Future of Financial Crime Speaker Series

We invite you to join us for the next program from the Future of Financial Crime speaker series, “The Missing Link:  Relevance of the private, state and local sectors to our homeland security.”   Most Americans are familiar with at least some of the key players in the “alphabet soup of agencies” dealing with the global war on terrorism. But the homeland security enterprise has always been viewed by our country’s policymakers as a national effort – not solely federal -- and there are some key components that remain missing in action more than 12 years after 9/11.  The program will focus on partnerships with state, local and tribal levels of American government, as well as the private sector and explore success stories of these sectors in the domestic security arena, but also explain why they remain “the missing link” in homeland security.

The federal government defines homeland security as: "a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur."[1]   The key part of this definition is "concerted national effort" which means it's not solely a federal effort, but based on the principle of partnership between governments, the private sector, and the American people.  The creation of the Department of Homeland Security was one of the most significant transformations in our government’s approach to terrorism.  However, there are still challenges in taking on enemies who fight in asymmetric ways with no regard for constitutional safeguards.  Without new models, theories, and laws, law enforcement will not be up to the task of helping to collect, share, coordinate, and analyze the intelligence necessary to successfully assess and respond to modern-day threats. 

In August 2005, President George W. Bush appointed Charles Allen, to the dual role of Assistant Secretary for Information Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security as well as the DHS Chief of Intelligence.  In Effective 2007, Charles Allen's position was elevated to Under Secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at DHS, an office he held until January 20, 2009. Prior to his appointment to DHS, Allen served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and served with the CIA since 1958.

Chet Lunner’s career spans several Senior Executive Service postings with Transportation Security Administration and DHS Headquarters, and has served as a senior advisor to one Member of Congress and three Cabinet secretaries, before retiring from the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis in 2010.  Throughout his federal career, Lunner has been an advocate of full partnerships with the state, local and tribal levels of American government, as well as the private sector.