2011…what a year!  Security professionals will be studying 2011 for years to come.  From the Jasmine Revolution to the Occupy Wall Street movement, so much happened and so much was learned.

On a day like today former president Ben Ali went on television to make his famous “I understand you speech“.  

“I am telling you I understand you, yes, I understand you,” Ben Ali declared. “And I decided: total freedom for the media with all its channels and no shutting down Internet sites and rejecting any form of monitoring of it.”

Too little too late…and with that the world witnessed the first “live revolution”.  Yet here we are one year later with new challenges before us.

Areas of Concern

The following 2 quotes is what concerns me the most about the present day security situation.  The first echos a regional concern shared by the new Libyan government, Morocco, Algeria, and of course Tunisia.  Indeed one of the factors that made the Tunisian revolution such a humanitarian success was the fact that weapons were mostly not accessible.  The second quote came from a young Tunisian male who still feels that his original complaints and demands have not been met by the new government.

1. “Weapons smuggling from Libya poses a “severe” threat to the security of the Sahel (North African) region.”- Algerian military analysts warn.
2. “The rulers of the country are sitting on seats stained with our blood. They haven’t given us our rights. They must understand that the revolution will resume if we don’t get our rights. Last time the revolution was triggered with stones, this time it’ll be more than stones.”-Mohamed Boughanmi, 38.

Situational Awareness …still remains the key

Now more than ever, situational awareness is the key to staying safe and enjoying Tunisia.  No updated travel restrictions have been announced, there have been no new warnings or advisories posted by embassies, and a recent poll stated that “more than 90 per cent of Tunisians are optimistic about the course their country is taking, despite problems related to continuing unemployment, strikes and unresolved social demands.”

That being said no one can deny that the security situation is still challenging and we are a long way from business as usual.