HOUSTON ASIS CHAPTER MINUTES

SEPTEMBER 24, 2003

The Chapter held a luncheon meeting at the Renaissance Hotel. Chairman Mike Crocker CPP presided. Seventy members and guests attended.

Opening Prayer and Pledge: Mark Steinfort

Committee Activities:

Certifications Committee: Darin Dillon CPP congratulated the 7-8 newest CPPs this year. In recognition of their accomplishment, each new CPP is invited as a guest to a luncheon. Darin is planning two Saturday “cram” prep courses in October or November. Refer to the local chapter web page for more information.

Treasurer’s Report: Copies of the treasurer’s report were distributed.

Annual Seminar: Richard Hill announced the seminar was well attended, although slightly less than last year. We had good vendor participation and the committee appreciated the feedback from the evaluations.

Newsletter: We have approximately 9 new committee members helping Tom Hamilton prepare the first hard-copy, quarterly newsletter. They received 20 surveys with helpful guidance and are already receiving strong advertising commitment. The committee is currently developing an ad price list. There is a current contest in the works to name the newsletter. If you are interested in being involved, please contact Tom.

Foundation Dinner: Greg Walker stated several members were committed to sitting at other tables, so only half of the Houston Chapter Foundation Table seats were sold to local members. The Chapter will absorb a donation of $900.

Legislation: There is a legislation update on each table, highlighting FCRA Legislation and several other acts (S769, H.R. 1259, S994, S609).

Placement: Check out postings on our local web page.

Houses of Worship: Lewis Eakins is planning to place an article in regional church press promoting the survey program. Please check with your local church to make them aware of this free program.

Nomination Committee: Capt. Mark Curran is our Nomination Committee Chairman. The Executive Committee is meeting October 8 to develop a suggested slate of candidates. If you have an interest in participating, please contact either Mark or Mike Crocker. Nominations will be taken from the floor at the October meeting and the election will be held at the November meeting. Please note the November meeting is a week earlier (11/19) due to the holiday.

Law Enforcement Recognition Award: Introduced by Mike Mallon and presented by HPD Captain Yates. Our honoree this month is HPD Officer Catheryn Y. Gardner.

In April of 2000, an anonymous caller notified Children’s Protective Services that a nineteen-month-old child who had been life-flighted to Memorial Hermann Hospital was intentionally injured. The alleged child abuse case was assigned to HPD Juvenile Division’s Officer Catheryn Gardner for investigation.

Officer Gardner contacted the hospital social worker and was informed that the child had been injected with an inordinate amount of insulin that ultimately resulted in brain damage. Coupled with the discovery of a bruise surrounding a needle mark, Officer Garner filed charges of Injury-to-a-Child against the mother. Upon further investigation, the officer learned that the mother had several children who she repeatedly took to area hospitals. During one of her children’s hospital stays, a nurse found that caffeine had been put in the child’s intravenous tube. Officer Gardner thus recognized signs of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a condition whereupon a parent continually takes a child to a doctor or hospital to gain attention. Officer Gardner also discovered that one of the siblings had died in 1993, but when she checked with the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office, the cause of death was listed as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

In her determination to pursue justice, Officer Gardner traveled on her own time to San Antonio, Texas, to garner additional information and support. She then contacted an attorney successful in prosecuting Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy cases to guide her efforts in having the autopsy reexamined. In May of 2002, the body was exhumed and another autopsy was performed. As a result of the new information, the child’s death was ruled as a homicide. Since that time, the mother has been indicted for murder.

Because of Officer Gardner’s determination, thoroughness and dedication to the welfare of children, two other siblings will be protected from possible harm by their mother’s hand.

Officer Gardner was presented with a plaque in appreciation for her professional commitment and outstanding service to the community.

Speaker: Neal Adams, CPP, Oil Industry Expert

Neal Adams’ expertise in the oil industry as a firefighter, blowout control specialist, engineer and consultant makes him one of the most influential voices on terrorism in the oilfield. Mr. Adams has traveled to and worked in 35 countries including all the oil producing regions. He was instrumental in extinguishing the fire set by Saddam Hussein in the Kuwaiti oil fields. To show their appreciation, the Kuwaiti kingdom presented Mr. Adams with a plaque. He has previously held top-secret clearance with the CIA consulting on the Russian oil economy and its relationship to military issues. He recently published a book called Terrorism & Oil, which takes an in-depth look at the oil industry’s vulnerabilities to terrorism. More information on the book can be found at http://www.terrorismandoil.net/pages/summary.html.

After starting as a firefighter and progressing to a blowout control specialist, Mr. Adams found himself frequently traveling to Third World countries responding to terror and finding very little safety. He found no security for most considerations, which prompted him to write the book as a guide to oil executives.

The first segment of his presentation was on Education. Why Oil Terrorism? Because our life style is based on oil: gasoline, air fuel, natural gas, medical supplies, rubber, soft drinks, CD’s, elastic, toothpaste, shoes, computers, heart monitoring equipment, water hoses and on and on.

How do you define terrorism? His definition is a little broader than the dictionary terminology: “anything that causes fear; a boundary-less means to frighten”.

From a historical perspective, terrorism has gone on for thousands of years. Now we have a new chapter, that of copycat terrorism. Overseas, the oil industry is a common target and the complexity of the attacks is increasing. Kidnappings, damage to wellheads, and blowing up of pipelines are becoming regular occurrences. Mr. Neal posed this thought: what if Hussein had captured Saudi Arabia in 1991 and their oil was under Iraq’s control? Saudi Arabia produces almost 20 million barrels of oil a day to meet the world’s demand of 80 million barrels. The mechanics of oil supply [well; to the pump station; to land or water transportation; to the refinery; to the end use markets] provide many vulnerable points. Oil reserves are stored in leached salt domes as a hedge against a disrupted market, but it is a panacea. There are approximately 600 million gallons stored in the U.S., but at a use of 20 million barrels a day, it would be depleted quickly. In addition, only 4 million barrels a day can be effectively removed.

Mr. Neal showed a map demonstrating the oil distribution traffic routes. Of approximately 1300 routes, almost 900 come from the Middle East. The oil embargoes have shifted our dependence to the South America, Mexican and Canadian markets. We provide half of our own supply needs, whereas Japan is 100% dependent on Mid-eastern imports.

Of the 23-24 million barrels used per day in America, 12.1 are used for transportation, 4.9 are for industrial purposes, 1.2 for residential/commercial use and 0.4 for electricity/utilities. The world, itself, has a “chemical addition” to oil, yet we are not acknowledging the extent of the security and safety issues. Oil is a weapon. We have had six disruptions in the last 32 years. Each disruption creates unemployment, or lack of developing employment. Thirty-five million jobs were lost in the last 30 years due to these disruptions. Mr. Neal pointed out four predominant choke points that are soft targets in oil transportation routes and there have been several terrorist attacks in those areas.

Section two of the presentation was focused on action. The first point was the need for U.S. exploration. In 1955, when President Eisenhower protected the northern Alaskan territory from exploration and development, we were exporting twice as much oil, so there was little need to develop the area. Now, the need is there and wildlife is actually dying from overpopulation.

Oil companies must develop better general risk and exposure assessments. There must be boundaries and checklists, a scoring system, with trained assessors from different backgrounds. Mr. Neal called upon ASIS International to aggressively educate themselves and then, the oil industry, to diminish these vulnerabilities.

Mr. Neal was awarded a plaque in appreciation of his time and presentation. In addition, Keith Budd with AIM Investors generously donated a travel bag for our speaker.

Our next meeting will be October 29, 2003.