UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE

Personal Safety Overseas Fulbright Program

What is Personal Security?

• Freedom from uncertainty, risks, etc.; a sense of safety & security

• Surety, confidence in current and future decisions and activities

• Freedom from fear and want

• Achieved through personal decision making

Risk Mitigation or Treatment involves a process to

modify a risk by changing the likelihood of occurrence

or reducing the consequences of a negative event.

What is awareness?

• More a mindset than a hard skill

• A practical tool that can reduce your exposure to risk

• Offsets the negative affects of technology

• Active “Seeing” rather than passive “Observing”

• Core principles:

• Accept that you are at risk

• Employ common sense

• Trust you intuition

Why is awareness important?

Those who wish you harm actually have the independence and ways to act on their own!

Smart Decisions – Stay “Left of Bang”

• “Prevention” instead of “Reaction”

• Require informed observation and enhanced awareness

• Keeps YOU in control of your situation rather than a bad actor being in control

The Event Time

YOU CONTROL THIS ZONE

THE BAD GUY CONTROLS THIS ZONE

Observe situational indicators; plan and act to

avoid risk

You must react to the bad guy’s actions

Personal Awareness

• Individual factors that influence and shape your personal risk profile

• Individual factors include

• Age

• Health

• Gender/Complexion/Hair color

• Experience level and specific skills

• Self awareness of your own behavior patterns, habits, etc.

Cultural awareness

• Includes awareness of cultural norms, values, mores, group compositions and relationships

• Specific social protocols and expected behavior

• Special dates for observance

• Mannerisms, use of gestures, etc.

• Appropriate dress, etc.

Situational Awareness

• Conscious and constant focus on your environment

• You and your ear buds (the technology trap)

• Honing your observation skills

• Determining baselines of public life

• Knowing when to dial it up or down

• Transition points

• Your “Spidey Sense”

Awareness Framework (Cooper’s Colors)

Planning for your safety & security

• Learn as much as you can about your destination before leaving

• Ask experts for help in identifying risks and threats (State & CDC)

• Develop mitigation strategies for risks and threats

• Travel plans

• Communications plan

• Contingency plans

• Complete trip plan and share with a trusted person

• Conduct final checks

Why plan?

• Helps identify those “little” issues, like logistics

• Memory versus plans while under stress

• Puts rigor into your safety & security posture

• Good investment of your time

• Should walk through the plan before the trip and exercise it when abroad

• Focus on the “Who,” “What,” Where,” “When,” “Why,” and “How”

Useful Planning Tools

• Maps • https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/50.861/11.272 • https://www.google.ca/maps/@41.9636935,-85.2086738,5z?hl=en

• Government advisories • https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html • https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories • https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

• News • http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/ • http://www.bbc.com/news/world • http://www.aljazeera.com/

• Health • https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list/

Travel & Lodging Plans

• Make travel arrangements • Reliable flexible travel agent is a must • Flights, layovers, and connections • Alternate ways of getting to and from your destination

• Airport pick up plan: sensitive transition point • Who is meeting you? • How will you recognize them?

• Lodging • Fire escape plan • Security of entrances

• What is your expected daily schedule? • How does your schedule affect security? • Assess the daily routine ebb and flow of local life to find the benchmark

Communication Plan

• Primary (e.g. your mobile phone)

• Alternate (e.g. an email address)

• Contingency (e.g. local mobile, hotel or a friend)

• Emergency-Whatever is the most reliable method of communications • This may not be your primary. For example, if mobile coverage is spotty, then

email that can also be checked at the hotel might be more reliable.)

• What is your check in schedule?

• Duress word

• Communications failure plan (prearranged rally location, etc.)

• PACE concept works for many planning situations

Contingency Plans

• Traffic Accident – Your greatest risk

• Medical Plan – In case of severe illness or injury

• Emergency evacuation

• Natural disaster

• Worsening local security situation

• Failed communications

• Kidnap (express, ransom, political)

• Civil unrest (riots, strikes, civil disruption)

• Detention by legal authorities

• Travel problems (e.g., lost wallet or passport)

Trip File

• Itinerary

• Accommodation details

• Schedule

• Emergency family contact

• Relevant medical history

• Local contacts

• Contingency plans

• Communication plan

• Photo copy of:

• Passport

• Credit cards

• Medical card

• Medical insurance policy

• List of electronic devices and their serial numbers

• Duress contact plan

• Fingerprints?

Be Smart about Social Media

• Do not publicly give out or publicly share home addresses or multiple methods of contact (usually an email address will suffice), or regular travel/transportation routes and daily routines (such as how you get to class, your class schedule, or where and when you jog every day)

• Consider waiting to share photos and stories of amazing experiences until after you have left a location

• Use caution when new or unknown individuals ask to become connections

• Change your passwords regularly

• Check/update your privacy and security settings – security settings often change with little or no notice

• Respect the privacy of others – Ask other people for permission before using their names or publishing their photos, as they may have their own reasons for not wanting a public profile.

Social Media Disclaimer

“This site/blog (enter site’s title and address) is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author (insert name here) and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.”

• If you have any questions, feel free to contact your ECA program officer or Fulbright@state.gov

QUESTIONS?