The business of security ? and security in business

• By Nick Wakeman
• Jul 07, 2006

For any frequent user of public transportation, the bombings in London in July 2005 were the stuff of nightmares. You get on a train with a few hundred strangers, and you're sent hurtling through dark tunnels. In the aftermath of the London incidents, even a routine delay or breakdown on a subway causes a prickle of anxiety.

Alice Lipowicz's cover story this issue explores what has happened here and in London since those bombings, and how the incidents have ? or haven't ? fueled government spending.
As expected, a call to arms sounded after the bombings, but rail and public transit systems remain the poor country cousins of security spending on air transportation and border controls.

But that doesn't mean that there has been no activity. New York, for example, is enhancing security on its ubiquitous subway system, spending $212 million to install intelligent video cameras.

London had its own extensive system of cameras and, although they didn't prevent the attacks, in the aftermath they were instrumental in helping to identify and track suspects.

Cameras, no matter how smart, are not the sole answer. Facial recognition, explosive device detection and other technologies will play a growing security role.

Also in this issue, Ethan Butterfield examines mentor-protégé relationships. What he found is that, yes, they can be lucrative opportunities for some small businesses, but it's not a faucet with hot and cold running business opportunities. It's a relationship. And both sides of that relationship need to manage expectations and communicate. Butterfield's story explores some of the warning signs of a good relationship gone bad.

Some of the advice can be stated simply: Talk to each other, for example. But, like any relationship, some things are easier said then done.

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