NCSPF Ottawa event: National vs corporate security

Held at the National Arts Centre in downtown Ottawa, the panel consisted of diverse members from the areas of cyber security to military. The NCSPF event was co-hosted by the Canadian Association of Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) and the Canadian Council of Security Professionals (CCSP). Led by moderator Lynn Mattice, President and founder of the National Economic Security Grid (NESG) and Senior Fellow at George Washington University, the discussion included questions on Resiliency, Border Security, Cyber Security, Risk Intelligence and moving from government to private industry as a security executive.

The panel consisted of Melissa Hathaway, President of Global Securities LLC and Senior Advisor to Project MINERVA; Jeffrey Miller, VP and CSO of the NFL and former Commissioner of Pennsylvania State Police; Major-General Doug Dempster (ret’d), the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa and Former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Executive Management; Mivil Deschenes, CSO of Rio Tinto and LCol (ret’d) in the Canadian Military Police; Julie Myers Wood, CEO at ICS consulting and former Assistant Secretary Department of Homeland Security; and David Quilter, CFE, President of QuilCo Inc and Former Supervisory Special Agent at the DEA.

The discussion was lively and animated with each point of discussion bringing numerous others to the front. The issues of leadership and moving outside “the box” in finding effective security solutions, were touched on numerous times and emerged as some of the biggest issues of the day. Each of the panel members brought personal experiences to the discussion including the challenges of ensuring the security for NFL players, maintaining consistently high security measures for the NFL as a whole but always being mindful of the fan experience as the ultimate mission at each game, whether played in the U.S. or as exhibition games overseas.

International industries, such as RioTinto have had unique experiences and challenges in dealing with global politics, economics and resource management. One of the surprises in the evening’s discussion, was the fact that cyber security is such a relatively new program. Despite it’s late start, the development of cyber security as an essential part of any national security or corporate security program is advancing in leaps and bounds, just as threats to cyber security seem to advance even faster. News of the Flame breaking just days prior to the presentation emphasised the participation of nations as well as individuals in these espionage tactics. The evening wrapped up with points on transitioning from government to private industry as security executives. David Quilter, representing the Security Executive Council offered some copies of his book From one winning Career to the Next (available from www.securityexecutivecouncil.com) on this topic which seemed to garner much interest from the audience.
 
The audience ranged from new graduates of various related school programs to senior security executives in both private and public sectors. The audience was treated to excellent networking opportunities at receptions both prior to and after the discussion. It was a well worth while two and half hours for all who attended. This was the third highly successful event for the National Capital Security Partners’ Forum, an agile network bringing together security, intelligence and defense associations from across the region.
 
The Nova Scotia Security Partners’ Forum is preparing its’ first formal event. Rear-Admiral Gardam D.C. , OMM, CD, the Commander of Joint Task Force Atlantic and Commander Maritime Force Atlantic will be providing opening remarks at the Inaugural event on Tuesday June 19, at the World Trade & Convention Centre in Halifax. The topic for this lecture is “Current Issues & Trends in National Security. “Speakers are: Karen Oldfield, Q.C., President & CEO of the Halifax Port Authority; Brigadier General (Ret’d) Jim Bruce, MMM, CD, MBA, Manager of Security & Energy Management at SAIC Canada; Anju Virmani, MBA, C.DIR, ITIL, COBIT, CIO of Cargojet Income Fund, Travis Barlow, CISSP, CISM, QSA, Founder and Director of the Board – Atlantic Security Conference (AtlSecCon). The event starts at 5:00 p.m. For additional information contact info@nsspf.ca.

The next event planned in the National Capital Region will be in October and will be discussing security in social media. To request more information on any Security Partners’ Forum events across Canada.

Andrea Blaustein is Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Security Professionals, Co-chair of the National Capital Security Partners’ Forum, sits on the executive of the Canadian Security Partners’ Forum and is a founding member of the Convention Centre Security Professionals of Canada. She can be reached at andreabsecurity@gmail.com.