Securing the Homeland

A Narberth native becomes a defensive linchpin against terrorism.

(page 1 of 3)

In Narberth, where the train stops, the shops beckon and the ball fields stretch to the horizon, townsfolk treasure the charm and safety of their environs. That hasn’t changed since Courtney Banks was growing up here in the 1970s and ’80s.

Unfortunately, the world beyond has.

A leading voice in homeland security and an entrepreneur with a penchant for people, the 34-year-old Banks seeks to shield the Narberths and the rest of our land from the threat of global terrorism. She’s been trained to do so and knows firsthand what failure looks like—her office at the Pentagon was destroyed on 9/11. Now that she’s in business for herself, she’s no less worried about a large-scale attack.

“We’re most vulnerable during formal election cycles and transition periods,” says Banks, whose Nat’l Security Associates WorldWide (NSAWW) helps companies develop their business in the national security space. “Aviation is still highly at risk. When we have success in containing [terrorism], no one ever knows.”

The words pour out of Banks, who’s intense without giving you a headache. “Security is like a Rubik’s Cube,” she says. “It’s constantly changing colors.”

Terrorists are chameleon-like as well. Al-Qaida and less formal groups are looking to raise the bar. Will they use IEDs (improvised explosive devices)? WMDs (weapons of mass destruction)? What’s more, they have money and Internet access. “Does it matter if you’re in a cave or the Ritz-Carlton?” she asks.

Psychologically, Banks entered the fray early on. She was only 9 when the 1983 TV miniseries The Winds of War captured her imagination. While most kids were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks, she was immersed in the genesis of World War II. “We’d discuss it at dinner,” says her mother, Bala Cynwyd’s Elayne Weisberg.

Says Banks: “I knew I wanted to work in national security.”

First, there were other stops to make. At Episcopal Academy, Banks became the first female head of the debating society. After earning a degree in military history at the University of Pennsylvania, she worked for then-White House Counsel Jack Quinn, the U.S. Justice Department, and defense contractor BDM International (later acquired by TRW), which assigned her to the Gulf War Illness Task Force at the Department of Defense. While on the job, she completed her master’s in national security studies at Georgetown University. From there, it was back to Defense, with a focus on global terrorism. The winds, it seems, had blown her directly on course.
 

Continued on page 2 ...