NCJ Number
107841
Journal
Security Volume: 24 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1987) Pages: 63-67
Date Published
1987
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), established by the U.S. State Department in 1985 in response to escalating terrorism and increasing United States business activity abroad, addresses overseas security issues of mutual concern to the public and private sectors.
Abstract
As a deliberative advisory body, the OSAC does not issue terrorist alerts or warnings, but provides advice on protective security developments and planning and implementation for security programs. A State Department representative chairs the 25 charter companies and 5 Federal agencies that compose the OSAC, and the State Department evaluates and implements OSAC recommendations. Council members are corporate officials with extensive security experience. Companies become members upon invitation from the State Department to their chief executive officers. Key initial recommendations being implemented by the State Department include establishment of a special unit within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to serve as a security liaison between the State Department and the private sector; creation and dissemination of crisis management guidelines to help businesses deal with terrorist activity, and creation of an electronic bulletin board containing unclassified names and phone numbers of key diplomatic agents and summaries of recent terrorist activities available to anyone with a phone, computer, and connecting modem. The OSAC also serves many smaller enterprises with assets abroad and encourages input from the entire business spectrum.