Security engineering officers provide technical security support and engineering expertise to protect U. Foreign Service posts overseas and in domestic locations. Responsibilities include working with all aspects of security systems — from design, development and analysis to installation and testing. They conduct security assessments for U. Security technical specialists provide support and assist in worldwide technical security programs which provide protection for U.
Department of State facilities and personnel from technical espionage, acts of terrorism, and crime. Their work is incredibly varied — managing projects and people, supporting dignitary travel, exploring the use of new technology, and installing, maintaining, and repairing a vast array of complex technical security equipment. With links to other watch centers, including U. More than 35, local guards protect U. The local guards patrol the grounds, inspect vehicles, visitors, and packages, and respond to alarms and requests for assistance.
Local guards are usually citizens of the host nation and managed by Regional Security Officers. Mobile Security Deployments MSD teams provide rapid tactical responses in emergency situations by deploying highly trained security personnel. These teams can deploy anywhere in the world within 24 hours to provide security support to posts under high-threat conditions and to enhance protective support for the Secretary of State and other diplomats.
Marines — on duty protecting U. The Marines protect U. DSS works in close partnership with U. DSS closely coordinates with Department of Defense geographic combatant commands, which have the ability to temporarily deploy combat-trained troops to augment security at diplomatic posts. The FACT course provides the practical skills necessary to recognize, avoid, and respond to terrorist threats.
Participants learn planning and risk management, security awareness, personal resilience, emergency medical care, personnel recovery, improvised explosive device IED awareness, self-defense, response to fire as a weapon, ballistics and attack recognition, direct and indirect weapons fire response, and counterterrorist driving.
On the final day of training, participants are involved in a three-hour reality-based culmination exercise that uses professional role players serving as host nation officials, bystanders, and attackers. The exercise ensures employees and family members can appropriately apply each of the skills they learned during the week while carrying out diplomatic functions in a high threat and high stress environment.
Approximately 1, uniformed security officers protect Department of State facilities across the United States. They patrol facilities, screen visitors and packages, and monitor communications and security systems. When emergencies occur, they are often the first responders on the scene, taking control of the situation and, if necessary, providing first aid and coordinating for follow-on assistance.
DSS uses specially trained canine security teams and their handlers to screen deliveries to State Department facilities and during special and major events, such as the United Nations General Assembly and the Arctic Summit.
RSOs manage security programs and provide the first line of defense for U. RSOs develop, implement, and manage a range of physical, cybersecurity, and personnel security programs to mitigate threats and provide safe living and working environments.
RSOs also serve as the principal law enforcement and security advisors to U. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission. DSS investigates allegations of criminal and administrative misconduct involving Department of State employees, dependents, contractors, and other U. DSS also investigates administrative and criminal cases in the United States with a connection to Department of State operations.
DSS investigators confront the dramatic increase in crimes involving computers and other electronic technologies affecting the Department of State. DSS personnel execute search warrants worldwide on electronic devices and storage media.
As the premier law enforcement and security authority within the Foreign Affairs Community, DSS executes its critical cybersecurity mission to ensure a safe digital environment for global diplomacy and the advancement of American national security interests. This involves protecting people, information, and technology assets worldwide against cyberattacks, data breaches, and information leaks.
Terrorists and trans-national criminals make wide use of bogus identities and counterfeit or stolen documents as gateways to more serious crimes, while fugitives often seek to flee overseas and evade justice. DSS investigates criminal organizations that profit by exploiting temporary foreign workers. When investigators uncover visa-crime kingpins in the United States, DSS also knocks out the source of numerous criminal visa applications at U.
These offices work closely with local, state, tribal, and federal authorities on a wide range of investigations. Special agents investigate suspicious activities and potential threats against high-profile protectees and coordinate the flow of intelligence and law enforcement information throughout an inter-agency network. DSS special agents assigned to these task forces work with state, local, and other federal law enforcement organizations to investigate individuals and organizations suspected of planning or committing terrorist acts at home and abroad.
DSS task force officers are repeatedly deployed alongside their FBI colleagues to further counterterrorism investigations throughout the world. As one of 24 U. Once entrusted, DSS works with all employees to ensure that reporting requirements are followed and security incidents are properly handled. With a focus on deterrence of issues, DSS strives to prevent any risk to Department employees, information, and facilities. The National Building Code of Canada, as an example, indicates the need to defeat external explosions with the building envelope , where they are possible, such as where large electrical transformers are located close to a building.
High-voltage transformer fire barriers can be examples of walls designed to simultaneously defeat fire, ballistics and fragmentation as a result of transformer ruptures, as well as incoming small weapons fire. Similarly, buildings may have internal barriers to defeat weapons as well as fire and heat. An example would be a counter at a police station or embassy, where the public may access a room but talk through security glass to employees in behind.
If such a barrier aligns with a fire compartment as part of building code compliance, then multiple threats must be defeated simultaneously, which must be considered in the design. An example would be decreasing the amount of dense, tall vegetation in the landscaping so that attackers cannot conceal themselves within it, or placing critical resources in areas where intruders would have to cross over a wide, open space to reach them making it likely that someone would notice them.
Security lighting is another effective form of deterrence. Intruders are less likely to enter well-lit areas for fear of being seen. Doors, gates, and other entrances, in particular, should be well lit to allow close observation of people entering and exiting. When lighting the grounds of a facility, widely distributed low-intensity lighting is generally superior to small patches of high-intensity lighting, because the latter can have a tendency to create blind spots for security personnel and CCTV cameras.
It is important to place lighting in a manner that makes it difficult to tamper with e. Alarm systems can be installed to alert security personnel when unauthorized access is attempted. Alarm systems work in tandem with physical barriers, mechanical systems, and security guards, serving to trigger a response when these other forms of security have been breached. They consist of sensors including motion sensors , contact sensors, and glass break detectors.
However, alarms are only useful if there is a prompt response when they are triggered. In the reconnaissance phase prior to an actual attack, some intruders will test the response time of security personnel to a deliberately tripped alarm system. By measuring the length of time it takes for a security team to arrive if they arrive at all , the attacker can determine if an attack could succeed before authorities arrive to neutralize the threat.
Loud audible alarms can also act as a psychological deterrent, by notifying intruders that their presence has been detected. Surveillance cameras can be a deterrent [15] when placed in highly visible locations, and are also useful for incident verification and historical analysis.
For example, if alarms are being generated and there is a camera in place, the camera could be viewed to verify the alarms. In instances when an attack has already occurred and a camera is in place at the point of attack, the recorded video can be reviewed. Although the term closed-circuit television CCTV is common, it is quickly becoming outdated as more video systems lose the closed circuit for signal transmission and are instead transmitting on IP camera networks.
Video monitoring does not necessarily guarantee that a human response is made to an intrusion. A human must be monitoring the situation in real time in order to respond in a timely manner.
Otherwise, video monitoring is simply a means to gather evidence to be analyzed at a later time. However, advances in information technology are reducing the amount of work required for video monitoring, through automated video analytics. Access control methods are used to monitor and control traffic through specific access points and areas of the secure facility. Mechanical access control systems include turnstiles, gates, doors, and locks. Key control of the locks becomes a problem with large user populations and any user turnover. Keys quickly become unmanageable, often forcing the adoption of electronic access control.
Electronic access control manages large user populations, controlling for user lifecycles times, dates, and individual access points. For example, a user's access rights could allow access from h to h Monday through Friday and expires in 90 days. The use of turnstiles also reduces the need for additional security personnel to monitor each individual entering the building allowing faster throughput.
Another form of access control procedural includes the use of policies, processes and procedures to manage the ingress into the restricted area. An example of this is the deployment of security personnel conducting checks for authorized entry at predetermined points of entry. This form of access control is usually supplemented by the earlier forms of access control i.