Security

It may happen when you are least able to prevent it – when your executive or his family are alone and most vulnerable. Learning what to expect in the hours and days after an abduction will help you avoid becoming a bystander at a time when your leadership is most needed. Understanding how professional negotiators work increases the odds that you will seek their expertise, augment their mission, and successfully resolve an abduction. The first article of this series focused on the early hours, activating your crisis plan, confirming a kidnapping has occurred, engaging an expert consultant, establishing a negotiation operations center, and carefully selecting a communicator to receive ransom calls. This second article in the series dives deeper into ransom negotiation techniques and financial criteria.

The international kidnap phenomenon is a “good news, bad news” scenario. The bad news – Kidnapping is a burgeoning crime flourishing in countries where police and prosecutors are unable or unwilling to address it. Consequently, the kidnapper perceives his plans as low risk, high gain. The good news – The captor’s motivation in most kidnappings, is money.

The nuances of personal protection and the specialist options available to High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI’s), VIPs and Celebrities are never ‘one size fits all’. With each client, the situation and threat level will vary, as will their requirements and appetite. When it comes to security there are a myriad of options available, often (and hopefully) with multiple, complementary components working together in harmony. One weapon in the personal protection armory is Protective Surveillance. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of a service that has multiple benefits, quite a few limitations, and several misrepresentations.

Reporting methods should be communicated to employees in numerous ways. These include posters in break-rooms, email reminders, and intranet home page links to a reporting tool. Small banks in particular, where “everybody knows everyone,” might want to offer an external contact number for reporting. Perhaps a community mental health center or your Employee Assistance Program vendor can partner in this endeavor.

As the past head of counterintelligence for the FBI, a former corporate security executive for one of the world’s largest companies, and now a risk management consultant, it no longer surprises me to hear new security professionals struggle to answer these basic questions. Security practitioners sometimes perpetuate the long-standing C-suite myth that “security’s got this” when it comes to everything from a missing gym bag to a missing gyroscope. The perception that someone, somewhere, must have already addressed, planned for, or is in the process of resolving the concern of the moment, provides comfort to our senior executives and job assurance for those of us in the profession.

Operators cost millions of dollars to train but their true value comes from years of real-world assignments that shape and sharpen their skills, networks and instincts. Their proven unique experience facilitating secure travel and lifestyle in all environments without fanfare is their understated asset. VIPs chaperoned by world-class tier one operators can safely and efficiently move on foreign turf while remaining under the radar.

The broadly accepted definition of Duty of Care is: ‘is a legal obligation, which is imposed on an individual requiring adherence to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence.’ Moreover there is now a growing recognition both in the courts and with potential plaintiffs that breaches of duty of care occurring abroad can be heard in U.S. courts. The number of cases being presented has increased and employment lawyers are particularly alert to the issue.

Travel in connection with special events or sporting matches raises the already well documented daily risk of tourists targeted by pickpockets and muggers, often by organized gangs in major cities. Individual travellers of Asian or Afro-Caribbean descent or who simply “don’t look like they belong” in the eyes of certain locals should exercise particularly enhanced vigilance.

In the recent Parkland, Fla., high-school shooting, classmates, faculty, and neighbors of the shooter saw the warning signs and indicators and notified law enforcement or other official’s dozens of times. To those who knew him, the Parkland school shooter most certainly did not “just snap” but was on a path to violence in the absence of intervention.

Your bank’s WPV policy should include threatening behavior. Again, this facilitates the quick administrative resolution of unacceptable conduct with the potential of rapid escalation to violence. Communications or actions intended to arouse fear, hostility or intimidation, or the apprehension of harm in your employee or any bank “protected person”, their family, friends or co-workers, clients, or property need to be within the scope of WPV at your bank. This covers conduct such as an employee “keying” the car of a co-worker in a parking lot, a disgruntled teller stating that she knows where her manager lives and “might have to pay him a visit”, or a loan officer suggesting to an angry customer that they settle their dispute “outside, one on one.”

Whether it’s Mexico City, Oaxaca, or Juarez, getting to the ground truth means asking the right questions designed to determine the specific risks. Mitigating and managing risks can only happen once you understand the distinct dangers of your locality. Specific and practical risk questions are those that are directly linked to the where, who, why, and when of your Mexico travel. For example, mapping the routes between your airport, hotel and business site allows you to learn if any of those routes are prone to incidents.

Former Special Forces (SF) operators are a natural fit for global executive protection. Formed from the core SF and Elite units such as SAS, Delta, SBS, SEALs, SRR, MI5, MI6, CIA, certain FBI groups, BOPE, DSGE and GIGN, they share the following characteristics and skillsets:

Similarly, ransom demands are contingent upon the adversaries’ expectations, or the “going rate”, and a major determinant of that rate is location. A K&R expert will help you understand the most recent and differing ransom structures for places like Nigeria, Colombia and Mexico Executive Protection Services. Also obtain and assess intelligence regarding the captor’s previous kidnap track record, including the credibility of their threats and their propensity for violence, and what ransom amounts have been paid by western victims’ families and companies in that location.

Preparing for the worse is part of every security professional’s repertoire especially when it comes to planning for failure. This three-part series is designed to enhance understanding of how kidnap and ransom negotiations work and your role in the event the unthinkable happens. Cyber Security leaders with a significant global high-risk footprint know that a kidnapping may not be a question of “if” but a question of “when”. It may happen when you are not directly responsible for covering your employee or their family and therefore least able to prevent it – when they are alone and most vulnerable. Learning what to expect in those first hours of an abduction will help you avoid becoming a bystander when your leadership is most needed.

Accurately and efficiently identifying surveillance comes down to a large number of variable factors, the core ones being; the skill of the surveillance team and the skill of the anti/counter surveillance operators. It is very easy to look, but actually quite hard to see. Meaning: Many so-called surveillance ‘experts’ know the theory, but few have quality experience e.g. counter-terrorism, counter-espionage at a Government level, and/or extensive commercial experience.

Sometimes the risk becomes reality. Preventive measures, training, and personnel actions can’t always predict and prevent the myriad vagaries of human behavior. Preparing your employees to survive an active attacker is a logical part of any WPV Prevention and Response program.
Employees, who understand that their safety is your top priority and that everyone plays a role in ensuring a safe environment, will develop the stewardship mindset and contribute to an effective and credible workplace violence prevention program. Enlist your employees in your program development and keep your business safe and productive.

Whether it’s Mexico City, Oaxaca, or Juarez, getting to the ground truth means asking the right questions designed to determine the specific risks. Mitigating and managing risks can only happen once you understand the distinct dangers of your locality. Specific and practical risk questions are those that are directly linked to the where, who, why, and when of your Mexico travel. For example, mapping the routes between your airport, hotel and business site allows you to learn if any of those routes are prone to incidents. Assessing the crime near local hotel and dining options permits you to plan for possible overnights in alternate locations. Allowing security professionals to research known gang activity, robberies, and assaults at your destination over the last 30 days offers an understanding of the modus operandi of the local criminals and the potential to plan mitigating countermeasures.

Preparation for higher risk business travel must also include preparation for the possibility of the risk materializing despite mitigation measures. This is where vigilance and situational awareness combine to help answer the question “What if” question. For example, “What if that person watching me leave the hotel every morning has criminal links?” “What If my driver suddenly veers off route and says he is picking up a friend?” “What if a car screeches up beside me and two men run towards me?” The simple act of asking the “What if” question better prepares you to successfully and calmly react to the threat and survive it.

A company should prepare to expend a considerable amount of time and resources supporting, advising and protecting the victim family. First impressions are critical, and a company should give serious consideration as to which executive protection level official will make the initial in-person notification, and who will be assigned as the full-time family liaison for the duration of the incident. The victim’s family will feel isolated; perceive that information is being filtered, and that the company is not doing enough to obtain their loved one’s release. These sentiments are quite common and understandable. It is essential for the company to form a united front with the family and to provide them with realistic assessments and genuine assurances that they are equal players at the table.

If I ever got the chance I’d kill my boss before he knew what hit him.” Do you have a plan and policy that allows you to address this statement from an employee who receives a poor performance appraisal? The recent active attacker tragedies at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, the Mandalay Bay outdoor concert venue in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL, all had at least one commonality: Each of those sites was somebody’s workplace. Does your bank have a program to recognize, report, and respond to the risk of workplace violence (WPV), and a strategy that views every employee as a part of the solution to this increased risk? The safety of your employees should be your highest priority. The startling statistics of WPV serve as a catalyst for business leaders to commit to building a program before their risk becomes a reality.

The broadly accepted definition of Duty of Care is: ‘is a legal obligation, which is imposed on an individual requiring adherence to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeable harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence.’ Moreover, there is now a growing recognition both in the courts and with potential plaintiffs that breaches of duty of care occurring abroad can be heard in U.S. courts. The number of cases being presented has increased and employment lawyers are particularly alert to the issue.

ETS is dedicated to improving the health, safety, and security of all travelers. Based on the fact that simple easy to learn thought processes and methodology can significantly increase the safety and security of all travelers throughout the globe. The Explore Secure briefings are specifically designed to teach individuals and group how to identify threats early to avoid danger and minimize risk, and if the worst case scenario ever does occur they are prepared to react in a positive manner to increase chances of a positive outcome. They have proven countless times that just 45 minutes spent learning the basics of personal safety abroad can significantly increase the chances of staying safe and avoiding danger.

Cyber security advances and arrangements are developing because of the changing risk scene, where dangers are getting to be more astute and harming.
In the present associated wellbeing condition, cyber security is never again an alternative or idea in retrospect though it is a basic vital resource that is being tended to by each association.

One reason to seek the expertise of a K&R professional is domain knowledge regarding ransom. We are all familiar with the real estate mantra, “location, location, location”. Similarly, ransom demands are contingent upon the adversaries’ expectations, or the “going rate”, and a major determinant of that rate is location. A K&R expert will help you understand the most recent and differing ransom structures for places like Nigeria, Colombia and Mexico Executive Protection Services. Also obtain and assess intelligence regarding the captor’s previous kidnap track record, including the credibility of their threats and their propensity for violence, and what ransom amounts have been paid by western victims’ families and companies in that location. Such intelligence is instrumental in estimating the final amount you expect to pay the captors to secure the release of the hostage. Another key factor in deriving this payment figure is of course the amount of funds available and/or agreeable to be paid. Statistics show that a large majority of captors agree to approximately 10 percent of their initial ransom demand.

The assassination of Denis N. Voronenkov in March 2017, a former Russian lawmaker who was killed in Kiev in a widely publicized killing, identifies what happens when Media Security does not have time to react. Denis Voronenkov, who’d been a Communist member of Russia’s lower legislative house before he left, was fatally shot outside a hotel in broad daylight. The assassin walked up behind the target and his personal security, then shot Voronenkov, after which a gunfight ensued and both Assassin and security were shot, and the VIP left dead.
There is an increased chance that a PST would have identified the threat early, communicated with the CPT and been able to pre-empt the attack, or intercept.