Forward Vision
Security Blanket
By Robin Hayden

The year is 1951, during the throes of the Cold War. Because no spot on earth is considered neutral, Klaatu, a member of an advanced extraterrestrial race, is unable to get the leaders of all nations to agree to meet. He pins his hopes on a hastily assembled, multi-disciplinary group of the world’s greatest humanitarian and scientific minds. His message: Play nice, or your planet is toast.

As a demonstration of superior power, he brings the activities of man to a temporary, but abrupt, halt.

Klaatu—the hero of a science fiction movie entitled “The Day the Earth Stood Still”—makes himself heard and understood for two reasons: He is an outsider and he brings with him a really big gun.

Back on earth, Enzo Bollettino opens this issue with an academic treat(ise) on security entitled “Humanitarian Intervention: Security and Sovereignty Revisited.” Under this theoretical umbrella, we offer you a triptych of articles following three sub-themes: personal security; global security; and solutions.

First, we follow one organization’s attempt to equip workers in the field with an authentic personal experience in “Where the Rubber Meets the Road: World Vison and Marine Corps Work Security Together.” Then Marc Powe relates stark facts and scopes the possibilities for containing threats to individuals in “United Nations Staff at Unprecendented Risk: Killing and Intimidation are the Order of the Day in Many Countries.”

Taking the theme globally, the United Nations plays a sizable role in providing (or not providing, as the case may be) a security umbrella to protect the process towards lasting peace. The benefits and limitations of its involvement are examined in interviews with Maj.-Gen. Frank van Kappen (ret) and Col. Peter Leentjes,* whose comments are based upon their personal experiences in the military and the United Nations’ Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Sandwiched inbetween, excerpted from presentation highlights, Leentjes seeks to answer the question, “Do Regional Organizations Have a Future in Peace Operations?”

Finally, solutions are being developed to meet security dilemmas. We first fous on a pragmatic web-based tool currently under development—Asia-Specific Information Analysis*—that may ultimately lead to a more secure world by assisting analysts in their quest to understand national-level trends. Next, a security think-tank resource to fully one-half of the globe provides education to civilian and military leaders in “The Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies.”* The last solution in this section, highlighted in The Liaison, Vol. 1, No. 2, proves its adaptability to circumstances. In “On Assignment: Earthquake in Turkey,” Mark Prutsalis shows the devastation wrought by a massive earthquake, and relates how the Combined Event Notification Technology and Unified Reporting (CENTAUR) system brings order to commodity chaos.

We offer final words to the wise in “Women on Assignment.”* (Mission planners, please take note!) These are the new basics and both genders are advised to adopt many of the recommendations contained therein.

Believe me, the editors understand the enormity of this theme! We have tried in this issue to offer you a sampling, with the understanding that we reserve the right to return at another time-perhaps when Klaatu revisits earth again. Perhaps the next time it will be because of biological weapons. Who can tell?

* The interview with Peter Leentjes will not appear in this online edition of The Liaison, as next issue will explore in depth the Center’s Education & Training Program. The other articles here marked are also omitted from this online version of The Liaison. Please click here for synopses. If you wish full text of this material, please apply for a printed edition of the publication at this link.