V.I.P.A Tactical Training

The Superyacht and Megayacht, floating palaces, residences either owned by or chartered by your principal or future client.

Whether berthed, anchored off shore or while out at sea, it is quit possibly the least protected and most difficult residence you will have to protect, as well as protecting those on board.
At present; the security of these vessels has not been a big concern of designers and owners alike at the initial planning stage.
Basic systems such as CCTV are standard; because up until now the low level threat against these types of vessels, namely theft of on board kit and equipment has meant everything else is as an add on and any upgrading of security systems and procedures is driven by the threat against the owner, the cost of purchase, fitting and maintenance, in comparison to the risk of the threat actually happening.

As you are well aware, you can never fully achieve 100% security at all times and on these vessels it is even less so, with chinks in the system that we can either do nothing or very little about.

Let me just say here that there are two different objectives while on board. One is the security objective by the security team and the other is a safety objective by the crew and one sometimes does not complement the other.

Here are some basic lapses that offer access to the vessel in one form or another:
A minimum of 1-2 doors must be left unlocked at all times, by maritime law. Safety in mind - not security.

Untrained or security/threat blind crew, especially when the principal or security team are not on board.

External workmen, again while the principal or security team are not on board have easier access to all areas of the vessel. 
Whilst in dry dock for general maintenance or specific repairs the vessel is vulnerable to a number of threats. If your principal has a high enough threat against him/her it is essential that on completion of work in dry dock a thorough electronic, explosive and contraband sweep is carried out.

But let's get back out onto the sea and look at systems that can help you better protect your vessel from attack.
Like the rest of our land based security you have to take a holistic approach and combine elements of electronic, physical and human resources.
Each of these resources will give us time to respond effectively to either attacks or potential attacks.
If you look at the picture below you will note it is split into ever decreasing distances of security. Much like the Coopers colour codes used to enhance awareness of the threats in our environment.

I am not going to go into distances here as that will depend on the environment you will find yourself in.
Firstly there are a few things you can do prior to sailing:
Crew training if your principal owns the vessel. Not really possible on a charter yacht, but an advance can be done to find out the state of the vessel and crew.
Visiting port; threat and risk assessments. Although the vessels management company will have a Company Security Officer I would not recommend a third party doing this for you.
Transit/route/location threat and risk assessment.

There are some electronic systems that will have to be doubled up. Remember the two objectives? Well radar is one of these. The radar on the bridge used by the crew is for the safety of the vessel, so with this in mind a second radar, located in the ops room is for the security of the vessel. Here we have choices, do you want a forward only looking radar for when sailing or a 360* looking radar for when sailing and when at anchor. It may be that you will require a combination of both.

As always there is no reliance on just one set of equipment. While at anchor, tenders can be deployed to patrol the vicinity of the verification area (when not used as safety boats of course).

Subsurface detection of vehicles and divers must also be considered and portable detection devices such as the Cerberus Mod2 or other variants are ideal.

With subsurface threats in mind you also will have to consider the berths and anchorages that are used frequently, hull searches and sea bed searches can be done by divers or drones. For seabed  clearance searches a gridded search plan needs to be formulated. Especially so; if your vessel has a fixed anchor point situated close to a land based residence.

Items of equipment such as these give you time to respond to threats at a distance. There are times when these bits of kit are not going to be able to be deployed. It goes without saying that while on board, the ops room is going to have to be manned at all times as well as a standing watch at the stern. If you do not have the manpower or are on the vessel as an individual bodyguard then these bits of kit are of no use.

Your final layer of defence is now on board the vessel. Here the first asset; the security team, the stern will be manned 24/7 on a rotation basis. During silent hours the night shift security, will patrol all decks at various times and will be stationed at the stern to cover the swim platform, the easiest and most likely way someone will get on board. A portable infra red beam can be used to cover the steps leading from the swim platform to the main deck, in event of the beam being Broken a signal is sent to a pager. This is ideal when the security member is patrolling the vessel.

Items at hand should be a powerful hand held torch. Internal mobile phone, radio (If ops room is manned), night vision goggles and video camera.

Escape hatches for the principals berths, only opening one way and leading to various parts of the vessel can be installed alongside submersible escape pods, obviously depending on the size of the boat. 
If the vessel is big enough to hold a helicopter then this also can provide another means of escape.

Installing a safe room is possible. The only caveat is that of the vessel sinking.

None of the above is going to work effectively though if you do not have a ships security plan for when the principal is on board. S.O.Ps, 'Actions On' for all eventualities must be planned, written and practiced, not to mention all of the training required to operate items of equipment and your role in the security protection detail.

A few procedures:
Intruder/s on board
Attempted boarding
Boarding
Bomb threat 
Bomb explodes on board
Shots fired on board
Weapons or explosives detected
Search plan

I have left firearms out intentionally. It took the Commercial sector years to deploy armed riding teams on cargo vessels even after numerous ships were high-jacked. The private Superyacht sector is going to be no different. Yes weapons can be on board but the logistics of actually having them at the moment far out way their need. There will have to be a number of attacks in the Med before having firearms on board becomes the norm.

This does not bode well for those few vessels that will be the first to be attacked by terrorists.

On any 'Action' each security team member must know their role, if not everyone will do what they think they should do and not what they must do. This also goes for the vessels crew.

Do you have your vessels S.O.Ps and 'Actions On' in order?
Does every member of your security team know their role when faced with specific threats?

Vessel protection and protection of the principal while on board requires a full security program, remember it's the principal on holiday, not you!

Stay Dangerous

Rock

As you are probably aware, the Middle East is in turmoil, the Arab Spring has sprung and failed and IS continue their march. Not only the IS but affiliates in other countries continue to grow and align themselves with them.

With the IS in Libya and taking control of a number of coastal towns, terrorism on the high seas in the Med looms large.

For years now we have seen how lucrative piracy (The polite term for maritime terrorism) has been for Somali terrorists capturing commercial cargo vessels and crew, especially around the Horn of Africa and how ineffectual the authorities have been to stop it.

Ponder on this. Somali maritime terrorists who are Muslim and pirating because they cannot fish, because this is the only way they can make money?

So where does this money go, building their communities, better housing, better clothes, cars, bigger and faster boats, hey we have millions let's party? Well maybe not.
Some  goes into their coffers yes but most goes to fund another Islamic terrorist army Al-Shabaab who have been contacted by IS, will they also bend their knee and serve the Islamic State? that though is for another blog post.

Well back to the Med, the playground of the rich and famous and of course their floating luxury palaces. Let me give you some perspective on distances.

This is just a rough guideline as it all depends on where you start off from on the Libyan Coast.
Libya to Greece 541 nautical miles
Libya to Italy 315 nautical miles
Somali maritime terrorists operate over 400 nautical miles from their coastline, well into international waters albeit with the use of mother craft from which they launch their attack boats.

This will not have been lost on the IS and here we need to look at three distinct reasons as to why an attack on a luxury vessel will happen. The means, the motive and the opportunity.

THE MEANS
Do they have the capability to attack vessels? At the present time possibly not, not far out into the Med anyway, but with their (IS) current wealth estimated at $2 Billion, weapon and vehicle procurement as we have seen on shore does not seem to be a problem. So shortly we will see fast craft and larger vessels being used to threaten those on the high seas and neighbouring countries.

THE MOTIVE
Not for profit. 
Capture and use as a landing platform to launch either suicide attacks by a unit of terrorists or as a VBIED Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device.
Both delivered into the heart of two worlds, the world of the rich and famous and the world of the holiday maker. 

Superyachts with anything from a crew of 10 upwards. High net worth owners on board plus wealthy guests and cruise liners with hundreds of passengers and crew.
We have seen the horror when journalists, aid workers and certain ethnic towns people are executed. How much more would it shock the West to have their rich and famous idols or ordinary tourists executed on masse in the same way?

And here is the problem, these vessels are largely unprotected. I have worked in the med for the last two decades, anywhere from one to three months per year on Superyachts and only had two instances of attempted boarding. That is going to change for the worse.

So the motive is great. A Trojan horse delivered into the belly of the corrupt West.

OPPORTUNITY
The opportunity to capture any amount of these vessels is unlimited due to the amount of vessels in this location. But it will only happen on a few occasions and those occasions it will have to be momentous. 
Look at the the size of the Med, it's not big compared to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean so patrolling it should be no problem, which country that falls down to though is the problem. Italy do not have the capability, they are waiting for the UN to step in with the refugee boat people problem.

So let's  look at the security of these vessels. For a start, compared to cargo vessels they are low in the water; whether sailing or at anchor. Most of these wealthy people do not have security as they either do not think there is a threat against them or they are playing the numbers game and in reality I would not know most of the people who own these vessels anyway. But the vessel itself is the attraction.

I have seen pictures from security companies advertising Yacht security whereby razor wire and large searchlights have been used to advertise their security procedures. Never seen it in real 
Life mind you. Yep I'm wealthy, I'm going to buy a multi-million pound pleasure craft and turn it into a prisoner of war camp, not likely. Commercial Cargo vessel target hardening does not go down well on these vessels.

The crew (House staff), now we as security professionals don't usually rely on house staff to man the barricades at our principals estate or home but here we do, and unless you train the crew for certain actions then you are on to a loser. Whilst they are or should be trained in the fire fighting, man overboard, abandon ship routines, as well as their personal duties, having a Close Protection team on board brings added duties that they will not be happy with and you will have to contend with.

Like most land based security, the superyacht fraternity is no different when it comes to the feel good factor, which most maritime security companies exploit. Yes I've seen the deck plans for searching (By untrained crew),  the crew based security options, do nothing, barricade yourself in on the bridge or engine room, whilst your boat is ransacked, robbed or taken over, yep the owner is really going to like that! The security exercises against untrained crew members, the ridiculous questions asked by security company personnel trying to gain information. Great money earning exercises. Though all to no avail as when the report comes through, it won't mean anything to the crew and less to the owner, I've seen those reports and have conversed with ships captains.

It will happen and the worst part is that until it does nothing will change for the majority of vessel owners.

Are you a vessel owner, captain or first officer, is your security plan actionable or just kept in the draw on the bridge?

Are you, your crew or security team aware of the threats they face?

Do you work close protection or security on your clients vessel, is its security up to spec, do you know how to bring it up to spec, are you aware if the threats you face?

let me ask you this, do you ever fight where you train? Not spar but fight?

One thing I guarantee is that if you train with me you will fight. In the ring, outside in the rain, in the snow, in gales, on the beach, in the car, in a lift, on a bus in fact anywhere where you may have to defend yourself. No set attacks but you will be attacked and there will be no holding back.

Some like to wear head gear, I don't as i get hit more with head gear on. All wear a box and a gum shield and either boxing gloves or MMA gloves are worn. You will of course also fight during certain drill sets. Not role play just drills.

In these fights a hell of a lot more power is used than in sparring, no agreed stop signals (You stop when you are told to stop) no time allocations, it's as close to the street as it can be. Single or multiple attackers, unarmed and weapons and everyday clothing.

Only stipulation, no groin, eye attacks or biting.

Because it is still a training tool most people fail because they don't have a game plan, and the game plan is up to the defender, his game plan not the attackers, they have their own.

As a security professional I have to have a game plan for every protection detail I do, protecting someone's life cannot be done off the cuff. If I have a game plan to protect someone else's life then I really should have one to protect mine. So wherever I go I have a game plan, now this is easy for me as I have been doing it constantly at work for the last 23 years. It's much harder if you are not used to doing it.
We know that game plans go out of the window when the shit hits the fan, how much more shit are you going to be in without one?

Because the 'FIGHT' is another training tool it is often misinterpreted. When guys could have escaped they've scrapped it out; even when outnumbered. Remember this replicates the streets it's not a competition.

During technical training sessions you have to simulate some body functions, tiredness, out of breath or stress for example. They actually though do not prove anything and if you don't fight they can give you a sense of being better than you actually are.

If you get winded during sparring you can stop until you have recovered but if you get winded while fighting, when you can't breath, you may be puking and you are still taking punishment then you have to suck it up and carry on.

When training, train the same way you are going to fight.

So do you fight or are you just playing at fighting?

Stay Dangerous

Rock