Close protection details and the executives they protect are most vulnerable to attack while they are traveling. Studies indicate that about 85 % of all terrorist attacks, assassinations, and kidnappings take place in and around vehicles. There are several reasons why the threat levels increase so dramatically when the details get into their cars.
Physical locations can be protected by an array of security measures, including fences, gates, locks, armed security personnel, lights, and CCTV. Once the executive is secured inside a building, his chances of being attacked are greatly reduced.
While the principal is in transit, the close protection detail is traveling through an environment that is largely beyond their control. Available security measures and resources are limited. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, attackers who are unable to gain access to a secure facility have more freedom to conduct surveillance, plan, rehearse, and conduct an attack on public roads.
A comprehensive transportation security plan relies on both proactive and reactive skills in order to lessen the risk involved in moving the principal from one location to another. Just as the physical barriers of a secure facility create concentric rings of protection around the principal, the transportation security plan relies on multiple proactive strategies to mitigate the risk.
The proactive strategies for attack avoidance include: understanding terrorist methodology, proper motorcade management, intelligence gathering, surveillance detection, pattern avoidance, and route surveys and analysis.
Should the proactive measures fail, the close protection detail must also be well trained in a variety of reactive countermeasures. These include: barricade breaching, the PIT, break contact drills, emergency turns, and backing.
No comments:
Post a Comment