In Depth

How you fund a CSO

Genzyme's CFO-An exec who gets it; Finding security equilibrium; Are our harbors safe?; Better budgeting; What employees who travel need from a CSO; Protecting your company's intellectual property; A true story of employee termination

By CSO Contributor

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Another initiative, called the Customs' Container Security Initiative, or CSI, was launched in January 2002, to ensure the security of those containers in transit by using technology to prescreen and secure containers. Of the top 20 ports worldwide, 18 have already joined CSI. According to Wheatley, becoming a member of the initiative means you are "a trusted importer." To attain that status, you must provide Customs with details of what you're shipping and documentation that demonstrates that you are shipping it safely.

-Kathleen CarrRoad RulesTRAVEL SAFETY

The world has always been a dangerous place, but awareness of its perils has grown considerably in the wake of 9/11. Companies and their security officers have an established legal responsibility (a.k.a. "duty to care") for the safety of employees who travel abroad or are assigned to expatriate postings.

As a result, corporate lawyers lose sleep. Each unprotected employee presents a significant liability to which boards of directors and CEOs are, increasingly, attuned. When questions of employee safety arise, it's usually your CSO who ends up in the hot seat. And no CSO wants to be caught unable to answer the question, Are our people safe and accounted for?

"Expats and travelers expect more from the company in terms of security intelligence," says Mark Cheviron, corporate vice president and director of corporate security and services for Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). "And so do their families." Cheviron knows whereof he speaksADM has employees in more than 70 countries.

To feed their appetite for intelligence about fast-changing conditions in foreign locales, more and more companies are turning to third-party providers for expert help. The various providers offer a range of services consisting of regular bulletins, up-to-the-minute information and insight, access to emergency hotlines and, in rare instances, even rescue services aimed at extracting travelers in distress. Among the players in the field of so-called travel risk management are iJet (an analyst service allied with security behemoth Kroll), Pinkerton and U.K.-based Control Risks Group.

Your CSO will want to choose a provider based on the freshness of its information (how recent it is and how frequently it's updated) and the depth of its reporting assets (how many people it has on the ground in how many foreign venues). Cheviron cautions about data overload. "You have to be able to cull out what's important," he says. To get a balanced view, he recommends asking for a list of client references and calling them. He also trusts peer evaluations from fellow members of organizations like the International Security Management Association.