About
Daniel Smith. Principal Consultant
Twenty-seven years of experience in security, risk and protective operations, including service with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, with military and civilian deployments and operations internationally.
Extensive experience teaching, training and mentoring military personnel, international partners, security professionals and civilian audiences, from operational environments to corporate and community settings.
The work
Deliverables.
Every document listed is held as a live template in the practice library, issued with a reference, a version and a date. They are written to be used by your own people during an engagement and after it.
- 01
Assess
Establish what the threat actually is, and who carries it.
- Security survey report
- Cost-benefit analysis
- Threat and vulnerability assessment
- Destination risk matrix
- Risk register, scored and owned
- Country snapshot
- 02
Plan
Turn the assessment into something a team can be held to.
- Travel risk management plan
- Journey management plan
- Protective services policy
- Travel risk rules by threat level
- Roles and responsibilities, named
- Standard operating procedures
- 03
Travel prepared
The pack that goes with the people, on the day.
- Executive travel brief
- Contact tree
- Medical and emergency sheet
- Route and venue check
- Driver and vehicle daily check
- Pre-departure checklist
- 04
Respond
What gets reached for when something has already gone wrong.
- Crisis management plan and policy
- Escalation flow, one page
- Incident log
- Business continuity plan
- Tabletop exercise pack
- Situation report format
- 05
Assure
Proof the spend worked, and what to change next time.
- Vendor and provider assessment
- Post-trip review
- After action review
- Findings and recommendations report
Each document carries a reference, a version and a date on its face, so anyone holding one can tell in a second whether it is the current copy.
Evidence
A completed survey and its cost-benefit analysis.
A licensed venue, newly refitted, with a security spend already in place. The survey is anonymised. The numbers are not.
- 7critical
- Findings serious enough to need action before anything else
- £2,000to fix
- Total cost of the recommended changes, training and equipment
- £16,600avoided
- Loss, claims, fines and closure risk the changes remove
- 8:1return
- Eight pounds back for every one spent, paid back inside a month
What the survey found
- Service stairs too dark to use safely while trading
- External camera fogging in cold weather, coverage lost when it was needed
- Cash carried to the bank on foot, by one person, unescorted
- Rear fire door wedged open, defeating the keypad fitted to control it
- Fire exits obstructed by stored equipment
- Door staff required to seek authorisation before acting on aggression
What it covered
- General environment and local crime picture
- Access control, external and internal
- CCTV coverage, condition and retention
- Intruder detection
- Manned guarding, licensing and hours
- Control room
Rated Amber overall. Every finding was costed against the benefit of fixing it, with the return stated alongside each recommendation.
Footprint
Where the work has been done.
Each point represents experience working across different cultures and environments. It has built an understanding of local context, how people communicate, build trust and make decisions differently, and why an approach that works in one place, with one group of people, may not work somewhere else.
Practice base
United Kingdom
Practice base. Working across UK and EMEA time zones.
Delivered work
Paris
Executive travel risk and journey management for principal movement.
Delivered work
Cote d'Azur & Monaco
Nice, Cannes, Saint-Tropez and Monaco. Event and executive movement planning, venue and route assurance.
Delivered work
The Alps
Geneva, Zurich, Davos, St Moritz and Courchevel.
Delivered work
Italy
Milan, Rome, Vatican City, Portofino, Naples, Capri and Sardinia.
Delivered work
Munich
Germany.
Delivered work
Amsterdam
Netherlands.
Military service
Norway
Northern Europe.
Military service
Denmark
Northern Europe.
Military service
Finland
Northern Europe.
Military service
France
Western Europe.
Military service
Slovenia
Central Europe.
Military service
Cyprus
Eastern Mediterranean.
Military service
Canada
North America.
Military service
United States
North America.
Delivered work
Madrid
Spain.
Military service
Canary Islands
Eastern Atlantic.
Delivered work
Greece & Turkiye
Athens, Istanbul and Bodrum.
Delivered work
Sint Maarten & Saint Barthelemy
Eastern Caribbean.
Delivered work
Egypt
North Africa.
Delivered work
Gaza
Humanitarian response in an active conflict environment.
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.
Delivered work
United Arab Emirates
Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Executive travel and event security, regional risk planning.
Delivered work
Hong Kong & Macau
Executive protection and corporate resilience through sustained civil unrest.
Delivered work
South Korea
North East Asia.
Delivered work
Singapore & Kuala Lumpur
South East Asia.
How I work
Four principles, applied to every engagement.
Proportionate
The response should match the risk. I recommend what is necessary, explain why, and don't add measures that serve no real purpose.
Clear judgement
Every piece of work reaches a conclusion. What I recommend, why I recommend it, and what needs to happen next.
Evidence-led
Recommendations are based on the available evidence, properly assessed. Facts, assumptions and gaps are kept separate so you can see what the judgement is based on.
Practical
It has to work in practice, not just read well in a report. Recommendations take account of the people, the environment and how the organisation actually operates.