About
Daniel Smith. Principal Consultant
Twenty-seven years of experience in security, risk and protective operations as a former British Army Commando, 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
Every finding costed against the benefit of fixing it.
A survey ends on one page: a rating, the findings that matter, and the three things to do first. Every recommendation carries its cost and the loss it removes, so the return is stated rather than implied.
- 17areas
- Surveyed against the same list every time, from the approach inwards
- 6stages
- Reasons, research, preparation, survey, debrief, then the report
- 3actions first
- What to do before anything else, named on the summary page
- 1page
- The summary a board can read without the report behind it
How the work is written
- Critical findings are given verbally before I leave, so nothing urgent waits for the report
- What is already working is stated before the findings, so you know what not to change
- Every finding reads the same way round: what was looked at, what was found, why it matters, what to do
- Each recommendation carries a rating, a cost and a named owner
- What is out of scope is written down, including system design and fire risk assessment
- Standards are used as a benchmark, never claimed as certification
What a survey covers
- Surrounding area, approach and local crime picture
- Access control, external and internal
- CCTV coverage, condition and retention
- Intruder detection
- Manned guarding, licensing and hours
- Control room
Every finding is costed against the benefit of fixing it, and the return is stated alongside each recommendation. Where a figure is an estimate it is labelled as one and given as a range.
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.
Operational footprint
Built on 27 years of military, corporate, humanitarian and executive security experience.
United Kingdom
Practice base
UK & Europe
Delivered work
UK & Europe
Delivered work
UK & Europe
Delivered work
UK & Europe
Delivered work
UK & Europe
Delivered work
UK & Europe
Delivered work
UK & Europe
Military service
UK & Europe
Military service
UK & Europe
Military service
UK & Europe
Military service
UK & Europe
Military service
UK & Europe
Military service
Americas
Military service
Americas
Military service
UK & Europe
Delivered work
UK & Europe
Military service
UK & Europe
Delivered work
Caribbean
Delivered work
Africa
Delivered work
Middle East
Humanitarian response
Middle East
Military service
Asia-Pacific
Military service
Middle East
Delivered work
Asia-Pacific
Delivered work
Asia-Pacific
Delivered work
Asia-Pacific
Delivered work
Hover over a location or select a category to explore
Next step
Talk it through first.
Describe the situation and I will tell you what I would do about it, or whether you need me at all. Fifteen minutes.