Improving the Business Of National Security 

BENS assists government officials in developing best business practice solutions to some of our nation’s greatest national security challenges; with particular emphasis on addressing evolving threats, improving the efficiency of our national security agencies and departments, and creating greater effectiveness of national security operations. 

BENS divides its work into three categories: 

Evolving Threats:

BENS develops the knowledge, tools and proven practices that guard against ever changing threats that undermine our national security through economic damage in the globally competitive marketplace. Such threats include:

• Cybersecurity
• Fragile states
• Energy
• Financial market vulnerabilities
• Illicit trade, organized crime and corruption, U.S. Border Security

The fundamental aim of fostering a strong and sustainable economy is a bedrock assumption for a stable and robust security environment. BENS provides a different and necessary perspective of emerging and evolving threats.

Efficiencies:

The organizations and institutions that guard the nation’s security operate by the same principles and processes that power American business. BENS has harnessed that assertion to focus on seeking savings and efficiencies in national security infrastructure and overhead functions. BENS seeks to:

• Identify and promote business models and practices to cut overhead, buy smarter and budget better.
• Shift to leverage freed resources to minimize reductions in frontline operations capability and other priority programs.

Operational Effectiveness:

Our government, including our military, must be structured and strengthened to ensure that it is capable of responding quickly and decisively to the challenges of the 21st Century. BENS seeks to:

• Employ management principles that improve the outcomes of government operations, increase retention of key personnel and improve oversight of homeland security functions.
• Assist emergency managers to implement policies and procedures for including the private sector in our nation’s response to disasters at all levels and from all causes.
• Bridge the divide between the historically secretive and opaque intelligence com-munity and the private sector.

You can read about our current work in each of these categories by clicking on their title in the menu to the left.