Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/925007
www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018 17 security ecosystem Sin título-2 1 16/02/2017 14:19:46 tional elements that must seamlessly col- laborate and coordinate to address today's security challenges. National security eco- systems commonly include defence, intel- ligence, law enforcement, criminal justice, border and immigration control, critical infrastructure protection, emergency re- sponse and public health management. To be fully effective, these functional el- ements must interact, interoperate, and collaborate to mitigate risks and maintain security. In addition to these many inter- functional relationships and interactions, a certain level of national coordination is also critical. To reduce vulnerabilities, nations must take a systematic look at their organiza- tional structure, to close the gaps and strengthen the seams between agencies and functional areas. General John R. Allen is a retired gen- eral of the U.S. Marine Corps and Senior Strategic Advisor to PwC's Public Sec- tor practice. In his work as Special Presi- dential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL under former President Barack Obama, he observed the problem of foreign fighters returning to their home countries and becoming easy targets for radicalization. "In watching events unfold, it became apparent that many of these host countries had substantial seams between ministries and principal agencies, and gaps in capabilities, affecting their ability to re- spond," said Gen. Allen. Enclaves of at-risk Muslim populations, such as Molenbeek in the municipality of Brussels, became "no- go zones." In an environment of organi- zational dysfunction, these no-go zones become support zones and launch pads for radicalization. To remedy these deficiencies, countries can begin with a comprehensive analysis of their organization "left of boom" – origi- nally a military term referring to the time- line before an explosion, and more recently describing the military's effort to disrupt insurgent cells before they can build and plant bombs. There are also a number of questions they can ask to evaluate their ef- fectiveness during and after an event oc- curs. Left of boom: Are we methodically looking at how we're organized? Are the entities responsible for collecting and ana- lyzing information sharing it with all those who need that information in order to pre- pare and respond? For example, an intel- ligence agency might have clearly identi- fied someone as a potential threat, but that information might not have been com- municated to police. Is there commonality across IT systems, are databases protected, is the information available across the secu- rity ecosystem? At the boom: Are first-responders ad- equately equipped and trained to deal with an event? Do the various types of respond- ers (police, SWAT team, etc.) have com- patible communications equipment? How is the response coordinated locally, region- ally and nationally. For example, what if a crisis occurs in several places simultane- ously? How well are we exercising all of our systems associated with various events, from a single attacker in a shopping mall to coordinated attacks on our transportation systems in multiple locations? Right of boom: This is about conse- quence management. It includes search and rescue capabilities, the ability to pro-