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911 emergency personnel from Saudi Arabia boost their skills at USF Sarasota-Manatee
Sixteen first responders from Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, recently celebrated the completion of a University of South Florida Corporate Training Security Training Collaborative certificate program on Dec. 13 at USF Sarasota-Manatee, where they learned ways to improve their crisis response capabilities. These participants work at Aramco’s compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which is home to about 400,000 Aramco employees and their families.
This training initiative was prompted by the 2019 drone and missile attacks on the Aramco oil fields, which disrupted 5% of the global oil supply. USF Corporate Training partner, Security Management International, has maintained a longstanding relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, playing a pivotal role in facilitating the collaboration with Aramco. It marked the first training session conducted by USF for the Aramco Industrial Security Operations Academy.
Recognizing the significance of this initiative, USF President Rhea Law visited the participants during their two-week program. The curriculum focused on crisis response and emergency preparedness, covering a wide range of critical topics. Twenty subject matter experts from national security, law enforcement, and emergency management delivered sessions on areas such as active shooter incidents, crisis communications, managing drone threats, hostage negotiations, operational stress, de-escalation techniques, and incident command, among others. Notable speakers, including soft target expert and astronaut-in-training Dr. Jennifer Hesterman (U.S. Air Force retired); Katie M. Hill, the FBI’s Supervisor Special Agent in Tampa; and former undercover operative and NBA referee Bob Delaney, provided valuable insights to the participants.
“This was an incredible team effort,” said SMI Managing Director and USF Corporate Training Lead Instructor Luke Bencie. “We had six local law enforcement and fire department agencies, the Tampa and Orlando FBI Field Offices, two Emergency Operations Centers/ Dispatch Call Centers, and U.S. Congressman Greg Steube’s office. None of this would have been possible without the leadership of Vice Provost and Regional Vice Chancellor of USF Sarasota-Manatee Dr. Brett Kemker, and Mark Koulianos and Jay Riley, of the USF Office of Corporate Training and Professional Education.”
The USF Network Saudi Arabia has over 650 alumni and 118 currently enrolled students. Over 40 USF alumni currently work at Aramco. Since 2017, 37 faculty members have engaged in research, business, and/or creative endeavors in Saudi Arabia. Five USF students have studied abroad in Saudi Arabia since 2013.
SMI Speaks About Strategy at OSAC Middle East Conference
SMI Managing Director, Luke Bencie, spoke about security strategy at the US Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Conference (OSAC) at the Hilton Dead Sea Resort in Jordan. The conference brought together delegates from 21 countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
SMI Hosts CARVER Course Following Hurricane Milton
SMI recently completed its final CARVER Target Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Training Course of 2024. Held at the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus, the class was comprised of students from Bezos Academy, Ohio Department of Homeland Security, as well as private sector consultants. Because of the recent damage inflicted upon Florida – particularly St. Pete - a week earlier from Hurricane Milton, it was a smaller than usual class. However, for those who did attend, it was a challenging and productive three days of security assessments and strategic decision making. Congratulations to all those who earned their Certified CARVER Assessment Professional (CCAP) designation.
SMI Hosts CARVER Course Following Hurricane Milton
SMI recently completed its final CARVER Target Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Training Course of 2024. Held at the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus, the class was comprised of students from Bezos Academy, Ohio Department of Homeland Security, as well as private sector consultants. Because of the recent damage inflicted upon Florida – particularly St. Pete - a week earlier from Hurricane Milton, it was a smaller than usual class. However, for those who did attend, it was a challenging and productive three days of security assessments and strategic decision making. Congratulations to all those who earned their Certified CARVER Assessment Professional (CCAP) designation.
SMI Nominated for Security Consultancy of the Year
SMI is proud to announce that for the third time in 14 years, we have been nominated as Security Consultancy of the Year by the Security and Fire Excellence Awards in London. SMI Managing Partner, Sarah Bencie, had this to say about the prestigious consideration, “This nomination reflects our outstanding SMI associates. Without them and their daily contributions, there is no award… in fact, without them there is no SMI either.”
Luke Bencie Interviewed on “Beyond the Blog” Podcast
SMI Managing Director, Luke Bencie, was interviewed by host Kiarra Louis on the “Beyond the Blog” podcast. As the keynote speaker for the October 15, 2024, Patterson Foundation Dinner, which hosts the Suncoast Connect Technology Symposium, Luke will be discussing The CARVER Mindset: How to Think Like a Spy. The mission of the Patterson Foundation is to strengthen the efforts of people, organizations, and communities by focusing on issues that address common aspirations, foster wide participation, and encourage learning and sharing. On the podcast, Luke explained how he has personally seen the importance of spreading access to technology on the continent of Africa, among other places, and why it can become a geopolitical advantage.
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SMI Managing Partner, Sarah Bencie, Interviews “The Godfather of CARVER” in Vegas
This past week, SMI Managing Partner, Sarah Bencie sat down with co-creator of the CIA’s CARVER Target Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology, Leo Labaj, in Las Vegas to discuss the origins of this time-tested security tool.
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SMI Managing Director, Luke Bencie, Moderates Security Panel in KSA
SMI Managing Director, Luke Bencie recently moderated a panel discussion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for The Security Middle East Conference entitled “Preparing Security Professionals for Major Events and Increased Tourism in Saudi Arabia.”
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SMI Trains Multiple Agencies in Vancouver in Preparation for FIFA World Cup
The SMI training team recently returned from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where they trained four different law enforcement/transportation agencies in the CARVER Target Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology. As CARVER was used to assess previous World Cup events, the Canadian government recognized its value for the next FIFA tournament.
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SMI Attends USF Ribbon Cutting
SMI Managing Partner, Sarah Bencie, and SMI Managing Director, Luke Bencie, recently attended the ribbon cutting of the new dorms located on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus. This will allow students from those dorms to work close to the SMI offices located at the USF Research Annex.
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SMI Trains Multiple Agencies in Vancouver in Preparation for FIFA World Cup
SMI’s Managing Partner, Sarah Bencie, recently sat down to shoot a new corporate video to promote the University of South Florida’s Security Training Collaborative (STC). The STC is a public/private partnership between USF and SMI – envisioned by Ms. Bencie – to provide students with a “Washington DC experience.”Â