In the recent attack in India highlighted the strategy of some terrorists to target American, British and Israeli citizens. At the same time, chief security officers have elevated their need to protect their enterprise executives and traveling employees.

In a talk with Bruce McIndoe, president of iJET Intelligent Risk Systems, he said that the event has forced most companies to review their safety and security programs in that region – and others. Many companies do not have country-specific (or city) emergency plans. In addition, companies are re-evaluating their hotel programs and determining if they should continue to direct travelers to their existing preferred properties or change their preferred properties. Likewise, companies are reviewing their facility security measures to adjust them to this new threat profile.

High Impact

“Terrorism is a low probability, high impact threat to operations. As such, companies are looking at mitigation strategies and cost balancing those against this type of threat. In many cases, investments are more ‘confidence builders’ for employees and customers rather than hardened security measures.
The key areas that need additional steps and safety investment are the fundamentals: a solid location emergency plan addressing employee notification and evacuation, etc.; and training employees so that they know what to do in the event of an emergency, be it a fire, bomb threat, workplace violence, weather issues or terrorist attack. Then, these basic, fundamental steps can actually extend beyond the low-probability, high impact threats to the very real types of operational threats that exist on a daily basis.”

So what steps should CSOs and business travelers take to protect themselves in light of the attacks?

According to McIndoe, “A traveler is more likely to be killed flying on a commercial airline (1-in-9.5 million) to India than killed by terrorism. They are almost twice as likely to be killed by lightning as dying on a commercial aircraft. However, they have a 1-in-20,000 chance of being killed driving in India. Travelers still need to focus on the threats that they are more likely to face: crime, fire, food and water illness, etc.

“If a traveler or CSO wants to minimize exposure to a terrorist event, they should stay in a room away from the front of the hotel, away from public streets and between the 2nd and 7th floors. When something does happen, do not rush to the scene, linger in the area or gawk at the situation. Many people were killed during the bombing at the hotel in Islamabad earlier last year by going to the front windows of their room to see what was happening. They were killed by the subsequent blast. It’s also important that travelers be trained on basic health and safety measures to know what to do in the event of an emergency. Many people who survive a direct terrorist attack or related violent attack do so because they know the proper steps to take for survival.”

Many firms including security guarding companies offer personal and executive protection.

It’s Risk Management

Experts at Andrews International, for instance, suggest the recent focus regarding the protection of executives has shifted from protection to risk management, including access to alerts and real-time information resources, threat assessments, contingency planning, travel tracking and evacuation programs and insurance to minimize financial loss and corporate exposure. The threats facing executives vary widely depending on individual and corporate wealth, company size, industry and business practices, operational environments, and culture and business partners. The most frequently targeted executives are financial/banking services, pharmaceuticals and energy, especially executives based overseas. The risks range from kidnapping for ransom or extortion, carjacking, explosives and eco-terrorism, according to experts at Andrews International..

The range of threats and the associated risks pertaining to mobility, health and family safety result in very different challenges than protecting a facility. Providing adequate protection that serves the company’s business interests, yet respects individual freedoms is often a major challenge to corporations. Four principles to guide successful protective operations and help mitigate these challenges are:

• threat assessment
• advance planning
• logistics, and
• emergency response

Also consider specific threat patterns of potential attackers. A recent U.S. Secret Service study on the behavior of known assailants revealed an interesting contradiction; those issuing threats typically do not attack, while attackers often do not issue threats. While you cannot ignore specific threats, the most serious threats are unlikely to be announced.