President’s Message
SCIMA Membership,
Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays and you are all looking forward to a very exciting and prosperous 2012. As we look back to 2011, the SCIMA had a very busy and informative year. Our first conference kicked 2011 off to a great start. This event featured speakers from the Counterintelligence and Cyber Divisions from FBI Headquarters, the National Security Agency, The Sylint Group, the Cyber Department of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS the real one not the Hollywood version), and the Columbia FBI Cyber Squad. Our next conference was held in June in Myrtle Beach during the Techno-Security Conference. The September conference was in Charleston at the Citadel featuring the main character that the movie, Catch Me If You Can was based on. Mr. Frank Abagnale, one of the world’s most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement, and secure documents, gave an excellent presentation. The last meeting of the year was held in December at FluorDaniel in Greenville. The focus of this meeting was Human Trafficking with an emphasis on the victim and victim services. We ended the year with a small but fun event at the Criminal Justice Firearms Range.
Continuing this year will be two membership levels: Contributing and General. A Contributing Membership is granted to members who choose to make an annual donation to the association (minimum $35 and tax deductible). Contributing members will continue to receive free membership into the FBI National InfraGard Program plus the contributing membership status will entitle those members to participate in other “special” functions such as a range day and conferences featuring special speakers free of charge. The PayPal link has been set up on the SCIMA’s website http://infragard-columbia.org for those wishing to elevate their membership status from General to Contributing. General Membership will be given to those members who choose not to make the annual donation. General members will continue to receive free membership into the FBI National InfraGard Program and receive all benefits entitled with that membership (attending general membership meetings; having access to the InfraGard website, access to sensitive but unclassified information, etc.). However, general members may be required to pay a fee per event to attend meetings/functions over and above general membership meetings.
Please join me in welcoming your 2012 SCIMA Executive Board of Directors:
Special Agent Sean Cassidy – FBI InfraGard Coordinator
William Oden – President
Glenn Remsen – Vice President
Don West – Secretary
Gary Elliott – Treasurer
Rebecca Robertson – Past President
As we look toward the coming year of 2012, the SCIMA Board, along with our new SC FBI InfraGard Coordinator, will be planning another exciting and information filled year. Our meeting dates will be posted on the InfraGard Columbia website along with any special meetings or events. This year we want to expand the collaboration between our members and the FBI. One of the goals of the SCIMA is to “Increase interaction and information sharing among InfraGard members and the FBI regarding threats to the critical infrastructures, and any related vulnerabilities, and interdependencies.” In short, “if you see something say something”. Working together we can make 2012 the best and biggest for the SCIMA. If you have suggestions for topics, please share those with the Chapter’s Coordinator, Sean Cassidy, at sean.cassidy@ic.fbi.gov, telephone (803) 551-4200, or any of the SCIMA Executive Board of Director members. We are looking forward to getting some great ideas from you.
Sincerely
William L. Oden
President SCIMA 2012-2013
