Personal Security: Preparing for the Unexpected in an Era of Crime and Terrorism

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BOOK DESCRIPTION How to Recognize the Threat and Avoid the Attack Here is a unique, common sense, and proven life-saving approach to recognizing and avoiding violent assaults by terrorists and other criminals. The issues faced by potential "targets of rtunity" as well as the concerns of those specifically targeted for individual attack are addressed. Procedures appropriate for use by government officials, business or vacation travelers, or those simply going about their daily lives are described. Relevant techniques to discover hostile schemes in the planning stages and tactics to then avoid or escape assaults are detailed. This is not another book on the latest in firearms technology, fighting moves, or hand-to-hand self defense techniques. It is about how to avoid the need to resort to those options. While most personal security training concentrates on countering an attack, the methods described here focus on recognizing and avoiding the attack before it takes place. The concepts presented are not complicated or dramatic. In the mayhem of a surprise violent assault, intricate counterattacks are unrealistic. The book describes how terrorists and other criminals plan and execute violent attacks. It then explains how to uncover and disrupt their plans before they become deadly encounters. While others emphasize "situational awareness," but do not explain how to attain and maintain that awareness, this book provides straightforward techniques that can be practiced everyday. You will become keenly aware of what is going on around you. You will not only be more observant, you will know what it is you are looking for. You will recognize potential dangers and develop appropriate ways to avoid or evade them. The techniques examined here neutralize the terrorist and criminal’s most critical advantage - surprise. Included are ways to assess and alter the habits that make you vulnerable. You will make yourself a “hard target,” encouraging the would-be attacker to look elsewhere for a victim. Included are strategies to analyze your own vulnerabilities in the same way that hostile assailants do. Also included are explanations of how to detect criminal or terrorist surveillance and how it differs from classic surveillance methodology. Learn how to identify where, when, and how terrorists and criminals are likely to conduct surveillance. Determine where, when, and how they plan an assault. Most importantly, learn what to do about it. Statistically, most attacks against specifically targeted individuals take place while the victim is in transit. Chapters covering techniques to discover and escape from attacks while driving are included. As an additional benefit, these techniques raise your general awareness, significantly increasing your ability not only to discover and avoid attacks, but also to anticipate and avoid traffic accidents. Also included are tips for avoiding being a victim of a mass casualty tragedy such as those which recently devastated London, Barcelona, Manchester, Paris, Stockholm, Saint Petersburg, Berlin, Columbus, Orlando, Marseille, Philadelphia, Las Ve, New York, Sutherland Springs, and Parkland. The author, a West Point graduate, former Army Special Forces Officer, and retired CIA Para Operations Officer with over 35 years of service, designed and taught personal security courses for CIA and other US Government personnel deploying overseas. After retirement, he continued to develop, and refine new approaches to personal security. Many of those strategies are presented here for the first time.