Press Releases 2008
February 6, 2008
AN INNOVATIVE THINKER HELPS U.S. PRIVATE SECTOR IN INDIA
George Lambert Awarded by OSAC
By Marcy Mason, Diplomatic Security Public Affairs
Shortly after George Lambert became the Senior Regional Security Officer (RSO) in India, he realized that the Overseas Security Advisory Council's (OSAC) Country Council Program in New Delhi needed some retooling. The program, which was formed in 1995, had initially been very effective in helping American businesses and organizations deal with security issues in India.
But, as Lambert noticed, much had changed since that time. The economic relationship between the United States and India had shifted dramatically, and a steady stream of American businesses were pouring into the country daily to set-up shop. While New Delhi was still the nation's political capital, the corporate sector had spread to other cities throughout the country.
"Rather than trying to mirror the OSAC program along political lines, we wanted to make sure that we adequately represented corporate interests throughout India," said Lambert, who came up with the idea of restructuring India's country council and creating regional subchapters. Lambert's concept and his other efforts to help protect American assets overseas were so appreciated that he was chosen by the private sector to receive the OSAC Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes the exceptional performance of a U.S. government employee.
An Active Country Council
Even before it was restructured, the OSAC India country council was somewhat unusual. It was much larger in size than most country councils with nearly 380 members, and its constituency spread across India rather than being concentrated near a specific city. It also was an extremely active council. "I've been at posts where it's hard to get businesses to participate with OSAC," said Lambert. "It was viewed as more of a chore than a resource or an asset. But in India, the members are very, very interested."
However, Lambert couldn't help but notice that not every company was participating. "It was apparent that a lot of Fortune 100 companies weren't represented," he said. "There was a bit of an intimidation factor. In India, there's a hierarchy to everything, and there was an informal hierarchy for OSAC India."
To encourage more widespread representation among the country council's membership, Lambert replaced India's former council, which was based in New Delhi, with six regional sub-chapters. The sub-chapters, all equally weighted in terms of authority, are located in cities where American businesses are clustered, including Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. Each of the sub-chapters is co-chaired by one of India's three RSOs and two member companies that have a presence in the region. Companies can participate in all six regional sub-chapters if they have business dealings in the area, but they can only have a leadership role or serve as a co-chair in one of the six sub-chapter councils. In this way, no one company can dominate India's country council.
The new structure also encouraged more companies to step up to the plate. "It has provided a mechanism for people who previously didn't participate," said Lambert. "It gave them an opportunity to come forward with ideas and share the best information that could help other companies." Likewise, the new structure has promoted flexibility and adaptability for the various regions. "Now, instead of waiting for the newest and brightest ideas to come out of New Delhi," explained Lambert, "Chennai, Mumbai, and all of the other regional sub-chapters are able to design programs tailored to their individual needs. The issues important in Bangalore might not be the same issues that are important in Mumbai."
Similarly, the restructuring has helped to make the regional sub-chapter meetings more topical. "Rather than just meeting on the first Tuesday of every month, our OSAC meetings are driven by issues that focus on critical trends," said Lambert. "For example, India is one of the top five countries where kidnapping is a serious concern, so we held a seminar on the subject." Other topics that have been explored include soft target protection, cyber crime, terrorism, fraud, due diligence, and combating Avian Influenza.
Guiding the Private Sector
But Lambert's efforts went far beyond restructuring the OSAC country council. The RSO also guided American companies in dealing with the unique sensitivities of Indian law enforcement. As Lambert soon discovered, India is a culturally complex country with many extremes. Not only is India one of the world's largest and most densely populated nations, it also is one of the most diverse in terms of religion, language, and distribution of wealth. The way business is conducted in one area of the country is entirely different from the way it is conducted in another, which makes it unpredictable and rather confusing for American businesses.
"Just because a company has facilities in Spain, Bulgaria, or Tunisia doesn't mean that its management will know how to do business in India," said Lambert. "A lot of times things that work in other countries might not work in India because of the cultural and political set-up."
For example, in most countries, when the RSO helps an American company with the local police or government, it facilitates the process. But in India, the opposite can be true. When the RSO becomes involved, communication with local law enforcement may be restricted due to protocol considerations and frank informal discussions are often not possible. "In many cases American companies have far more access to the Indian law enforcement community because they aren't representing a government," explained Lambert, who encourages companies to develop direct relations with the police. "They can walk into a police official's office and speak about anything they want without being concerned about protocol restrictions."
But at the same time, Lambert realized that most Americans didn't have a good understanding of the security risks in India. "When you ask most Americans about India, they think of call centers, the Taj Mahal, yoga, and good food. No one focuses on the fact that on any given day a dozen people may be killed by some sort of terrorist act," he said.
And the dangers are very real. According to the Times of India, one of the country's largest and most respected newspapers, since 2004, India has lost more lives to terrorist incidents than North America, South America, Central America, Europe and Eurasia combined. From January 2004 to March 2007, there were 3,674 deaths due to terrorist incidents reported in India. Only Iraq was cited as having more.
Positive Results
Lambert's guidance has been effective. For instance, last year, he helped an American, high-tech firm obtain the safe return of its most senior executive in India's child who had been kidnapped. OSAC's research analyst for the region based in Washington-D.C. had heard about the incident and contacted the company. The analyst told the firm's security director how to contact Lambert so the company could work directly with the RSO.
Lambert worked closely with the company's senior management, advising them on law enforcement practices that are unique to India and interpreting what was happening and why. "They would talk to the Indian police and then they would come back to me and say, 'This is what the police said. What do you think?'" said Lambert. "I would then relay my thoughts on the direction the case was heading,"
Taking this approach allowed the firm to anticipate what to expect so that it could better analyze the situation to plan its next steps. "If you know the way things work, you're going to be able to project two to three steps ahead rather than let the events of the situation drive you," he said, noting that the case had a positive outcome and that the child had been returned unharmed.
Another initiative spearheaded by Lambert that fostered better cooperation between U.S. businesses and the local police was the formation of a Cyber City Committee in Hyderabad, where many high-tech American firms have facilities. Rather than companies approaching the police individually, the committee approached the Indian police as a corporate American entity. "They're educating and sensitizing the police to the importance of protecting them," explained Lambert. "If a terrorist act occurs at an American company in India, the ripple effect could have a significant impact on other American companies that are considering establishing or expanding a footprint in India."
By working collectively, the Cyber City Committee has made inroads with local law enforcement. "The police have become far more responsive. They're now cooperating closely with investigations and providing increased coverage during times of threat," said Lambert, who is working to establish similar committees throughout the country council's other regional sub-chapters.
Recognizing Exceptional Service
The OSAC Distinguished Achievement Award was established by the private sector in 2004. It is separate and distinct from any U.S. government or State Department award programs. The award recognizes the exceptional performance by a U.S. government employee who has made a significant contribution to enhancing the ability of the American private sector to better protect personnel, assets, information, intellectual property, and business operations overseas.
"The private sector realizes that the State Department does a myriad of things for our companies and security directors overseas," said Mark Cheviron, OSAC's co-chairman from the private sector and the Corporate Vice President for Security and Services of Archer Daniels Midland Company. "We want to recognize not only the person who wins the award, but all of the people who are nominated. They've gone over and above what's expected of them to help us in the private sector so that we can reach our goals. It's important that the actions of these individuals come forward and are applauded."
Other nominees for the 2007 OSAC Distinguished Achievement Award include Mark Hunter, RSO Mexico City; Gentry Smith, RSO Tokyo; Colin Bucknor, RSO Chennai; Kevin Whitson, RSO Surabaya; John Krajicek, RSO Tripoli, Robert Myers, RSO Lagos; Mary Hackman, Regional Coordinator Middle East and North Africa; Chris Medeiros, Regional Coordinator East Asia Pacific; Elena Carrington, Regional Coordinator Western Europe; and Lauren D'Amore, Regional Coordinator, Sub-Sahara Africa.
For Lambert, who was promoted in December to the rank of Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service, winning the OSAC Distinguished Achievement Award is very complimentary. "As an RSO, these are my customers and for my customers to say that I'm putting out a good product and meeting their requirements, there's no better compliment than that. It just reaffirmed that the whole program was giving the private sector what it needed to operate in India and that we were on target."