Security summit attracts key players

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser staff writer

The head of security for China's Olympics is coming. So is a former CIA director. Ten Asian ambassadors to the United States will be there. And so will Earl Nishikawa, fire chief and facility security coordinator for Chevron Hawaii.

"We can learn from them, and they can learn from us," said Maj. Gen. Robert Lee.

Just as importantly, though, the meeting will be an opportunity for local officials, struggling to understand and comply with new anti-terrorism challenges and regulations, to find out how the rest of the world is coping with the same issues.

"From a local perspective, we're going to get a lot of information from people in the Mainland and our Asian-Pacific neighbors," said Nishikawa. "There's a lot of new technology out there, as well as procedural improvements being made. We'll see some of the common problems we're facing and, maybe, find out that someone has a better way of doing things."

The summit, which grew out of local concerns about security, will bring together almost 300 government, military, business and academic leaders from the United States and the Pacific Rim for three days of discussion on how to meet new security challenges.

It's also an opportunity for Hawai'i to show the rest of the world how new security standards can be imposed in a way that doesn't have to damage respect for individuals and cultures.

"We can learn from them, and they can learn from us," said Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state adjutant general. "We're tied in to the Pacific and there may be opportunities to start our defenses out on the perimeter rather than at Honolulu airport or Honolulu Harbor."

A second goal of the conference is to show other nations Hawai'i's security capabilities and potential as a training center, Lee added.

"We have some of the top people in the country, we ought to be able to show others what we use and can do," Lee said.

The idea for the three-day conference, running Wednesday through Friday, began with small-scale, local discussions initiated by the state Office of Civil Defense, said Stephen Lum, a spokesman for the state Department of Defense.

"We've done things like this before with federal officials and private businesses, but not on this scale," Lum said. "As the discussions kept widening, it grew into something that reached all around the world."

Individuals committed to participating include James Woolsey, the former CIA director who is now in the private security business, and Ji Lin, the adviser on public security for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The ambassadors from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam also are scheduled to attend.

The topics open for discussion include port security, bioterrorism, balancing the need for security with the free movement of people and how to pay for it all.

Some of the workshops also will have a distinctly Hawaiian flavor. The session on bioterrorism, for instance, will be led by two University of Hawai'i medical school professors with years of experience in tropical diseases. There also will be field trips to some Hawai'i businesses who have improved security since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Organizers also hope the summit, sponsored in part by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, will be an opportunity for local and other business people to explore opportunities for joint ventures, outsourcing and other business enterprises.

Another feature of the conference will be a sold-out exhibition area, where more than 30 businesses and organizations, eager to show off their success and wares, have reserved space.

"It should be an opportunity to see some of the cool new toys that are out there on the market," Lum said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.