Baghdad hostage working group presentation

Baghdad
Hostage Working Group
Find a way or make one! Find a way or make one!
Chief Inspector Garry Vardon-Smith
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
United Kingdom Police

Introduction
•Me
• Threat of kidnap and Methods
• Hostage Working Group
• Good Practice and Kidnap Avoidance
• Good Practice Post Kidnap
• Conclusions and Questions

Objectives
• Provide some basic do’s and don’ts
• Link your SAIT training to Post incident
Procedures
• Provide an opportunity for discussion
• Provide a point of contact in Baghdad for
queries and concerns

• French Hostage Freed by Captors in Iraq
2006-01-08
• Deadline Nears for Four Hostages in Iraq
2005-12-07
• Seven Westerners have been abducted in
Iraq since Nov. 26.
• Contractor Abducted in Iraq Still
Missing
2006-01-11
• Sudan Shuts Iraq Embassy to Aid
Hostages
2005-12-31

Threat of Kidnap
• Extremely High to:
EVERYONE
• Western Nationals
• Foreign Nationals
• Local Employed Staff
• Local Contractors
• Businessmen and women
• Local Families and Children

Threat of Kidnap
• Money-Criminal Endeavour
• Radicalism
• Terrorism
• VAST Majority Criminal
• VAST Majority Released
RECENT TREND OF SELLING HOSTAGES

• TRENDS DECEMBER 2005 TRENDS
• Deteriorated
Bangladesh, Chad, China (internal),
Colombia, Egypt, Israel/Occupied
Territories, Lebanon, North Korea,
Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka
• Unchanged
• Albania, Algeria, Angola, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Basque Country
(Spain), Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina,
Burundi, Central African Republic,
Chechnya (Russia), Croatia, Cyprus,

• Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Gabon,
Georgia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti,
India (non-Kashmir), Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Jordan, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kenya,
Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Macedonia,
Mauritania, Moldova, Myanmar/Burma,
Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), Nepal,
Nigeria, North Caucasus (Russia), Northern
Ireland (UK), Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi
Arabia, Serbia & Montenegro, Sierra
Leone, Somalia, Somaliland (Somalia),
Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Taiwan Strait,
Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand,

• Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Western
Sahara, Yemen, Zimbabwe (Reuters Risk
watch)
• 4,000 kidnappings occurred in Colombia,
3,000 in Mexico and another 2,000 in
Argentina last year alone (Kroll)
IRAQ
• Over 400 western kidnappings
• Estimated 7000 Iraqis since 2003

Methods
• Naivete-Good Will-Perceptions of Risk
• Regular Habits
• Risk taking
• Poor Information Security
• Poor Vetting of Support Staff
• Letting your Guard Down
• Being in the Wrong Place

Methods
• Quick Impromptu meetings out of the Blue
• Same time same place visits
• Times and Locations in E mail or on notice
boards
• Unguarded Conversations on telephones
• ‘Personal’ invites to the wrong side of town
• Complacency

Methods
• An offer that sounds to good to be true
• Guarantees of safety, that aren’t
• Inadequate awareness or cultural training
• Poor crisis management plans
• Little or no Intelligence
• Mistrust of Law Enforcement or Military

Is this You?

Methods
• An offer that sounds to good to be true
• Guarantees of safety, that aren’t
• Inadequate awareness or cultural training
• Poor crisis management plans
• Little or no Intelligence
• Mistrust of Law Enforcement or Military

Expectations
• You will be ‘noticed’ on arrival
• Your personal security will be assessed
• Vulnerabilities will be exploited
• You will be viewed simply as a commodity
• Little safety in numbers

Hostage Working Group
• Set up to coordinate an effective response to
a kidnapping. (principally for westerners)
• Aims to ‘join up’ all agencies and
organisations.
• Provides advice to other agencies, groups
and organisations

Kidnap Avoidance
• Stay alert but not paranoid
• Think about security of information
• Think about personal security
• Think about necessity
• Do believe that it could happen to you
• Be Risk Averse not just aware

Post kidnap Procedures
• Activate your plan
• Inform Embassies and Headquarters
• Circulate details to the MNF-I ASAP
• Review recent breaches/lapses of security
• Review all aspects of the mission
• Be prepared to receive demands and
negotiate.

Kidnap Plan
• Tells people who is in charge and what
roles are to be performed.
• Tells people what their roles are and how to
do it
• Identifies a list of good practice options
beforehand
• Prepares a list of people and numbers who
need to be contacted and their order

Conclusions
• No one looks good in orange
• Force protection measures account for about
half of spending-Good reason!
• However!
• Stay sharp and listen to good advice
• Never, ever ever let your guard down!
• See you in the Blue Star

For those that have been
Thank you for listening
Garry Vardon-Smith
960 360 6319
07901933352