Security computer network: strategic resource for US business - State Department and corporations share information on terrorism and crime, includes how to join the network

US Department of State Dispatch, Oct 29, 1990 by Deborah Guido-O'Grady

Feature: Security Computer Network: Strategic Resource for US Business

The State Department and more than 500 US corporations are sharing vital information on terrorism and other criminal acts to protect American lives abroad.

"It's a bit of a bad news network," explains Stefanie Stauffer, manager of the Overseas Security Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB), a cooperative computer service that provides security snapshots of some 190 countries. "But we know business and can seek out the information they need to protect American personnel and property overseas."

The EBB was established by the the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), a joint venture between the Department and the private sector to collaborate on overseas security problems of mutual concern. As a result, worldwide employees of the State Department and major US firms such as Exxon, BF Goodrich, American Airlines, Procter and Gamble, Ford Motor, Bank of America, McDonald's, and IBM have become the "eyes and ears" of the EBB.

A Free Service for

Corporate America

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security offers the EBB free of charge to any US corporation doing substantial business abroad. Its information is specific to each country and spans security and crime, travel advisories, terrorist profiles, key US points of contact in-country, local holidays, significant anniversary dates, and police emergency telephone numbers. All a US firm needs to access EBB is a computer, a telephone modem, and the appropriate software.

"Our objective," explains Stauffer, a 19-year veteran security officer and chief of Diplomatic Security's Private Sector Liaison Staff, "is to provide the kind of nitty-gritty information that will help a corporation assess the security climate in a country and determine if it's safe to travel or keep workers there."

Sharing Security Information:

Key to EBB Success

Although the EBB does not carry aviation threat notifications, it does provide information generally unavailable anywhere else. "The fact that security information is on the EBB stimulates other companies to step forward with details they might generally be reluctant to share," Stauffer explains. "The more they share, the more information we're able to put together on a country. In the end, we all benefit."

EBB sources come from US companies in the region, unclassified US government reports, and the media. "After an incident, we also call a company to be sure a report is accurate and to see if they've had other problems as well. We then give the heads-up on the EBB."

The two-way nature of the EBB is its strength, according to Bartley Railing, the office's Middle East analyst. "US companies have good contacts and have learned to look out for their security," he says. "They want us not only as a resource for information but as a facilitator to help turn it around."

In late summer, Railing, Stauffer, and three other geographic analysts fielded more than 800 calls from US firms operating in the gulf or the Philippines-two major crisis spots in mid-1990 - and served as a focal point for US corporations airlifting employees from Iraq.

As a result, the EBB and office briefings for private businesses crackled with critical details: updates on the status of American hostages in Iraq; facts behind a major US multinational's rumored gulf withdrawal; threat information on anti-American targeting for bombings and assassinations in the Philippines.

"Our assistance really varied from interpreting travel advisories to more substantive briefings on a region's history or culture," explains Railing, who continues to work closely with State's 24-hour Kuwait Task Force. "So many companies had employees stuck there and still do."

The Private Sector Liaison Staff also helps US firms develop contingency plans for emergency evacuations. "Their main concern is if and when something does happen, they're ready," says Railing. "They bounce the plan off us to make sure it's a legitimate operation and that it will work."

Security Information Strategic

For US Firms Overseas

The EBB's popularity reflects changing security priorities among large corporations. "Security has moved from the boiler room to the boardroom in terms of its strategic importance to corporate decisionmaking," says Raymond Humphrey, corporate security director for the Digital Equipment Corporation and chair of the advisory council's Information Interchange Committee. "Being able to access a central pocket of security information with just a telephone call makes the EBB an invaluable tool for keeping abreast of events around the world."

PHOTO : Stefanie Stauffer, chief of the Private Sector Liaison Staff in Diplomatic Security, reviews data on the Overseas Security Electronic Bulletin Board with Middle East analyst Bartley Railing.