WASHINGTON, DC-"Dire necessities." That's how Joseph P. Donovan, Eastern region VP for Beacon Capital Partners, summarizes the state of post-Sept. 11 building security. Donovan was part of a panel this morning at the National Association of Real Estate Editors' 39th annual journalism conference here. And while all of the speakers agreed that there was a lot left to do, they agreed that since the 2001 terrorist attacks, so much has been accomplished. And those challenges still facing us revolve mostly around communication.

For his part, Donovan called for third-party management firms to shoulder a greater part of the burden of security, and he stated that Beacon is in contact communication with its vendors to get this message out. "Frankly," he told GlobeSt.com in a post segment interview, "some of them get it and some of them think their business models work fine." He would not name names, but he did call on local associations to take a more active role in building-security education and implementation as well as emergency-response planning.

Thomas G. DiNanno, acting assistant secretary for infrastructure protection for the US Dept. of Homeland Security, called for a greater degree of "interdependence," especially as it concerns threats to particular tenants in multitenant office buildings. "The new paradigm," he stated, "is to share information at all costs. The private sector has to help us build our platforms."

But four years after the attacks, isn't the call for greater interdependence coming late in the day? DiNanno says no, considering all that has been accomplished. "We have a deeper understanding of the US infrastructure than ever before," he stated. "That is not an 18-month job. And we will be getting better and better."