Opuscula Candidates Unprepared

 

I DON'T EXPECT THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES to be experts in everything. None can be.

But I DO expect the presidential candidates to have experts who can advise them on things with which they will have to deal as President of the United States (POTUS), Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces (CinC), and CEO of the country. Things such as the

• Constitution
• Economy
• Education
• Foreign relations
• Justice System
• Medicare & Social Security
• Military
• Taxes
• Terrorism

IT WOULD SEEM "REASONABLE" TO EXPECT our candidates to have cast into Jell-O^R, if not concrete, opinions on how to handle the myriad problems facing all recent presidents. The ISSUES are the same as they have been for decades.

How can the economy be improved? How can jobs be kept in the U.S.? How can the trade deficit be lowered? Is any business really "too big to fail"?

Should federal dollars be spent on private schools? Colleges and universities? Should the Federal government be in the education standards business, telling the states how to educate their children?

How many dollars do we need to spend to prop up FIRST WORLD countries? Second World? Third World? Does anyone really think we can BUY allies; what has been our success rate for that? Why is it we gladly deal with some countries with horrible human rights records and thumb our national nose at others? (OK, I'm thinking China, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba.)

Who will fill the vacancy on the Supremes? Left? Right? Thinker? Political hack? How about the laws on banking, immigration?

What happened to the sacredness of Social Security? Granted it was never intended to be what it is - a retirement plan for many. Likewise Medicare, another "untouchable."

Do we want a strong military that can enforce our intrusions into other nations' business? Or is a weak military a better deal a la BRAC? Do we really need bases in Europe when we can't protect our people across the Med in Benghazi? I know the only way to hold territory is with "boots on the ground," but do we NEED to hold terrority - and why can't the locals take care of their own?

Would lower corporate taxes keep U.S. companies in the U.S. and - perhaps - bring back some who left? Would returning and new organizations make up any loss? Would a lower tax reduce "cheating" and legal tax dodges?

Whet can be done to reduce the threat of terrorism in the U.S.? Is TSA enough? Could the CIA, NSA, FBI, and all the other alphabet soup spook agencies be made - forced - to cooperate with one another so we won't have another 9-11(2001)? Will there be a czar of czars? Are the agencies top heavy with (in)effective management?

My list hardly is "all inclusive."

I understand each candidate has his or her personal perspective on each of the issues; however, I would expect each candidate to invite experts - real world and self-proclaimed academic expects - with varied opinions on each subject.

Listen to the experts; consider their expertise; formulate a position. It might be based on one expert or the opinions of several.

Actually, all the candidates SHOULD have done this BEFORE the first day on the "campaign trail."

I hear this candidate and that tell the tv talking heads either that they have not considered the question or, worse, proving they are totally uninformed about the issue.

It is embarrassing.

The world is watching and the U.S. is showing the ignorance of the hopefuls for its top political office as too incompetent to run around the block let alone run a country that some still consider a world power.

I was born while FDR was in the White House; the first president I remember was Harry S. I have seen presidents who were presidential (Nixon, LBJ) and presidents who were "less so." Neither party has a "lock" on good candidates, but both parties seem to have more than their fair share of "less good" candidates. Each election seems to be the one in which I write in Alfred E. Neuman or Daffy Duck as my candidate of choice.

I voted in my state's primary, but if I'd known then what I know now, maybe Alfred E. would have received my vote.

I would like to vote FOR a candidate who I thought would fulfill the obligations of the office honorably RATHER THAN vote for the candidate I consider "the lesser of two evils" - or the least incompetent.

ERM-BC-COOP Dealing with the chaos Around the Mediterranean

 

I have been on both sides of this concern - working in a country that was nearly strangled by a strike by Custom's clerks and working for the same company elsewhere trying to convince prospective clients that we could meet their service requirements "no matter what."

Civil war in Syria.

Political conflict in Turkey.

Iran - enough said.

Ukraine and Russia.

Turmoil in on the European side.

Remnants of the "Arab Spring."

Israel and the terrorists to the south and the north.

And a few more "to be named later."

If your organization buys products or services from anywhere around the Med you can plan on interruptions of product or service.

The Internet and common carriers are not immune as nations close their borders or are quarantined.

 

Mediterranean and surrounding states

 

Assume - always a dangerous thing to do - that your organization must have a product or service from an area of contention.

Your customers are concerned that your source may be prevented from delivering a product or service they expect due to contract. It is a justifiable concern. How can your organization assure them that it has a risk management plan to protect your clients' interests?

 

Hardware Products

Assuring sufficient hardware products is (relatively) easy.

If the product is electronic, you should know the MTBF* of all critical components in the product. Given the MTBF plus the sales projection it would be relatively easy to "guesstimate" how much product and how many spares need to be warehoused in-country. If your organization is selling very large items - aircraft, ships, and other things that cannot easily be folded and shelved - finding a suitable place to warehouse the product can be a problem, but it is a surmountable problem.

 

Software Products

Products delivered by Internet - software applications, bug fixes, upgrades and the like - also are subject to delivery interruption. The Internet is a "pipe" with government "valves" that can restrict both incoming and outgoing data.

A Guardian article headed Internet censorship listed: how does each country compare? includes a table from the OpenNet Initiative listing countries and how each rates regarding (1) Political Filtering, (2) Social Filtering, (3) Internet Tools Filtering, and (4) Conflict/Security Filtering.

Of the 74 nations listed, only 40 had no Internet restrictions while 5 had "substantial" political filtering. ONI's options were, by severity:

• Substantial
  

• Selective
  

• Pervasive
  

• No evidence

USA Today identifies its Top 10 Internet-censored countries.

 

Service

Just as a nation can close off Internet flow - or have it closed off by cyber-criminals attacking servers in the victim nation - it also can close its borders to two-way traffic - or, as with cyber-crime, be isolated by its neighbors' closed borders.

In either situation, your organization needs to plan ahead and, while travel is possible, either

1. Send its personnel to the vendor or
   

2. Have vendor trainers come to your organization

to train to a level sufficient to meet client requirements.

In truth, this is no different than if the vendor's site is isolated due to a localized epidemic or any other "natural" cause.

Technical manuals are helpful, but having "factory-trained" personnel with hands-on experience always trumps a manual - paper or digital. That should <

be understood to mean technical documentation - with any updates - is not necessary; it is most assuredly necessary.

I have been a technical writer and a trainer. I remain a reader of manuals and other instruction materials.

Don't forget "the usual suspects"

When reviewing the threats to an international supply chain - be the product or service physical or software - remember all the "routine" supply chain gremlins, including but not limited to

• Competition
  
• Customer fickleness
  
• Point-to-point transportation (sea, air, rail, roadway)
  
• Work (in)actions
  
• Theft
  
• Vendor failure (temporary or permanent)

 

* MTBF: Mean Time Before Failure

ERM-BC-COOP: Good, bad news About terrorism

London-based Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), just released its annual Terrorism and Political Violence Map. to help organizations assess terrorism and political violence risk levels across the globe. The map is produced in collaboration with global risk management consultancy, the Risk Advisory Group plc,.

The good news:

• 80 countries with terrorism perils indicated in 2014, 12% fewer than 2013
• Europe sees notable improvement with 11 countries having civil commotion perils removed

NOTE: Canada, Mexico, and the United States were not mentioned in the report, and the map

The bad news:

For organizations with international interests (vendors, customer, etc.) , the bad news is that:

• Thirty-three percent of all terrorism attacks affect the retail sector - 18 percent impact the transportation sector
• Brazil facing an increased risk of unrest
• In 2013, 52% of all terrorist attacks recorded took place in the Middle East - North Africa (MENA) region, up from 41% in 2012

While no MENA countries were specifically identified, the report noted that "A new strain of Salafi Jihadism has emerged in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as evidenced by increased levels of terrorism. This is a cause and effect of the limited political recovery of post Arab Spring countries, and has contributed to widespread high-to-severe risk ratings across the region."
It is interesting to note that Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are rated in the middle of Aon's risk scale.

The Aon report claimed that "Brazil was the only Latin American country to see its risk rating increase from medium to severe due to widespread and large-scale violent anti-government protests throughout 2013. The analysis indicates this unrest will likely continue in 2014, particularly ahead of the FIFA World Cup and the October general elections."

Africa, the report continues, "remains a continent of high political violence and terrorism risk, with 22 countries having high to severe risk ratings."

Report by sector

When looking at attacks on businesses by sector, the retail and transportation sectors were significantly affected in 2013, with 33 percent of terrorism attacks affecting the retail sector, and 18 percent of attacks taking place on the transportation sector. The retail sector includes venues such as public markets, which remain vulnerable to attack as seen last year in Kenya. Terrorism remains a variable threat in the Eurasia region, with Russia and Turkey the most affected by the threat through 2013. Additionally, the Winter Olympics in Russia, which will involve significant mass transportation moves, is seen as a potential terrorist target.

Moreover, Japan, Mozambique and Bangladesh have also seen increased scores with Bangladesh witnessing civil unrest over 70 days of strikes and accompanying protests, particularly against low wages and poor working conditions in the garments industry, adding to the issues impacting the retail sector.

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The full report is available at
http://www.aon.com/risk-services/default.jsp

The map is shown at
http://www.riskmap.aon.co.uk/Terrorism_Risk_Map.aspx