut off all contact with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and even Iran unless there is no other choice.
Alternatively, the United States could attempt to strike preemptively against the terrorists and their sympathizers. But the number and breadth of targets required to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure and deter its reconstruction could involve so many deaths, and such a horrific level of guilt, that the United States would be unlikely to survive intact. Despite this, FI believes that the Pentagon should plan for this possibility. In case of need, however improbable, the plan must be ready to go with as little notice as possible.
Short of draconian measures, there are a few steps that can be taken to delay the ultimate crisis, perhaps giving enough time to find a permanent and acceptable solution to the problem.
Whatever else American counterterrorism and diplomatic efforts accomplish, the "Muslim bomb" issue -- with Pakistan currently possessing nuclear weapons and Iran moving to acquire them -- must be addressed. The alternative eventually might be to witness the detonation of an atomic bomb in a major population and financial center.
Nuclear material abandoned around the world must be secured. In 1992, the United States agreed to help Russia secure some 600 metric tons of nuclear material so that it would not fall into the hands of terrorists. A dozen years later, only 135 tons are properly secure, and at least 340 tons remain untouched.
The West also needs to keep track of nuclear scientists in the Muslim world, where jihadist terrorists could gain control. It should not have been possible for Abdul Qadeer Khan to develop key nuclear technologies, let alone to transfer them to Iran unnoticed. Preventing any repetition of this incident is a task for a greatly expanded human intelligence program.
Saudi Arabia must be discouraged from supporting the madrassas and their virulent anti-American, anti-West message. If this cannot be accomplished diplomatically, then other, more stringent methods must be considered. Some way must be found to keep Iran from producing nuclear weapons. Iran may not be the most certain source of nuclear devices for tomorrow's terrorists, much less the only one, but it is a clearly identifiable threat.
The United States and other target nations must devise more effective, and less intrusive, methods of securing obvious targets against terrorist attack. According to a survey FI carried out among futurists, security specialists, and serving and retired military officers of flag rank, these include schools (as in the hostage-taking at Beslan, Chechnya), churches and synagogues, and shopping malls.
Finally, and most importantly, we need to search for more options. This list of antiterrorist measures is no more than a first attempt to identify the most immediate problem areas and suggest counter measures. None of these efforts will eliminate the terrorist threat. So we need a comprehensive program of research designed to help us better understand the mind-set of jihadists and to identify pressure points that can be used to interrupt the spread of terrorism. The alternatives are too grim to contemplate.
About the Author
Marvin J. Cetron is president of Forecasting International Ltd. In Virginia. His e-mail address is glomar@tili.com The author welcomes feedback on this article, which will also be the topic for a session at the World Future Society's conference “World Future 2007: Fostering Hope and Vision for the 21st Century.”
FEEDBACK: Send your comments about this article to letters@wfs.org
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Women in Technology Announces Finalists for Eighth Annual Leadership Awards
Business Wire, April 18, 2007
Winners to Be Announced at May 17, 2007, Awards Gala
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Women in Technology (WIT), the premier organization contributing to the success of professional women in the Washington technology community, today announced finalists for the Eighth Annual Women in Technology Leadership Awards. Women who have excelled in their roles as mentors, leaders and role models in the dynamic technology industry will be honored for their accomplishments. Lesli Foster, Emmy award-winning journalist and weekend anchor for WUSA-TV in Washington, will serve as the mistress of ceremonies for the event.
The winners will be recognized at a banquet and ceremony on May 17, 2007, at the Hilton McLean in Tyson's Corner.
"We received over 100 nominations--a record number--for this year's Leadership Awards," said Marguerete Luter, president of WIT. "While it certainly made the selection of finalists and winners challenging, it demonstrates the incredibly talented pool of women business leaders we have in the greater Washington, D.C. technology community."
Awards will be given in five categories: Corporate Leadership, Entrepreneur Leadership, Government Leadership, Rising Star, WIT Champion. This year's winners of the WIT President's Award and WIT Founder's Award will also be announced. This year's finalists include:
Corporate
- Deborah Alderson - President, System and Network Solutions Group - SAIC
- Courtney Banks - Vice President, Homeland Security - Raytheon Company
- Kathleen Moore -CFO and COO - Innovectra Corporation
- Michele Perry - CMO – Sourcefire
Entrepreneur
- Ellie Nazemoff - CEO - Acolyst
- Dolly Oberoi - CEO - CU Technologies, Inc.
- Mary Ann Wagner - President - XIO Strategies
- Rose Wang - CEO - Binary Group
Government
- Tina Burnette - Director of Acquisition Management - FEMA
- Janice Cuny - Director, Information Technology - National Science Foundation
- Dr. Joy Hughes - Vice President Information Technology and Chief Information Officer -George Mason University
- Dr. Loyce Best Pailen - Director, Center for Support of Instruction - University of Maryland University College
- Jenise Setian - Chief - Office of Personnel Management Training Management Assistance
Rising Star
- Abigail Jones - Assistant Manager, Information Design - ABCTE, Inc.
- Tina Kang - Project Manager - ITSolutions, LLC
- Jennifer Keating - Director, Technology Infrastructure - CDW Government Inc. (CDW-G)
- Jennifer Murrill - Operations Researcher/Cost Analyst - Northrop Grumman Information Technology
WIT Champion
- Ardell Fleeson - Managing Director, Business Development - Human Capital Advisors, LLC
- Jill Klein - Executive in Residence - American University's Kogod School of Business
Ticket and sponsorship information is available at www.womenintechnology.org.
About Women in Technology:
Women in Technology (WIT) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to offering women involved in all levels of the technology industry a wide range of professional development and networking opportunities. One of the organization's main goals is to create a forum where women in technology can be recognized and promoted as role models. The organization's values are embodied in its tag line: Connect. Lead. Succeed. WIT was founded in 1994 and has nearly 1,000 members. For more information, please visit WIT's web site, www.womenintechnology.org.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Business Wire
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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Terror Response Technology Report: International Experts Assess Non-conventional Terrorism Threat
Defense Daily; Wednesday, October 4, 2006
HERZLIYA, Israel--Experts from the U.S. and Israel met here last month to discuss the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) terrorism and ways to defend against an array of scenarios, with opinions ranging on the likelihood of different types of attacks.
"It still couldn't be easier to launch a terrorist attack in this fashion," Leonard Cole, a bio-terrorism expert from Rutgers University says about a biological weapon scenario similar to the anthrax event that paralyzed parts of the U.S. in 2001. As the U.S. then learned this lesson, so too did its potential adversaries, he adds.
Cole was a panelist on the subject at the annual conference on terrorism's global impact hosted by the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
Cole says biological threats are different compared to nuclear and chemical ones because such agents can reproduce and become more dangerous over time instead of dissipating.
He points to a Pentagon study earlier this year that says more than 10 countries have or are developing a biological warfare capability, including several on the list for supporting terror or, like Russia, that are countries "of special concern." This means there are stockpiles of agents including those in Category A that can be easily disseminated and cause high mortality, mass casualties and panic, he says.
Recent progress in biology is also cause for concern. Cole says that developments this decade including nano-drugs that affect gene expression, interfering RNA molecules and the synthesis of the Polio and Spanish Flu viruses are things that could be used to cure disease, or in the wrong hands, cause unexpected epidemics.
Pre-treatment against bio-terrorism is largely a guessing game, as there is often no cross-protection for various strains from specifically prepared vaccines.
While Category A agents might not be readily available to terrorists, others like anthrax are endemic in parts of the world, Israeli biological warfare expert Yehosua Gozes says.
"These are easy to get, and easy to prepare the spores for inhalation and easy to store for long periods of time," Gozes says. And substances such as anthrax are as powerful as they are cheap. "For about three dollars, one could prepare a weapon capable of causing 50 percent casualties over a square kilometer...compare that to the many thousands of dollars needed to prepare an equivalent conventional, chemical or nuclear weapon."
Biological attacks are usually detected when there is a sick person, and by then it is too late, Gozes says.
More than 30 cities in the U.S. have started using air samplers to collect and detect agents when swabbed or their filters are checked in a laboratory, Gozes says. Sensors capable of detecting agents in real time currently cost about $100,000, making them cost-prohibitive for the type of deployment needed to detect biological agents before an outbreak starts, which could be anywhere, he adds.
Where Deterrence Works
Still, the discussions on non-conventional terrorism were not all doom and gloom.
Gerald Steinberg, a professor at Israel's Bar Ilan University, says that state sponsorship when it comes to non-conventional terrorism, is not the problem many people think it is, and that in most cases deterrence can still work.
"Clearly, there is less room for misunderstanding when it comes to mass casualty situations, because countries will respond to those massively," Steinberg says. But with non-conventional weapons and their use by proxies, the likelihood of state sponsorship breaks down rapidly because states know the weapons will be tracked back to them, he adds.
Leaving the earlier stated concerns with biological weapons aside, Steinberg says that chemical weapons in the hands of terrorists were nowhere near a problem on the scale of other types of WMD, and terrorists stealing a nuclear weapon or gathering enough material to make one are very low probability events. Limited resources could be better spent guarding against greater threats, he adds.
And while a state passing such WMD to terrorists is ultimately the same as the state being undeterred from carrying out the attack itself, which is unlikely, Steinberg argued that even non-state actors could still be deterred. "For most groups...perhaps excluding independent radical fringe elements, the core issues and interests are still there...and the process works the same." Finding those interests and refining and managing deterrence options with respect to terrorist organizations is something that should definitely become more of a priority, Steinberg adds.
Peter Probst, director of programs at the Institute for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, agrees that the almost certain backtracking of most WMD material should lessen the concern about rogue states and their support of non-conventional terrorism.
Probst also says that the chances of most NBC attacks people envision when they think of terrorists perpetrating a WMD incident are low and "still like the perfect storm."
Rather, attention should be fixed on what he called "weapons in place" that could be used as improvised WMD in ways that are low tech and very high impact. Terrorists are looking for ways to exploit dual use materials and facilities in ways most people "have barely imagined...it's all over the web sites" of terrorists and jihadis, he says.
Probst says a lot of energy is spent worrying about terrorists developing elaborate chemical weapons or using cargo containers to sneak material into the U.S. "Why would they bother? They have the 9/11 model."
The real focus should be on nuclear sites in the U.S. including spent fuel pools (potential super dirty bombs) and other "dirty little secrets" such as water supplies and urban rail bridges over which roll tanks filled with chlorine and other deadly chemicals every day, Probst adds. "These are the things that could begin a catastrophic chain of events...that is rarely examined as we tend to look only at the immediate effects."
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