Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
THE AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH OVERSEAS SECURITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (OSAC)
March 22, 2007
It’s an honor to be here today for this meeting of the Buenos Aires Overseas Security Advisory Committee, along with my colleagues from the AMCHAM and Government of Argentina.
In 1985, Secretary of State George Shultz, recognized the growing threat that international terrorism posed to our government and to Americans living and working abroad. Secretary Shultz thought that our nation needed a dynamic forum for sharing ideas and information on security among our public and private sectors, so he created the Overseas Security Advisory Council, or OSAC, as we know it.
Today, after 22 years in business, the OSAC partnership encompasses 12 federal agencies and over 3,000 private groups, from the business and academic communities to nongovernmental and faith-based organizations.
OSAC’s primary outreach initiative is the “country council” program. This in-country program provides a forum for implementing the overseas portion of the OSAC security information sharing concept to assist the private sector.
With 106 Country Councils attached to U.S. embassies and consulates in over 90 nations, OSAC is the very ideal of a successful public-private partnership and it is helping to keep Americans as well as other nationalities safe all across the globe.
As most you already know, the Buenos Ares Country Council is one of the oldest and most active councils in OSAC. Designed to be an information sharing platform between the embassy and the private sector, the council continues to provide a forum to promote cooperation regarding security issues and regional threats of mutual concern.
The council is rapidly growing and has recently partnered with the AMCHAM to better coordinate its efforts with the AMCHAM security committee. Since we share the same basic membership and fundamental goals, it is my desire that the two organizations work together on shared issues in a combined effort whenever possible.
Continuing its outreach initiatives, the Buenos Aires Council has also opened its membership to local and third county national business with mutual or shared security concerns. It is now expanding to encompass more NGOs, faith based and educational organizations.
The next step involves better cooperation and enhanced coordination with our host nation partners. I’m delighted to see the Luis Tibilleti, the Secretary of Interior Security here today and I hope this is the beginning of a new strategic partnership between OSAC and the Government of Argentina.
So, after more than 15 years, the BA council appears stronger than ever. It is bigger than ever, and your mission is more important and more central than ever.
I’m know that your work in Argentina is challenging but it is essential to the wellbeing and safety of our private sector constituents. On behalf of the Embassy, I want to thank you for your commitment to security and for the cooperation that you provide in coordinating on this important issue through this organization, the OSAC.