Terror Fallout Continues

By Bill Zalud

Security executives at the leading business, government and commercial organizations report some continuing fallout from terrorism threats that begun with the September 11th tragedy two years ago. A little more than one in ten say that their reporting structure within the organization has changed since the terrorism incidents with most of those reporting changes say their position now falls under a different department.

SECURITY magazine annually conducts an industry forecast study in which security executives rank their top concerns as well as technologies, systems and products purchased and planned to be purchased. While there continues to be a measurable sensitivity over terrorism threats, compared to last year, security executives rank terrorism lower.

The January 2003 Zalud Report covered some results of the study.

Almost half of security executives surveyed say that natural disasters and disaster recovery is the top safety concern this year. A second tier of safety concerns includes workman’s compensation elements, emergency communications and workplace violence.

TOP SAFETY CONCERNS, 2003

1 Natural disasters/disaster recover

2 Workman’s compensation

3 Emergency communications

4 Workplace violence

5 Fires

6 State/federal OSHA regulations

7 Hazardous materials

The study has revealed that the two most important factors impacting budgets are economic conditions and the impact of September 11th. The former has been a drag on budgets with 26 percent or respondents saying they are spending less. Another 30 percent say they have a larger budget, thanks in part of the fallout from terrorism.

2003 BUDGETS COMPARE TO 2002

More spending 30%

Less Spending 26%

No change 44%

How security executives spend their budget remains constant over the year. Personnel (overhead) remains the largest sector of the budget while replacement of equipment and new equipment have increased to 30 percent of budgeted dollars.

WHERE BUDGET GOES

Personnel 31%

Services 19%

New Equipment 18%

Maintenance 18%

Replacement 12%

Other 2%

Getting back to the continuing impact of terrorism on security departments, 32 percent of executives say they have hired more in-house security personnel since the September 11th incidents. And four in ten say they have received more budget dollars than originally requested as a direct result of the heightened terror sensitivities.

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