There’s something to be said about the art of reading people, especially in the protection industry. The ability to pick up on nonverbal communication is an area where most, if not all, protection practitioners are skilled.
Foot Steps: Episode 3 – Devon Taitt
I believe everyone should spend at least a year working the clubs on the weekends. You will develop your self-awareness, situational awareness, verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and overall confidence. It’s controlled chaos. The perfect training ground.
Leading for the Future – Excellence through Inspiration
Value-driven leadership doesn’t mean you tolerate underperformance, it just means excellence can be achieved with balance and inspiration and doesn’t require intimidation to garner results. As a leader, unless you have clarity in vision, you can never inspire others to follow. People don’t mind being led, as long as they know you understand where you are going.
Bodyguards in Mexico
The realities of working as a bodyguard in Mexico are quite different, it’s definitely a lot more dangerous and a lot less glamorous than Hollywood would have you believe.
Mexico is a very high-risk environment that most people know very little about other than what they see in the movies or what is scantily reported in the media. There is very little factual media coverage of what’s going on in Mexico as journalists that report unfavorably about the Narcos, and others tend not to live very long.
Global Situation Report April 2021
Each issue our global geopolitical partner, Stratfor, provides an in-depth analysis of global incidents via in-house experts, cutting edge technology and through a comprehensive globally sourced network. Here is your summary from the last 30 days.
Industry News At A Glance
We cast our eye over the main stories impacting the security industry. Here’s what’s appeared on the radar since the last issue.
Tactical Firearms Revolvers
These days many shooters and those in the armed security business shy away from revolvers. I have heard quite a few people brush them off as being old-fashioned, obviously not tacticool enough to post on their social media. But in the real world of protection, there are a lot of revolvers in use for personal self-defense and security duties.
Kidnap & Ransom – Part 1
If you are a security professional with significant high-threat worldwide protective services experience, you know that depending on the client, it may not be a matter of if your client or a family member is kidnapped, but when. You also understand that it is likely that you may not even be directly providing protection for the client at the time it happens and unable to prevent it, especially when they are alone and most vulnerable.
Anything that Can Happen Will Happen… Even the Inconceivable
It seemed the whole city had turned out to catch a glimpse of Mr. Nixon. The plan was to drive to the ramp of Air Force One, put the president into the car and drive from the airport to the city. The motorcade was all aligned according to standard protocol; police lead motorcycles and escort, a lead car with police and the advance agent, the new presidential limousine, Secret Service follow-up with agents and a doctor; White House staff in appropriate cars, the traveling press, a tail car and tail police car. Everything was in preplanned order, What could go wrong?
How anonymous are your conversations, really?
Maybe you’re a close protection officer, trying to arrange a safe route through a dangerous location, or a surveillance specialist trying to communicate with others in your team.
Perhaps you just don’t trust the local government. Whatever the situation, it’ll almost certainly be easier to focus on the task at hand if you aren’t worrying about whether your messages were possibly subject to being intercepted.
Confidentiality: Personal Choice or Professional code of conduct?
Surprisingly, many people who took part in the thread commented, saying that they don’t find anything wrong with it. Some of them even named their own old clients. Others tried to justify the practice of name-dropping by saying it was a former client, or that they didn’t reveal anything personal about the client, or that they had the client’s approval to post that picture or to name the client. And finally, some said their client is already pretty well-known and paparazzi are always getting pictures of them together so why hide it? Essentially, they are good guys, and how dare we criticize people we don’t know. These were a number of the comments from individuals who either work in the security industry as operatives or own companies and hire agents to represent them.
Fit for Purpose A history of military physical training
Organised physical exercise can be traced far back to ancient Greek times, where it was viewed that it should be both an integral part of an individual’s responsibility and civic duty to maintain health.
Protecting Private Families – A Unique Dynamic
What happens when there is more than one primary client? What happens when the “primary” becomes two, three, four, or more? What happens when your client instructs you that their two-year-old, is the primary “client” on a particular day or outing?
Cyber Security and Humans
Over 2020 cyber security and technology have only soared in terms of profile and importance, with talk about threats to remote working from technology, difficulties, and some dramatic outages. Logistics, enabled largely by technology, have been essential to keep things moving and give people support and normality.
Global Situation Report
Each issue our global geopolitical partner, Stratfor, provides an in-depth analysis of global incidents via in-house experts, cutting edge technology, and through a comprehensive globally sourced network. Here is your summary for the last 30 days. West Africa: Al Qaeda Is Expanding Operations in Benin and Ivory Coast Feb 2, 2021 France’s intelligence chief, Bernard […]
Industry News
We cast our eye over the main stories impacting the security industry. Here’s what’s appeared on the radar since the last issue.
Hiding from OSINT
It often comes as a surprise just how much is available and the nefarious uses it can be put to. OSINT can be applied towards defensive purposes, but this article will only be covering the malicious purposes (i.e. how a bad guy might get access to your client’s sensitive information and data).
One of the biggest challenges of OSINT is not merely recognising it as a threat, but encouraging the behavioural change needed to protect against it widely enough. It is not simply enough for a principal to stop posting Instagram pictures of their travels in order to hide them. Their colleagues, friends, family, and employees also need to be aware and cautious with information which could be misused.
No Cutting
Throughout my nine years of experience in the Executive Protection (EP) industry, I’d like to think that I’ve achieved many significant accomplishments.
Having traveled to over 30 countries, building executive protection and estate teams, embarking on 10 major worldwide tours and transitioning from field agent to Director of Security. Despite my successes, I’ve still felt like a student at best, but now finally considering myself a Specialist. Naively, many young protectors are eager to consider themselves “specialists” without undergoing the proper mentorship and gaining the practical experience needed to hold this title.
Tactical Firearms – Cross-Draw
It is believed that this is the safest method of carry because when the handgun is drawn from the holster, it points in a straight line directly at the target. The cross-draw is where the gun is on the opposite side of the body to the dominant hand, so you have to reach across the body to draw the handgun.
Product Review – Ear Hero
Designed by an audiologist, earHero’s speakers are so tiny they will never block your ear canal giving you the ability to literally talk on a separate phone without removing the earHero tactical earpiece from either ear.
You can literally hear whisper level sounds from yards away, while identifying the sounds’ precise location. The earHero tactical headsets have wires so thin and clear, they are virtually undetectable, and the design is so comfortable, you’ll barely know the earpiece is there.
