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Finding Your Model
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By John McCumber
Security Technology & Design
Being in the security business provides you an interesting view of the world. Recently, my wife purchased a piece of art for a bathroom we remodeled. It was a reproduction of a 16th century van Utens painting of the Villa Marignolle, a country manor outside Florence built for the Medicis. As I gaze at the beautiful painting, I realize it is actually a design plan and a model representation of the physical security attributes of the famous estate.
The painting clearly shows the outside perimeter of the property that includes a large gate set into a high protective fence. An access road runs along the outside of the property to provide controlled access to outbuildings for tradesmen and deliveries. A stone enclosure surrounds an inner courtyard near the house so children in-residence can be monitored from the house proper. Decorative iron grates shield windows on the ground floor.
I shared my observations with my wife, who immediately labeled me a lousy art critic. I explained that the note that came with the painting stated it was originally commissioned by the family to help them envision the completed structure and design for the surrounding gardens. The Flemish painter was going by the descriptions of the architect, the brilliant engineer and artist Bernardo Buontalenti, to render the home before it was completed. It was obvious the issue of security was central to planning the estate for this wealthy and powerful family.
Throughout recorded history, the most effective model for planning and implementing physical security has been some form of representation of the property-a blueprint or even a scale model. I've read about a beautiful model of China's Forbidden City that was used by the former emperor's security detail to assign posts to guards. By using these models, architects, designers and security professionals are able to look for potential vulnerabilities and plan appropriate security safeguards.
Architects and engineers still use models today. Take a look at the myriad changes taking place on the Mall in Washington, DC and around the White House. You can bet the engineers are using blueprints that were drafted with security as a primary component.
Other security disciplines require the use of models as well, although they may not be blueprints or 1/32 scale buildings. For example, those of you who work in personnel security also apply a model-I call it the trust model-whereby you seek to ascertain a person's level of trust. Security is not an either/or proposition, it is a matter of degree. The same is true for the trust model in personnel security. The amount of trust an organization places in someone is plotted along a scale whose endpoints are "absolutely" and "not at all." The nature of the organization's information and mission, as well as the individual's role within the organization, will help set the required standard.
When I was selected as a military officer to work at one of those three-letter agencies near Washington, DC, the first hurdle I needed to surmount involved personnel security. Because of the nature of the work, this organization treated personnel security very seriously, and the trust model trended toward the absolute end of the scale.
