Public-Private Partnerships in the Security Industry

The war on terror for the United States began after a sequence of attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on 11 September 2001. These terrorist attacks left the most powerful nation in the world on its heels and reeling from the audacity of al-Qaida to launch a terrorist attack within our borders. Subsequently, these asymmetric events redefined how we as a nation must face security strategies to secure our homeland.

Security industry officials and safety procedures both have joined together with the government to develop and implement effective strategic security solutions. For example, after 9 / 11 Homeland Security professionals around the country began to form partnerships with the private sector to close knowledge gaps. Academia intervened and developed an advanced Homeland Security training for public and private first-line supervisors and Homeland Security seniors. From offering a security industry rate, or security management degree to public safety or first responder degrees, colleges and universities created momentum for the post-9/11 era of public-private partnerships in the security arena.

Historically, the U.S. depends on its geographic location as a natural protection against foreign intruders, and "... we were able to handle national security is essentially an out-of-body experience. When confronted with threats that we treated them in the grass of our allies or our adversaries. Apart from the occasional disaster and heinous crime, civil life at home is almost terror-free. "

Security Management Degree Program: Costs vs. Strategic Value Today's security professionals need to understand that the complex threat environment now is focused on local communities and not on some obscure battlefield in a distant country. The professional knowledge and skills required to devise and execute strategic security programs at this level that direct operational emergency plans appropriately, is offered in many safety management training. The combination of specialized knowledge and real world experience is a critical litmus test faculty in institutions that claim to offer top dollar security industry training. Students must be sure that they come to walk away from the teaching of security with strategic skills in management and communications, they need to become a top policy and decision makers.

Strategic security: a delicate balance of Risk and Opportunity As internationally renowned security technologist Bruce Schneier has correctly observed, "Security is all about compromises, but when the stakes considered infinitely high, the whole equation is thrown out of line." These trade-offs "has received serious criticism, thus placing the government and its various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in a challenging position to protect nearly 300 million people against future terrorist attacks, while striving to protect and preserve their constitutional rights. This delicate balance between risk and opportunity are present in the mind of each Homeland Security manager and also those in the private sector security industry.

Even the most advanced security industry level and safety procedures training face extreme difficulties in delivering curriculum needed to enrich and strengthen the current and future safety professionals with knowledge and skills to make appropriate decisions under intense pressure in which hundreds or thousands of lives is potentially at stake.

Conclusion There are many similarities between federal, state and local security forces, government programs and private sector security industry training. Although there are several courses of action available to prevent and counter future terrorist attacks, both types of programs place a premium on understanding the strategic nature of the terrorist threat against the homeland. Furthermore, education of the anti-terrorism measures for the public also will help in lifting daily situational awareness and provide a much-needed perspective on the very real daily threat that will continue to combine the needs of security with preserving the constitutional freedoms inherent to our democratic nation.