Approach
A judgement you can audit, not just accept.
Anyone can write that a destination is dangerous. The question a board should ask is how that conclusion was reached, what it rests on, and what would change it. Every assessment I produce answers those three questions on its face.
Principles
Four rules, applied to every engagement.
They matter more than the frameworks. The method is how the work gets done. These are why the answer can be trusted.
Risk-based, not fear-based
The job is proportionate control. If the threat does not warrant the measure, I will say so.
Decisions, not documents
Every engagement ends with something you can act on or hand to the board. Annexes support the decision, they do not replace it.
Show the working
Sources graded, likelihood stated against a yardstick, assumptions labelled as assumptions. You can audit the judgement.
Built to run without me
The measure of the work is whether it holds after I leave. I build for handover, not dependency.
The method, end to end
Structure the picture, score the risk, grade the source, state the decision.
The three panels below are the same three moves that sit behind every destination threat assessment and travel risk management plan.
POSTT lens
Structure- PPolitical3/5
- OOperational4/5
- SSituation3/5
- TTravel4/5
- TTerrorism2/5
Every destination is read through the same five lenses, so two assessments can be compared rather than just read.
Risk register
ISO 31000- R1Express kidnap in transitSevere
- R2Armed robbery, hotel approachHigh
- R3Civil disturbance on routeModerate
- R4Vehicle failure, no recoveryModerate
- R5Medical event, limited careHigh
- R6Device compromise at borderHigh
Grading & decision
Admiralty · PHIA- Subject
- Executive visit, high-threat market
- Source reliability
- B · Usually reliable
- Information credibility
- 2 · Probably true
- Probability yardstick
- Likely
Recommendation
MODIFY
Travel proceeds with route control, vetted ground transport and a revised arrival window.
Illustrative worked example, not a live assessment.
Movement planning
Journey management, so nothing is decided at the roadside.
Every movement is built in the same order, and the plan is finished before anyone gets in a vehicle. On the day there is nothing left to work out. There is a plan to follow, or a condition to abort on.
- 01
Reconnaissance
The ground is looked at before the route is chosen. Chokepoints, alternates, and where you cannot turn around.
- 02
Route
Primary and alternate, chosen against the threat picture and the time of day.
- 03
Movement
Vehicles, drivers and ground transport held to a stated standard, and checked against it.
- 04
Communications
Timings, checkpoints, and who is expecting the call that does not come.
- 05
Contingencies
The conditions that stop the move, and the safe havens to stop at. Agreed before departure.
Built to this standard for Pakistan, and for Paris and Monaco in 2025, each with a full annex pack and deployment checklist.
Where it has been used
The same five lenses, applied on the ground.
Every pin is somewhere work was delivered or service was carried out.
Base
United Kingdom
Practice base. Working across UK and EMEA time zones.
Client work
Paris
Executive travel risk and journey management for principal movement.
Client work
Monaco
Event and executive movement planning, venue and route assurance.
Military service
Iraq
Operational service. Security planning and movement in a high-threat environment.
Military service
Afghanistan
Operational service. Leadership and crisis decision-making under operational pressure.
Client work
United Arab Emirates
Executive travel and event security, regional risk planning.
Client work
Pakistan
High-threat travel risk management and journey management planning.
Client work
Nigeria
Destination threat assessment and journey management, Lagos and Port Harcourt.
Client work
Hong Kong
Executive protection and corporate resilience through sustained civil unrest.
Engagement shape
Understand it, test it, then leave it running.
You can enter at any phase. The intent never changes: the system should hold once I step back.
Understand
Read what you actually have, then build what should already exist. Risk model, thresholds, decision ownership, vendor standards and templates people will actually use.
- Risk model and scoring logic
- Go, modify, stop thresholds
- Roles and decision ownership
- Working templates
Test
Prove it holds. Dry-run the trip, challenge the vendor, stress the leadership team against a scenario, and log where decisions slow or break.
- Live dry-runs and vendor challenge
- Tabletop exercise with injects
- Communications testing
- Gap analysis and improvement plan
Support
Stay close while it beds in. Briefings, approvals, oversight and incident support, then a clean exit once it runs without me.
- Executive briefings
- Travel approvals and exceptions
- Incident support
- Monthly risk updates
Next step
Put a real destination through it.
The fastest way to judge the method is to give it a live trip and read what comes back.