How will we know if the country is secure enough? The reality is that an acceptable level of risk cannot be defined. But we know that homeland security begins at home and that everyone must be involved in the process. In the end, our fight against terrorism will be won one home, one company, and one community at a time.
Tom Ridge, who was sworn in as the first director of the Office of Homeland Security last October, oversees a $19.5 billion budget to develop and coordinate a comprehensive strategy for national security. Previously, Ridge was the governor of Pennsylvania.
Title: Executive vice president, AFL-CIO
Home Base: Washington, DC
How secure is your job? On a scale of 1 to 10, job security on average in this country is just barely a 7. Now that the economy seems to be turning around, workers stand to have more security than in the previous year. But in general, workers are becoming less secure -- and they are less secure than they actually think.
Security is not just about having a job; it's about having a stable job. Years ago, you got your gold watch after 35 or 40 years with one employer. You invested a lot in the company, and the company invested a lot in you. You had health care, a pension plan, and paid vacation time. Today, the package isn't nearly as sweet. There's nothing really keeping employees at a company for any substantial length of time. Corporate America has totally relinquished all responsibility to provide a stable environment for its employees.
The single-biggest question workers should be asking themselves is, How well is my company taking care of me? Employees should be taking a good hard look at how functional their so-called corporate families really are. No matter how high their salary or position, many workers are vulnerable, whether it be from a lack of built-in protections for 401(k)s or wage discrimination. I'm going to continue fighting the hard fight to protect every worker in this country. When I'm out of a job, every single American will have job security.
Linda Chavez-Thompson (EVP@aflcio.org) was reelected last year to a second four-year term as executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, which represents more than 13 million workers nationwide. She has been a union activist and leader for 35 years.
Title: President, the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.
Home Base: New York, New York
For the world's largest electronic stock market, there's no such thing as being too secure. Every day, the Nasdaq disseminates more than 285 billion bytes of information, 6.5 million quotes, 2.5 million trades, 1.5 million orders, and more than 1.9 billion shares. That has to happen flawlessly, in a fair environment, with high degrees of transparency, and without interruption -- no matter what happens in the world.
Security means preparedness. We have always emphasized redundancy and backups in our systems. Since September 11, however, we have taken an even harder look at our security, from the physical protection of our technology to the degree of testing that we do to ensure the reliability of our systems. We're also working with the New York Stock Exchange to explore ways to back up one another.
Security also means confidence. People need to feel confident that financial information presents a sufficiently clear picture of the company and that the markets are safe from manipulation. One way we're addressing that is through an exhaustive review of our listing standards and our corporate-governance requirements.
The perfect storm of a number of events in the past year has raised considerably our level of awareness of potential threats -- which is unbelievably healthy. As a result, the financial markets have never been more secure.
Richard Ketchum (president@nasdaq.com) was appointed president of the Nasdaq nearly two years ago. Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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