Homeland Security at BRIDEX 2009

THE official 2009 Brunei International Defence Exhibition (BRIDEX) Conference — organised by Jane's Information Group in association with Ministry of Defence (MinDef) — will feature some of the world's experts in Homeland Security.

The BRIDEX 2009 Conference is scheduled to be held on August 11 at the new state-of-the-art purpose-built exhibition and convention centre located not far from the Royal Brunei Polo & Riding Club, Jerudong. The Oxford Business Group is the supporting sponsor for the conference.

The one-day conference will consist of a series of keynote addresses, accompanied by panel discussions, on three key areas of relevance to defence forces and national security agencies in the region's fast-changing defence and security environment.

A total of 10 speakers will be presenting their papers at the conference.

Session Two speakers comprises Nick Gibbons, Deputy Director, National Security Secretariat, United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD); Giles Noakes, Chief Maritime Security Officer, BIMCO, Denmark; and Warren Prentice, Business Development Manager, Defence & Public Safety, APAC Microsoft, Singapore.

Nick Gibbons, Deputy Director, National Security Secretariat, Cabinet Office, UK

Gibbons is presently a Deputy Director in the National Security Secretariat having previously been the Head of Counter Terrorism and Crisis Management in the Cabinet Office.

He is one of the Prime Minister's advisors on national security issues. He is also responsible for the management of the United Kingdom's national crisis centre.

Previous appointments include separate stints as Principal Private Secretary to the Lord Privy Seal, Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, five years in the Central Statistical Office and a spell in the Economic and Domestic Secretariat as an advisor on food standards to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He has also been seconded to the Brunei government.

Gibbons will be presenting "Utilising Network Enable Capability to meet Homeland Security Challenges" during the conference.

Giles Noakes, Chief Maritime Security Officer, BIMCO, Denmark

Giles is the Chief Maritime Security Officer and runs the Maritime Security Department of BIMCO.

This department is tasked with serving and protecting the interests of BIMCO's members in matters concerning maritime security and trade facilitation.

He is currently heavily involved in directing the shipping industry input into dealing with piracy off the coast of Somalia, from both a practical and advocacy position.

He has produced BIMCO guidelines for the use of privately contracted armed security on US Flagged vessels .

Giles also advocates on behalf of BIMCO in the current ongoing high level debates in the USA and the United Nations.

He liaises directly with the US Coast Guard, MARAD, the State Department and the Department of Defence on the subject and is currently discussing the use of the BIMCO AVRA with the USCG.

He testified to Congress on Piracy in the early spring and sits on the UN Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and two of its subsidiary working groups.

On leaving the Royal Marines he completed an MBA and became the chief executive officer of Multistar Container Transport.

Thereafter as the CEO of Jigsaw Container Logistics Security (JCLS), he specialised in container transport, shipping and port security consultancy. During this time he also ran a joint venture business with Global Marine Systems where he developed practical experience of ship security assessments and plans.

Noakes will be presenting "Port and Maritime Security: Challenges and Approaches".

Warren Prentice, Business Development Manager, Defence & Public Safety, APAC Microsoft, Singapore

Prentice has worked in the Information Technology (IT) Industry for 14 years and has been affiliated with the Military for 23 years.

Prentice served in the Royal Australian Engineers and is a certified military engineer through the Royal Australian Army's School of Military Engineers.

In 1995 Warren became a member of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

He completed his certification as an Information Systems Specialist where he was attached to the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) IT Architecture team.

During his time in the RAAF Warren was involved with numerous successful IT transformation initiatives undertaken by the ADF on a large enterprise scale.

At the conclusion of his uniform career, Warren Prentice was re-employed by the ADF as a Civilian System's Architect. He was responsible for systems design and implementation of the ADF's "Secret and Special Forces Standard Operating Environments" of that time.

Following Prentice's involvement with the Australian Military he was recruited by Microsoft in 2002. To date, Prentice is a thought leader across the Microsoft Defence community and is recognised for his direct engagements with ADF and its coalition allies. Achievements within Prentice's role include the prototyping of architectures for collaboration and allied interoperability. As part of this programme Warren led Microsoft's successful involvement for three consecutive years in the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration.

Further, Prentice was one of the few Foreign National Microsoft employees who were deployed with United States Navy to technically support humanitarian and anti-terrorism operations in the Pacific.

Prentice will be presenting "Technological solutions for homeland security and border protection".

The Brunei Times