Some thoughts (and resources) on abductions
Many humanitarian organizations rarely plan for staff member abductions (if you want to sound security savvy, call it K&R, for kidnap and ransom). While some large humanitarian organizations use security companies (Control Risks Group is popular) for handling abduction incidents and negotiations most NGOs don't have the budget to put a firm on retainer or the knowledge and/or training to handle an abduction by themselves.
It's a no-brainer that any NGO doing international work should include discussion of abductions in their policies and procedures. Staff abductions are very complex, emotionally charged, and potentially life threatening events. It pays to be responsive and have well thought out plans in place instead of being forced to improvise on the spot.
Unfortunately, classes for handling abduction incidents are few and far between and there's not a very large body of references on subject. So what's a humanitarian security practitioner or senior manager that wants to be better prepared to do? Here is a brief reading list on the subject with a few thoughts.
One of the few books devoted to dealing with abductions (not including victim autobiographies, which can also provide useful insights) is Kidnap for Ransom: Resolving the Unthinkable by Richard Wright. The book is an excellent introduction to all topics relating to kidnapping and includes a number of case studies as well guidelines and checklists. The price may be a bit steep for adding a copy to your personal reference collection ($79.95 for a 230-some odd page volume), but don't let that stop you since the book is available through most inter-library loan systems.
When it comes to crisis negotiations, Christopher Voss is one of the most experienced negotiators in the business. Voss was the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator and dealt with a number of high profile cases (since retiring, Voss started a negotiation consultancy called the Black Swan Group - a reference to Nicholas Nassim Taleb's popular book on unpredictable events titled The Black Swan). Voss' negotiation strategy was greatly influenced by Jim Camp's business negotiation book, Start With No. Voss argues that kidnapping and hostage taking are business-oriented in nature and that business negotiation concepts and techniques can be successfully used during abduction incidents.
Aside from Camp's book, another good source of information is just about any class, book or paper that has come from Harvard's Program on Negotiation; or its affiliated instructors. This well regarded program delivers some of the best and brightest thinking on negotiations of all types - including important work on inter-cultural dealings, a critical component for successful resolution of an overseas abduction.
It's been my experience that even following successful abduction resolutions, many NGOs like to pretend the incident never happened. Policies and procedures may never be fully reviewed or if they are, the information never filters down to the field. While I understand the negative PR aspects of full transparency and the potential for encouraging future abductions if details of a ransom are disclosed, it's seems rare that an incident is used as a teachable moment for an organization. In most cases a clear lack of situational awareness and/or disregarding security policies led to the abduction. Case studies and real-world "lessons learned" capture people's attention and get them to think. Don't neglect making some good out of an abduction by seeing if you can use it to prevent similar events from happening in the future.
It's a no-brainer that any NGO doing international work should include discussion of abductions in their policies and procedures. Staff abductions are very complex, emotionally charged, and potentially life threatening events. It pays to be responsive and have well thought out plans in place instead of being forced to improvise on the spot.
Unfortunately, classes for handling abduction incidents are few and far between and there's not a very large body of references on subject. So what's a humanitarian security practitioner or senior manager that wants to be better prepared to do? Here is a brief reading list on the subject with a few thoughts.
One of the few books devoted to dealing with abductions (not including victim autobiographies, which can also provide useful insights) is Kidnap for Ransom: Resolving the Unthinkable by Richard Wright. The book is an excellent introduction to all topics relating to kidnapping and includes a number of case studies as well guidelines and checklists. The price may be a bit steep for adding a copy to your personal reference collection ($79.95 for a 230-some odd page volume), but don't let that stop you since the book is available through most inter-library loan systems.
When it comes to crisis negotiations, Christopher Voss is one of the most experienced negotiators in the business. Voss was the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator and dealt with a number of high profile cases (since retiring, Voss started a negotiation consultancy called the Black Swan Group - a reference to Nicholas Nassim Taleb's popular book on unpredictable events titled The Black Swan). Voss' negotiation strategy was greatly influenced by Jim Camp's business negotiation book, Start With No. Voss argues that kidnapping and hostage taking are business-oriented in nature and that business negotiation concepts and techniques can be successfully used during abduction incidents.
Aside from Camp's book, another good source of information is just about any class, book or paper that has come from Harvard's Program on Negotiation; or its affiliated instructors. This well regarded program delivers some of the best and brightest thinking on negotiations of all types - including important work on inter-cultural dealings, a critical component for successful resolution of an overseas abduction.
It's been my experience that even following successful abduction resolutions, many NGOs like to pretend the incident never happened. Policies and procedures may never be fully reviewed or if they are, the information never filters down to the field. While I understand the negative PR aspects of full transparency and the potential for encouraging future abductions if details of a ransom are disclosed, it's seems rare that an incident is used as a teachable moment for an organization. In most cases a clear lack of situational awareness and/or disregarding security policies led to the abduction. Case studies and real-world "lessons learned" capture people's attention and get them to think. Don't neglect making some good out of an abduction by seeing if you can use it to prevent similar events from happening in the future.
Labels: Risk
posted by NGO Security at 11:34 AM
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