Facing Security Threats in 2016

Not long after the September 11th attacks on U.S. soil, our President delivered his strategy to Congress that outlined a response plan to the deadly terrorist acts that shook the very foundation of our homeland security in America.

Fifteen years after the tragic events that took innocent lives, many of the President’s response plans have been successfully implemented against those so-called ‘Islamic extremists’. These heroic efforts have resulted in an America that is safer than it was before the 2001 September 11 attack.

In spite of these achievements, however, the battle still goes on against the now global network of violent anti-western jihadist groups with an army of thousands of trained fighters’ determined on carrying out terrorist attacks and threatening the personal security of every man, woman, and child in any given city.

According to Richard Clark, Presidential advisor and former National Coordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism for the United States, “The threat is actually worse: it has metastasized and spread geographically. Today there are probably 100,000 people in various terrorist groups around the world, and that is much larger than anything we had 15 years ago”.

According to Wikipedia, 1,294 events classified as ‘terrorist incidents’ took place globally thus far in 2016 (this number includes attacks by violent non-state actors for political motives). The attacks initiated by ISIS extremists working either in small groups or ‘lone wolf’ scenarios attributed to 11 U.S. city attacks (Jan to Sept 19, 2016) and four attacks (New Jersey, New York, Minnesota) in September alone.

These threats occur on an almost daily basis and are not just aimed at large cities. As we continue to conduct business throughout the world or plan for vacation travel, there is an even greater need to increase our personal security and have a contingency plan in place to enhance our safety and security should an incident or event occur.

When investigating companies that provide crisis response or personal travel assistance, it would be wise to identify one that is reliable in providing the following services:

• Reasonable cost
• Tailored to your travel needs
• 24/7 dedicated crisis response center
• Travel advisories
• Medical assistance/evacuation
• Crisis response for terrorism-criminal violence, kidnap for ransom, disappearance, blackmail/extortion, political threat, hijacking, wrongful detention and natural disasters

To learn more about travel risk management, take a look at http://www.focuspointintl.com/what-we-do/travel-risk-management/#cap