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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (11688)	10/10/2003 9:15:32 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793852

This is the wave of the future. The growth of private security in Global Corporations. You will see more and more of Corporate interlinking with the FBI, Interpol, etc. You want to know the future, read Heinlein. __________________________________ FedEx starts its own police force to fight terrorism Today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) carries an interesting article about FedEx's initiative to counter terrorism in its operations. Faced with the responsibility for a vast cargo airline and distribution network, FedEx really had no ability to tap into official sources for intelligence about terrorist threats or countermeasures. Partly to tap into these resources, and partly to form an investigative unit of its own, FedEx persuaded the state of Tennessee to authorize a police force for the corporation. Among other things, this has enabled FedEx to become a part of the Memphis area Joint Terrorism Task Force, an interagency working group managed by the FBI. More importantly for FedEx, having a private police force qualifies the shipping company to serve on a regional joint terrorism task force, overseen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The 66 task forces currently in operation across the country -- which consist of local, state and federal officers -- are entrusted with more-sensitive and specific data regarding terrorist threats than businesses usually receive. FedEx is the only major air carrier that is a task-force member. Although the FedEx representative on the task force can't give his corporate boss inside information because it may be classified, the company still gains a great deal from its membership. That is because the FedEx representative can signal the company to take preventive actions. If the task force learns certain kinds of explosives are being used by terrorists in Asia, for instance, the representative can alert the company to install specialized explosives detectors there. "If they feel there is a threat to a particular part of FedEx's operation, they can take steps to improve security in that area without revealing security information," says FBI agent George Bolds, who is general counsel in the bureau's Memphis, Tenn., field office, where FedEx is based. * * * But the new arrangement does raise complex questions that have yet to be fully resolved: Does FedEx's task-force membership give it an unfair competitive advantage? Do the FedEx cops have an obligation to alert the company's rivals to terrorist threats? If the FedEx cops find wrongdoing among FedEx's senior officials, will the police ignore it because the company pays their salaries? Tim Edgar, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, questions whether corporate cops can be trusted to act in the public interest, and argues that a watchdog agency should oversee the company's performance. "You're given all the powers of someone accountable to the public, but you're driven by the profit incentives of a private company," he says. Maybe... but on the other hand, FedEx has a lot of stakeholders who have various degrees of power to keep the company on the right path with respect to civil liberties. From a purely economic perspective, I imagine shareholders and directors will be quite reticent to allow any abuse of this power that could lead to a lawsuit -- or worse yet, a class action suit on behalf of a large injured class. Moreover, FedEx is an extremely visible company that depends on its public image of trustworthiness for its business viability. I don't see them doing a lot to jeopardize that. I think this is a great idea, and honestly, I wish more companies would lean forward in their foxholes like FedEx. The overwhelming majority of America's critical infrastructure resides in the private sector -- power grids, dams, transportation, rail, water supply, etc. An attack on any aspect of America's critical infrastructure would ripple through every aspect of American society, and inflict billions of dollars of damage. The FBI can't protect everything, and it should focus its resources on proactively investigating intelligence about terrorism. The firms themselves should focus on defending their assets -- which they know best -- and preparing to manage the consequences of an attack. There are legal issues inherent in giving this kind of power to private entities, but I think the benefits outweigh those risks, and that those risks can be mitigated. philcarter.blogspot.com