Vice President, Government Relations & Aircraft Sales Support
Bombardier Aerospace

He’s talking about his days in the Canadian military, a career that spanned 30 years of flying, commanding and managing men and machines in the Canadian Forces and NATO. In those days, the enemy loomed over Canada’s Arctic horizon, and American and Canadian forces knew and understood who he was and from where he was likely to come.

Today, he says, “It’s a whole different way of thinking. Unbelievable, unspeakable acts are committed by supposed human beings on other people. It’s totally inadmissible, it’s unacceptable, and I think that kind of thing is here to stay because we’re in a multipolar world.”

As the United States and Canada secure the North American continent against the people who commit those acts, Jurkowski and the company of which he’s part, Bombardier, based in Montreal, Canada, will be actively participating.

Core businesses

Bombardier is one of Canada’s premier industrial producers, an innovative manufacturer of different types of aircraft, rail transportation equipment, systems and services. In 2006, it generated revenues of $14.8 billion US dollars and employed 27,000 people around the world, including Learjet in Wichita, Kan., which was purchased by Bombardier in 1990.

In addition to its regional and business passenger jets, Bombardier aircraft have been used by the US government for surveillance and intelligence, and the company has provided military pilot training to NATO pilots.

But one of Bombardier’s newest and most innovative security products is called SEKURFLO, for mass transit train systems. Using sensors throughout the rail system, SEKURFLO monitors the security status of trains, platforms and rails and provides operators with real time warnings of trouble. It uses an Ethernet and wireless broadband system to communicate data and Internet protocol, radio and intercoms for communications among train operators and passengers. The system is already in use in the London Underground, the ultramodern, proposed Gautrain in South Africa and trains in the region surrounding Paris, France.

Looking to the future

The man guiding Bombardier’s government marketing has experience in crisis management and preparedness well beyond his military experience.

In the Canadian forces, Jurkowski commanded squadrons, wings and groups and served as commander of the Canadian North American Aerospace Defence Region. As chief of staff for Joint Operations, he played a key role in creating Canada’s Joint Operations Group and heading Canada’s military operations worldwide—which came to 72 operations in three years, ranging from the Kosovo crisis, to East Timor, to the Gulf War, to coping with ice storms in Canada. After active duty, he provided his expertise to people running the country’s intelligence and security operations.

When he retired, Jurkowski worked with a small company that proposed Ottawa’s emergency operations center, based on what he had created for the Canadian forces. He also continued to serve as the colonel-commandant, a mentoring position, to the Canadian military police forces.

Today, Jurkowski is especially concerned about bioterrorism, particularly in aircraft and among the traveling public. “We’ve closed a lot of gaps, but there are still gaping maws,” he observed. “I’m concerned about the bioterrorism possibility and the biomartyr who infects himself and then goes into a closed aluminum tube at 35,000 feet and infects a bunch of other people.”

While he doesn’t have a solution to that problem—yet—overall, Jurkowski said he was optimistic about the future.

“Humanity always seems to overcome things. There’s a resilience to humanity. But we should just really get smart and not miss any tricks and not miss any holes in our defense, both on a personal level and on a collective level,” he observed.

“We should look to what the Brits do in terms of surveillance and reaction. They’ve been at it for a number of years in their particular neck of the woods. We should take some lessons from them, and I think we are.”

In addition to his duties at Bombardier, Jurkowski is busy conveying his knowledge to the homeland security community. “Every time I brief on the strategic leadership in the federal government … I tell the security people for various government departments: You should never be surprised, you should be prepared to act now. In other words, have plans already planned and exercised—and don’t ever forget: You’re paid to be paranoid.”  HST