A story I heard from a client the other day confirms the simple power of security questioning as a really effective tool.  I’d like to share it with you.

A security officer who works for a large U.S. company had taken our Predictive Profiling and Security Questioning course.  Let’s call him Mike.  Mike was working the access control checkpoint at their main headquarters where both a metal detector and screening machine are in place.  These are located in a large lobby with a good deal of people traffic and activity.

A visitor to the facility approached to be screened and was flagged by the operator as having a questionable object in their bag.  (more…)

With all the expense, effort and time that a political campaign entails, I am always amazed when a candidate or sitting politician is brought down by scandal.  More than ever, an intense and persistent spotlight shines on politicians whose every move and every skeleton is fair game.  Hundreds if not thousands of reporters and generic dirt seekers unearth and disseminate their findings at lightning speed across a hungry internet.  Scandal sells.  If you polled today I’m betting more people have heard the raunchy details of Herman Cain’s latest sexual harassment accuser than have heard the details of the G20 conference whose outcome directly effects (versus titillates) everyone on the planet.

Whether allegations are true or false is (more…)

More often than not, security systems miss the mark when they skip a vital step in developing their security standards and procedures.  They do not first clearly define the threat.  But only once you understand the threat, can you understand what is suspicious and then have a road map for procedures.

Take random checks as an example.  Think about how ambiguous it is when an officer is asked to “randomly” check a given number of people or objects.  Given the open-ended nature of that directive, the officer chooses what to check motivated by what amounts to whim: perhaps the officer has a non-confrontational personality and will avoid anything or anyone that appears troublesome.  What and whom he chooses to check could likewise be motivated by subconscious sexism, racism or some other psychological mindset.  With humans, there is no such thing as random.  A random check procedure can translate to a real vulnerability for a security system because it allows an officer to make screening decisions based on his own inclinations.

What’s more, a random check procedure is passive.  It requires no (more…)

I heard a nice analogy about engineers and basketball players recently that well describes the role of security: what it is at its best and at its less-than-best.

Some folks approach security as though it were an engineering project.  Security managers map out regulations and protocols to be adhered to by the letter.  Like an engineer designing a car or a building they consider budget and costing, throughput and appearance.  In this approach, there may be a security team but there is no clear opposing team.

In basketball, as this analogy goes, there is a clearly defined opposing team.  Indeed, the adversary is at the top of the coach and players’ mind at all times.  They spend hours upon hours studying the adversary’s every move and trait in order to understand and therefore best anticipate how they will play and how to win against them.

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The amygdala, or as some prefer to call it: the A-Spot, are two almond shaped bunches of brain cells at the heart of security threat assessment.  Security threat assessment?!?  How so?

The amygdala, part of our limbic system, plays a role in the processing and recall of emotional reactions.  It sends impulses that activate the sympathetic nervous system.  It’s the amygdala that relays stimuli that in a fight and flight response, push an adrenaline rush.  It’s why our pupils dilate, heart rate quickens, we fidget and start to sweat when we perceive danger or threat.

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Some subjects do lend themselves to a classroom setting: philosophy, statistics and literature to name a few.  I can learn what I need to about Immanuel Kant, calculating a standard deviation and the collected work of Tolstoy without leaving my seat.  But other subjects cannot be learned nearly as well without application and practice:  things like brain surgery, rifle assembly and knitting come to mind.  Wait, let me add another: developing an effective and efficient, threat-based Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Security.

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Companies across the globe continue to tighten their belts in the wake of a sickly economy.  Managers are asked to cut their budgets and make do with less manpower and fewer resources.  Non revenue units, like Security, often bear the brunt of the cost cutting efforts.  As regards securing against let alone crime but also the threat of terrorism, additional arguments are sometimes difficult to counter:  nothing has really happened since 9/11, so we don’t need to spend as much, right?  Never mind the accumulated if failed attempts that have occurred in just the past years (Underwear Bomber, Times Square, MD transit, etc).  Whether Management accepts that there is a real threat, or if they don’t get it, making the most of our security resources is still a sound goal.

If the new CCTV cameras or a new access control system has been scratched from your budget, consider (more…)

As Muslim populations increase in western countries, cultural clashes seem inevitable, particularly around certain traditions such as the burqa or niqab – a veil that covers a woman’s face.  There’s the case of Sultaana Freeman who wanted her Florida drivers license to show her in a niqab.  An Orlando court said “no”.

Then there is the case of Carnitas Matthews in Australia who went to the media and then to court accusing a police officer on a traffic stop of attempting to remove her burqa, and of being a racist.  The police car video showed that she lied about the accusation.  She was sentenced to six months in prison.

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Now that we have a foot in the door on 2011, let’s continue to look for improvements on the homeland security front.  Our answers to December’s (admittedly rhetorical) Questions Not Often Posed are as follows:

• Can you name one case in which detection technology was a trigger for finding a terrorist?  In almost every case where a terrorist was caught via security, it was on account of detection of suspicion by people observing and interacting with their environment.  To my knowledge, there was one case in Cyprus back in 1986, when the gun of a Hezbollah terrorist hijacker was found by airport screeners.  There are other areas where criminals – not terrorists – are found using security technology, but overwhelmingly an estimated 98% of detection is done by a person without technology evaluating a person’s behavior, story and identification and finding it to be suspicious.  Detection technology is instrumental in finding the means after the intent was uncovered.

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In the security field lying is a clear sign of suspicion. However, lying deception in and of itself is not suspicious.  The lie must always be assessed in the context of intent.

To be honest, many of us lie from time to time and maybe more often than that.  Daddy, is Santa Claus going to bring me a present?  Honey, does this dress make me look fat?  Sir, were you aware that you were exceeding the speed limit?  Lying is not against the law unless there is criminal intent or the liar is under oath.  In the business of security, we should indeed try to identify deception but then we must take it a step or two further to determine why exactly a person is lying.  Are they trying to save face?  Avoid a hassle?  Are they lying out of fear or habit?  Or … is their lie part of a cover story which is connected to a threat that we should definitely be worried about?

We should also remember that lying is a relative term which  is viewed very differently across different cultures.  In some countries, exaggeration is part and parcel of everyday life in which a lie  is not only accepted but expected.  In other societies, lies and even small ones are considered a social taboo.  The moral attachment to lying changes, and the line between truth and fiction blurs or clears, depending on where you are in the world.

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