Layering contacts: What does it mean and why should you consider doing it? When traveling overseas, particularly to higher risk locations or locations where cultural and business practices are significantly different, it can make sense to not put all your eggs in the same basket. To set the stage and make it easier to understand…
Who is more vulnerable? Who is at greater risk? A short-term traveler or a long-term visitor/expatriate? It’s an interesting question and one without a clear-cut answer. All other things being equal, each one can present its own set of vulnerabilities. Let’s look at each one and then compare and contrast. For simplicity sake I will…
While many people now recognize that situational awareness is a key component of personal security and is the element that is most likely to help you avoid a bad situation, applying it daily can be a challenge. One reason is that it is sometimes not taught or explained well in self-defense or personal protection classes…
Adversarial mindset is important to any security program whether you are protecting a Fortune 500 company, critical infrastructure, a high net worth person or yourself. We discussed some of the elements of using adversarial mindset here: http://iprotectiveconcepts.com/4-steps-to-taking-the-adversarys-perspective-and-enhancing-your-security/. I should empathize at this point I am mainly looking at protection against physical threats and not looking…
Assuming you are not a head of state or other individual with a large security detail and therefore need to do it yourself or with limited resources: Avoid time & place predictability. This is generally considered the number one way people are successfully ambushed/assassinated. This means varying your routes and times of departure, arrival and…
As anyone who has read any of our articles or books knows already knows we place a high premium on developing and using situational awareness as an integral component of personal security. In fact if you were to do only one thing to make yourself safer – and nothing else – it would be to…
Recent attacks across Africa and North Africa in 2015-2016 have clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of hotels – especially in developing countries – to low tech attacks. While hotel security in higher risk locations has long focused on the potential threat from vehicle-borne improvised explosive (VBIED) attacks such as have occurred in Jakarta, Islamabad and numerous…
I recently read an article by Patrice Bonnafoux entitled What Too much Situational Awareness Does to Your Brain(http://www.urbanfitandfearless.com/2015/08/what-too-much-emphasis-on-situational.html) that raised some great points worth considering. While I don’t agree with everything in the article, it illustrates the danger of becoming hypervigilant when striving to be situationally aware. Hypervigilance is defined as is “an enhanced state…
The recent terrible events in Paris and Bamako illustrate the importance of active shooter awareness and response training for the average traveler. In the US active shooter training is frequently presented in the context of a workplace violence incident. This is just one possible scenario however. Even within the US there is a good chance…
In the past we have looked at the question of when and whether you should resist a crime or not. Most authorities on personal security and most law enforcement sources will advise you to comply with a criminal in the case of an obviously economically-motivated crime. If a mugger wants your wallet or your cell…