On April 16, AmCham members were invited for a breakfast meeting at the Ambassador’s residence to meet with the OSAC HQ representative – Joseph Benyam. The meeting focused on the goals of OSAC, public-private partnership when it comes to security matters in the region, but also on reviving the OSAC Tallinn council with the help of the business community and AmCham members.
The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) was created in 1985 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to promote security cooperation between American private sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State. OSAC Country Councils replicate the OSAC public/private partnership at 143 overseas locations bringing together the American embassy or consulate with the private sector regional manager to share information about security issues of mutual concern in the region. These councils encourage managers of U.S. organizations to organize themselves to cope with security-related problems by pooling their resources. Key representatives of these councils and embassy security officers, as well as other post officials, develop working relationships to create an exchange of information through which pertinent security information is shared in a timely fashion.
OSAC Country Council Tallinn was launched in 2007 and at some point was the most active country council in Europe. Today, the idea is to revive the council and re-launch regular meetings.Daria and Omar will work on a follow up event in the fall to address the topic of Cyber Security and Internet Safety in everyday life. Stay tuned!
With a big Thank You to Elizabeth Horst, Charge d’Affaires, Chris Hasegawa and Omar J. Facuse, RSO of the US Embassy Tallinn!