The Risk of 4GW: It's Here to Stay...

In today's OSAC 20th Annual Briefing at the U.S. State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security we witnessed some excellent briefs from corporate CSO's and keynotes from Sandy Weill, COB of Citigroup and Dr. Condoleeza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State.

All had the theme of the day, the valuable and lasting public private partnership established twenty years ago by former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz. There was much talk of the current risk of Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW), the same method of guerilla warfare described in The Sling and the Stone. In the middle of the presentations, many of our PDA's and phones began their vibrations and buzzing. Within a few minutes, the podium was announcing the latest attack on our own corporate assets in the capital of Jordan.

At least 57 people were killed and more than 100 injured when suicide bombers blew themselves up at three hotels in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

The hotels were popular with foreigners and many of the guests were involved in work in Iraq. The attacks destroyed the fragile calm that Jordan has enjoyed despite its proximity to Iraq and the support of its ruler, King Abdullah, for American and British policy in Iraq.

Major Bashir al-Da'aja, a police spokesman, said: "There were three terrorist attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels and it is believed that the blasts were suicide bombings." Said Darwazeh, the health minister, said there were more than 50 dead but the toll could rise.

The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) now claims over 3,000 U.S. companies, educational institutions, religious groups, and non-governmental organizations as members known as constituents. Although OSAC is rarely in the limelight, the ways in which it helps American businesses fight terrorism abroad is unparalleled.

Is that a "Predator" taking off?

Mission

The MQ-1 Predator is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft. The MQ-1's primary mission is interdiction and conducting armed reconnaissance against critical, perishable targets. The MQ-1 Predator carries the Multi-spectral Targeting System with inherent AGM-114 Hellfire missile targeting capability and integrates electro-optical, infrared, laser designator and laser illuminator into a single sensor package. The aircraft can employ two laser-guided Hellfire anti-tank missiles with the MTS ball.

Tomorrow, in our second day of the OSAC briefing the room will be missing many of the constituent members as they begin the investigations and deploy new resources in the pursuit of justice.

operational risk