Protecting manufacturers’ trade secrets may become part of U.S. industrial policy, according to two speakers at ISC West’s opening breakfast and keynote address, sponsored by the California Alarm Association (CAA).

Lynn Mattice, consultant and founding member of the Security Executive Council, stressed that globalization is bringing new challenges with it.

“For the first time, the government has stated that the economic security of this nation is the No. 1 national security issue,” Mattice said. “Threats from terrorism, organized crime, intellectual property theft and weapons of mass destruction all affect our economic security. This refocus challenges American business to partner with the government to protect our economic security.”

Mattice challenged security integrators to be successful by “working with your clients. Understand their environment as well as they do. If you can provide cost-effective, scalable and flexible solutions that meet regulatory requirements, mitigate specific risk and are adaptable to changing threat environments to maximize business resiliency, you’ll hit a home run every time.”

Tom Mahlik, chief of the FBI’s counterintelligence strategy and domain section, emphasized the approach of the “new” FBI in taking action before a crime occurs instead of investigating it afterward, which had been its specialty.

“The new threats to this nation’s economic security by globalization demand that we take a more preventative and predictive approach,” Mahlik said.

To succeed in its new role, the FBI must “understand the new technologies; the important people, companies and industries involved in creating these technologies; and who it needs to work with to develop effective risk management strategies to protect them.”

Partnerships with the public and private sector are vital to the success of the FBI’s program, including relationships with SIA, ISC West and security integrators and manufacturers.