Diplomat Jim Patterson and the Illusion of Security

based on my work in security systems and technology, I am convinced security is an illusion. Aside from security analysts and specialists like Edward Snowden and Pfc. Chelsea Manning, everybody is engaged in breaching security systems.

I interviewed a representative for a Silicon Valley firm recently who swore to me that their surveillance data, detected on remote systems and transmitted to a central database and managed by a system administrator, could not be manipulated. The data could be generated for management into reports on the activity of individuals.

Later, I went to remote sites and reviewed reports. They looked impressive with identifying individual names by activity data and time. In response to a blog post on the manufacture's claim of manipulation-free data reporting, several individuals came forward with documentation they were on travel when a systems administrator reported them to management for illegally entering a high security area in restricted hours.

How did this happen? Errors on error-free security systems that cannot be manipulated? Blackmail? Incompetence of the security system administrator? Perhaps the answer is a host of things. If we could see these types of things coming, we could better analyze them.

Business and government agencies spend billions on security, including high technology systems hardware and software, only to discover a flaw at a critical moment when a data breach occurred. Consequences include lawsuits over systems and individual security failures.

The quest goes on for reliable security systems and the price tags go ever higher. Continued systems failures, for whatever reasons, are disappointing, disruptive, and dangerous. Perhaps fool proof security systems are an impossible dream. Still, the quest for reliable security goes on as security threats grow and individuals and firms seek protection from technology and technicians bombarded constantly from malicious sources than span the globe and that are also as close as the next office or cubicle.

Jim Patterson
JEPDiplomat@gmail.com

Diplomat Jim Patterson and the Politics of Foreign Policy

Foreign policy is playing a major role in the 2016 presidential election.

Foreign policy has traditionally been a strong political issue for the GOP. and it is proving so again this time. Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Lindsay Graham, Carly Fiorina are listening to the American people and articulating their leadership on the Middle East, China, Russia, a strong response to the growing terror threat of ISIS, and the longing and expensive cyber theft by numerous countries, Asian and Eastern European.

While foreign policy is usually a hard political sell to the American people, that is not proving to be the case in 2016. At today's TheHill.com I have a piece titled "Foreign Policy and the Presidency." I will enjoy your comments on this foreign policy thought piece.

Jim Patterson
Member California State Society
Member New York State Society
Life Member American Foreign Service Association

Note; Mr. Patterson, a contributor to TheHill.com, is a Life Member of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), Diplomatic and Consular Officers Reserve (DACOR), Friend of the Israeli Defense Forces (FDIF), the Bacon House Foundation, California State Society, Helen Keller International, New York State Society, Life Member Associates of Vietnam Veterans of America, and Associate Member Korean War Veterans Association. He resides in Washington DC and New York. jepdiplomat@gmail.com