Such was the case recently when Koerner addressed a roomful of security professionals at this summer's Port Secure conference, held in Montreal.

Koerner spoke at the conference as the Canadian National Railway Company's (CN) new chief security officer, a role he accepted after spending 25 years working for the Secret Service in various capacities - safeguarding presidents and dignitaries, as well as leading some of the organization's work in lesser-known fields such as anti-counterfeiting operations, forensics and fraud.

Securing the Nation spoke to Koerner after Port Secure to get more information about his unusual career trajectory and his plans for the future of CN's security.

Securing the Nation: How did you make the transition from the Secret Service to CN?
Tim Koerner: Like a lot of things, it was a network of contacts that you make over the course of your career. For the first nine months of my career with CN, the CEO and the executives here afforded me the opportunity to learn what CN does. Obviously, from a security perspective that I possessed experience and a certain amount of expertise, but rail is unique. It provided me with a great deal of insight to spend months learning the operating rules both in the U.S. and Canada, to see the breadth of our system. It incorporates 20,000 miles of rail and three coasts: the East and West coasts of Canada and the Gulf coast of the United States. So, it's a tremendously diverse set of geography and personnel and laws and regulations.

STN: Whom did you succeed?
TK: John Dalvell. He's been here for 12 years, and he was a former assistant chief with the Montreal police department. He is retiring.

STN: Is it unusual to have somebody from the U.S. in this kind of a role?
TK: CN is a North American company. We have two police departments. In some ways, I like to consider it one police department, but it is in essence run by two chiefs of police - one in the U.S., one in Canada. [Editor's Note: According to CN, the Railway Safety Act (RSA) contains the legal authority for the appointment of CN Police and provides railway constables with all the powers of a peace officer, including those powers vested through the Criminal Code of Canada.]
I think CN was looking to get the best qualified individual for this spot. It just so happened that I'm American.

STN: What has your first year at CN been like?
TK: I've been this position since March 1. The remainder of the time has been learning about rail. I am actually certified as a conductor. So, it was going through certain training courses, rules courses, operating courses and the like. The ability to be shepherded through the maze of government and industry organizations with the guy who was currently sitting in the chair was of great benefit. When the board of directors signed off on my promotion to vice-president and CSO I was able to hit the ground running.

STN: What are some the unique challenges around managing security for the transport industry, particularly rail?
TK: I would think that most people would think that a career with the Secret Service and a career with CN would appear to be as divergent as you could imagine. Yet the similarities between the two are immense. One of the ways that they're very similar is that each agency has finite resources. That might be a shock to people who think that the Secret Service has limitless resources. It also might be a shock to people that CN has finite resources. It makes the notion of partnering with other agencies who have similar interests and goals not only good operational sense but good business sense, because it reduces redundancies that are not needed and it strengthens communication and the actual security product at the end of the day.