MELE Associates, Inc - Security Programs

The mission of the MELE Associates Security Programs Division is to help Federal, state, and local agencies prepare for terrorism and other security threats.  MELE Associates help to reduce threats posed by potential attacks by using sound strategies and technical solutions for early detection, protection and effective responses.  Our services help reduce the risk from attackers engaged in strategic information warfare waged over the Internet, or security penetration through conventional means by attackers who are intent on mass casualty attacks or attackers using weapons of mass destruction.  To manage and reduce risk, MELE multidisciplinary experts use threat and risk-assessment techniques and practices to identify and evaluate:

• Threats
• Asset criticality
• Vulnerabilities
• Countermeasures

• Assessing, designing and installing integrated radiation detection and threat reduction systems
• Designing, calibrating and maintaining counter measures equipment for detection of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
• Port-to-Port and other secure encryption software
• Next generation smart card technologies

• Attacks on critical infrastructure
• Strategic information warfare (SIW, i.e., cyberterrorism)
• Mass casualty attacks (MCA)
• Nuclear, biological, chemical attack (NBC)
  • Potential use of various weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
  • Spread of infectious diseases
  • Use of fatal toxins

SIW (Strategic Information Warfare): Both public and private information systems supporting essential services throughout society, corporate America, and our national defense are built upon a highly vulnerable foundation of information networks. The nation’s health system, economy, transportation, and defense network are all exposed to potentially serious or fatal compromise by an SIW attack. Since it is likely that information warfare will increase exponentially in the near future, and since America’s strategic information dominance is essential to its protection against SIW attacks, our Nation’s approach to information security must advance and coordinate rapidly to overcome inherent disadvantages to operating networks in a free and pluralistic society.

MELE Associates has a successful track record in protecting critical infrastructure from SIW attacks. For example, as prime contractor, MELE provided expertise to the Office of the Secretary of Defense in research and development for establishing and maintaining a secure environment for the C3I (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) IT resources at DOD. Specific areas of expertise provided included intrusion prevention systems, thin-client configurations for classified networks, and secure IT environments.

NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical): Other attacks can lead to mass disruption of critical infrastructure, involve the use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, and have serious implications for both the domestic and global economies. Terrorists could also attempt to compromise the integrity or delivery of water or electricity to our citizens, compromise the safety of the traveling public, and undermine the soundness of government and commercial data systems supporting many activities.

Through a cooperative effort with the Department of Energy, the Government of Lithuania and our security manufacturing partners, the MELE Team has designed, installed and maintains a networked security system to reduce the risk of nuclear material slipping through the Vilnius International Airport into major transportation hubs that lead to the United States as well as reduce the risk of an incident at the Vilnius Airport. The MELE Team installed radiation (RAD) detectors, surveillance equipment, data management/analysis software, and networking/communications equipment. Both DOE and the Lithuanian government have accepted the system as an excellent tool that improves security and reduces the risk of illicit nuclear material transiting the Vilnius Airport. This totally integrated system is the only one of its kind in the world today.

MCA (Mass Casualty Attacks): While much has been written about weapons of mass destruction and nuclear-biological-chemical attacks, other emerging threats can produce mass casualties. Both the Oklahoma bombing and September 11 were mass casualty attacks that did not require the use of sophisticated technology, WMD or biological agents.

MELE Associates has successfully installed a wide range of sophisticated surveillance, communications and detection equipment tailored to meet specific security needs for clients from former Soviet Union nations to the National Gallery of Art.

ROAR (Risk Omission, Aversion, Response): Omit or eliminate unnecessary risks, avert or avoid risks incurred, and plan response to risks that obtain.

Threat and risk assessments are widely recognized as valid decision support tools to establish and prioritize security program requirements. A threat analysis, the first step in determining risk, identifies and evaluates each threat on the basis of various factors, such as its capability and intent to attack an asset, the likelihood of a successful attack, and its lethality. Risk management is a deliberate process of understanding “risk”—the likelihood that a threat will harm an asset with some severity of consequences—and deciding on and implementing actions to reduce it. Risk management principles acknowledge that:

• Risk can be reduced by enhancing protection from validated and credible threats;
• Although many threats are possible, some are more likely to occur than others;
• All assets are not equally critical.

MCA (Mass Casualty Attacks): While much has been written about weapons of mass destruction and nuclear-biological-chemical attacks, other emerging threats can produce mass casualties. Both the Oklahoma bombing and September 11 were mass casualty attacks that did not require the use of sophisticated technology, WMD or biological agents.

MELE Associates has successfully installed a wide range of sophisticated surveillance, communications and detection equipment tailored to meet specific security needs for clients from former Soviet Union nations to the National Gallery of Art.

ROAR (Risk Omission, Aversion, Response): Omit or eliminate unnecessary risks, avert or avoid risks incurred, and plan response to risks that obtain.

Threat and risk assessments are widely recognized as valid decision support tools to establish and prioritize security program requirements. A threat analysis, the first step in determining risk, identifies and evaluates each threat on the basis of various factors, such as its capability and intent to attack an asset, the likelihood of a successful attack, and its lethality. Risk management is a deliberate process of understanding “risk”—the likelihood that a threat will harm an asset with some severity of consequences—and deciding on and implementing actions to reduce it. Risk management principles acknowledge that:

• Risk can be reduced by enhancing protection from validated and credible threats;
• Although many threats are possible, some are more likely to occur than others;
• All assets are not equally critical.

MCA (Mass Casualty Attacks): While much has been written about weapons of mass destruction and nuclear-biological-chemical attacks, other emerging threats can produce mass casualties. Both the Oklahoma bombing and September 11 were mass casualty attacks that did not require the use of sophisticated technology, WMD or biological agents.

MELE Associates has successfully installed a wide range of sophisticated surveillance, communications and detection equipment tailored to meet specific security needs for clients from former Soviet Union nations to the National Gallery of Art.

ROAR (Risk Omission, Aversion, Response): Omit or eliminate unnecessary risks, avert or avoid risks incurred, and plan response to risks that obtain.

Threat and risk assessments are widely recognized as valid decision support tools to establish and prioritize security program requirements. A threat analysis, the first step in determining risk, identifies and evaluates each threat on the basis of various factors, such as its capability and intent to attack an asset, the likelihood of a successful attack, and its lethality. Risk management is a deliberate process of understanding “risk”—the likelihood that a threat will harm an asset with some severity of consequences—and deciding on and implementing actions to reduce it. Risk management principles acknowledge that:

• Risk can be reduced by enhancing protection from validated and credible threats;
• Although many threats are possible, some are more likely to occur than others;
• All assets are not equally critical.

Source URL: http://www.meleassociates.com/c/356/security-programs-NBC-MCA-threat-reduction-risk