Raising the level of Security Awareness to a Fine Art

The Security Awareness through Predictive Profiling Programs

Among security professionals, there is no doubt that proactive prevention activity is far more effective in stopping terrorist and violent criminal activity than building walls and fences. The walls and fences are certainly necessary, but without eyes and ears operating and extending outside those walls and fences, the walls and fences are merely targets to be destroyed. In concrete terms, the security philosophy must be one of intervention; the security budget is much better spent discovering the planning of an attack in advance, and acting on that information to stop an attack, than spent rebuilding one's property and burying one's dead after an attack that breaches the walls and fences. With a finely honed capability of prediction, the potential of stopping and deterring a terrorist act or violent criminal event increases dramatically.

Apparently, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has finally come around to this important philosophical conclusion. On May 30, 2002, Director Robert S. Mueller issued the following statement.

"What we need to do better is be predictive. We have to be proactive. We have to develop the capability to anticipate attacks. We have to develop the capability of looking around corners. And that is the change. That is the shift in focus particularly at [FBI] headquarters."

Chameleon Associates, a US-based security consulting firm, conducts a program of education and training that raises the level of security awareness and the capability of prediction to a fine art. This proprietary program consists of two basic complementary units, each designed to reach different target audiences, from the general public to security professionals tasked with specific security goals.

The Program comprises a series of educational seminars designed to teach the general public about terrorism specifically, criminal behavior in general, and most significantly, what to do about being aware of the potential for these events. With emphasis on understanding the nature of such acts, the program teaches how to be more aware of security threats, to recognize what one is seeing as a potential threat to security, and then what to do about.

The Awareness Program, aimed at personnel charged with specific security responsibilities, teaches a proprietary "method of situational awareness designed to predict the potential for inappropriate, harmful criminal and/or terrorist behavior". It employs a system of assessment tools that helps to identify potential threat or risk, and anticipate attacks. This system has proved its effectiveness for many years in certain specific security categories, and has been adapted to fit almost any security environment.

Training in the Chameleon Associates’ Program adds many more "eyes and ears" to the conventional security establishment. It empowers every member of the group to be a useful, forceful and effective team player with regard to the security of the group. This training allows each person to take some control over their own destiny, and has the added benefit of multiplying the security awareness level of the community many times over, without adding expensive security apparatus and infrastructure.

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