Travel

Intelligence
Hacks

EP Hacks
by
ISSUE #1 - MARCH 2017
 IN THIS ISSUE

10-Minute Travel Intelligence

The Ultimate Travel Intelligence Mind Map

Intelligence Writing Secrets for

the Uninitiated

How to Write Winning Travel Intelligence

Winning Travel Intelligence: Sample

EP Hacks: Travel Intel Challenge

9 Deadly Travel-Health Alerts

Mark These Dates (It Could Save Your Life)

Travel Intelligence Hacks–Moving Forward

2-Day Master Class: Travel Intel Hacks

Letter from the author
EP Hacks is a medium for executive protec-
tion professionals to tackle complex issues
and share ideas with their peers.
EP H A C K S
You can contact me here, to collaborate and produce
future issues of EP Hacks. You assist with the content, I’ll
do all the graphics work, and contribute content where I
can. And since you’re being generous with your time, it
would of course be appropriate for you to plug your own
My mission is to build a collection of invalu- business, projects, services, etc.
able resources–challenging the individual
executive protection professional to develop I look forward to working with you on our future projects!
and improve upon their skill set.
About This Issue

If there is one thing that I know, it’s travel intelligence.

What’s your problem?
This issue of EP Hacks is the product of my boiling
EP Hacks addresses a problem in executive protection:
down the process and key ideas involved in produc-
ing quality travel intelligence for an executive protec-
Although there are 1,000’s of well-written articles about
tion program.
executive protection online, they are scattered over 100’s
of sites, LinkedIn profiles, and so on.
By travel intelligence, I mean all things that should be
known in advance of the principal traveling domestically
The only sources of organized content about executive
or internationally.
protection, are the handful of books written about the
subject. The problem with these books is that they are
Furthermore, travel intelligence seeks to make judge-
(generally speaking) repurposed content, slightly updat-
ments about the future, interpret problems, support
ed since the day they were written. (SORRY!)
key personnel, and it has the principal’s interests as the
guiding factor.
Another shortcoming of these books is their lack of
interactivity. What tools did you take away from the last
If I had this issue of EP Hacks in my possession a few
book you read about executive protection? Was there a
years ago, it would have made my job much easier. I
diagram, an xls document, a formula, a template?
hope you find the information, tools, and techniques in
this issue as useful as I have.
In each issue of EP Hacks, my contributors and I will
tackle a single topic that impacts executive protection
I suspect that a complete novice armed with “Travel
professionals, providing the reader with practical tools &
Intelligence Hacks” could make great contributions to
knowledge that they can apply this minute.
to an executive protection program. And even for the
experienced analyst, it will serve as a valuable refresher.
I am actively seeking contributors for future issues of
EP Hacks.
Happy Hacking!
I am not a subject matter expert on the majority of top-
Travis Lishok
ics that will be covered in EP Hacks, so I will be relying
Creative Director
on expert contributors that want to be part of the cause
EP Nexus - Executive Protection Blog
of improving the tradecraft of our executive protection
www.epnexus.com
peers.

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10-Minute
Travel Intelligence

W hat can you produce in 10 minutes?
Caveat: Any professional that is creating a travel intelli-
gence product for the executive protection team, should
dedicate a minimum of 3 hours to this task. Plus, they
should dedicate one hour for creating the final draft
intended for the audience (principal, manager, etc.).
Suppose you only had 10 minutes to initiate your travel
intelligence research, and and then you had to provide an
initial report to your principal / executive protection man-
ager. Where would you start?
There are six sources that we will take advantage of in our
hasty research project.
Before we begin, if you have access to iJET World Cue (or
similar services), then take advantage of those services,
but still use the remaining sources to corroborate and give
context to the iJET reports. iJET is far from perfect, and it
should not be treated as a one-stop-shop for travel intelli-
gence.
#1 Google News
I recommend a quick keyword search of your location of
interest on Google News because it will aggregate recent
news relating to your keyword, and it will be from (generally
speaking) credible sources. Sources will often include: BBC,
NPR, WSJ, Etc. This step will alert you to any breaking news
or significant events relating to your interests before you
dive-deep into your research.

(1) Google News #2 Travel.State.Gov

(2) Travel.State.Gov
(3) OSAC The US State Department is the closest thing to a one-
(4) Stratfor stop-shop for the travel intelligence researcher. First, they
(5) Twitter provide a list of travel alerts and travel warnings for specific
(6) [Bonus] destinations.

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Second, they provide a detailed, concise report with the
following: passport/visa information, safety & security,
embassies/consulates, destination description, local laws,
health information, and more. Plus, you will find relevant
links here for the State Department “Fact Sheet” for that
particular country and more.
“Travel Warnings” vs “Travel Alerts”
A travel warning indicates that you might want to recon-
sider your travel, while a travel alert indicates a short-term
event that might impact your travel.
“We issue a Travel Warning when we want you to consider
very carefully whether you should go to a country at all.
Examples of reasons for issuing a Travel Warning might
include unstable gov-
ernment, civil war, on-
#4 Stratfor
Stratfor provides analysis and commentary on all things
geopolitical. There is only one draw back. Most of the
articles require that you either be a member (yearly fee), or
that you provide your email address, so that you can view
individual articles.
Side note: I do have one criticism of Strafor. There have
been many instances when I’ve researched how large
geopolitical events would impact trips to international
destinations. And at the conclusion of my research, after
reading five or more Stator articles about a particular issue,
I learned nothing significant. In these instances, I could
have got the same information (or better) from Reuters.
On occasion, Stratfor may only provide you with academ-
ic-hot-air that has
little substance or

3 Hacks For Quick

going intense crime or consequence for your
violence, or frequent research purposes.
terrorist attacks. “ - US & Pin-Point Travel Intel
State Department #5 Twitter
“We issue a Travel #1: Interview a native or expatriate that has Twitter is a necessity
real world experience at the destination.
Alert for short-term because it will give us
events we think you a general idea about
should know about what information is
when planning travel #2: Interview someone who recently visited currently trending
to a country. Examples
of reasons for issuing the destination. regarding our target
destination. In addi-
a Travel Alert might tion, you will find pic-
#3: Call the US Embassy at the destination
include an election tures and videos from
season that is bound
to inquire about considerations that you may
locals that give you in-
to have many strikes... sight into the situation
[or] a health alert have overlooked. there. It is also a good
like an outbreak of practice to search the
H1N1...” - US State names of your airports,
Department hotels, etc., as you may come across strikes, recent crimes,
and other activity missed by the previous sources.
#3 OSAC
Don’t forget to take advantage of Twitter’s advanced search
The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) provides features, allowing you to search tweets by the geographic
the researcher with crime & safety reports, daily news, and area that they were tweeted in.
more, for a wide range of international travel destinations.
Most of the content here is free to anyone, however, some [BONUS] Trends Map
of the resources are viewable only by members (referred
to as “constituents”). Becoming a constituent is fairly easy, Trends Map is a simple site that will display geographically,
provided that you have an LLC or similar business structure. which hashtags and key words are the most popular in a
given geographical area. For example, if you were attempt-
ing to predict anti-Trump protests in Illinois, the day after

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the US Presidential Election, this tool would make it sim-
ple. You could examine which geographic areas have the

Did you know...

highest concentration of “#nevertrump” hashtags, as one
example. Hashtags and keywords provide insight into the
public sentiment of a given geographic area.

10-Minute Travel Intelligence will not fulfill all of your travel EP Nexus has a public Scribd ac-
intelligence needs in 10 minutes. Rather, it is a proven count, so that readers can explore
framework for the analyst to conduct their initial assess- more documents relating to travel
ment of a particular domestic or international travel desti-
nation. intelligence.

Referenced Links Visit this link: EP Nexus on Scribd

https://news.google.com/ to access the following readings
(and more):
Travel.State.Gov

Search by country: https://travel.state.gov/content/pass- (1) OSAC - Travel Security

ports/en/country.html

Alerts & Warnings: https://travel.state.gov/content/pass- (2) DHS - Sample Emergency Plan

ports/en/alertswarnings.html

https://www.osac.gov/ (3) iJET Case Study - Female Traveler

Security
https://www.stratfor.com/

https://twitter.com/ (4) iJET Case Study - Nepal Earth-

quake
https://www.trendsmap.com/

(5) Others

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The Ultimate Travel
Intelligence Mind Map
I f something is worth doing, then it’s worth doing
right. That’s especially true if the CEO’s safety is at
stake.
The Travel Intelligence Mind Map is a framework for the
analyst. It gives them a systematic process to tackle the
ambiguous task of producing travel intelligence.
I have broken down the mind map into three sections: Gen-
eral, Macro-Level, and Micro-Level.
General encompasses the most basic information about
the location, such as entry requirements, immunizations,
infrastructure, and crime & safety.
The Macro-Level includes that information that you
would learn from the US State Department, OSAC,
iJET, Stratfor, and the home country’s government. This
phase of the process begins to reveal the larger concerns
that a security team will have to navigate: social unrest, ter-
ror threats, crime against US citizens, industrial espionage,
and more.
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Our process concludes with the Mirco-Level. During this
phase, the analyst drills down on what all the research
means to their specific mission.
-They corroborate the information from the Macro-Level
sources by reading local and international reports.
-They identify every destination on the principal’s itiner-
ary that may be subject to increased risk.
-They know where civil unrest usually occurs and when
scheduled strikes/protests will occur.
-They explore how changing weather conditions could
impact the client’s travel.
(We’re not just worried about the principal being assas-
sinated & kidnapped. If it’s typhoon season, or wildfire
season, then these are pertinent details!)
This is not an exhaustive list. It’s just a guide. But it’s a damn
good one, and I encourage you to create your own–one
that’s specific to your operation.
On to the digram…
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 Entry
Requirements OSAC

US State Dept.
Immunization Stratfor

General

Macro-Level
Crime & Safety

Destination
Food & Water iJet (or Similar) Government
Quality

Infrastructure
Priavte or Public
Sector
Vetted? Y/N
Medical Care

Electricity Associates Meeting

W/ Principal
Phone & Internet

Twitter (News)

Itinerary

US Embassy

Anniversary Dates
Proximity to
Areas of Concern
Micro-Level
Past Incidents of
Terror Atticks

Destinations During
Past Targets? Goals? Travel
Ideology?

State & Local News Airports

Resturants & Leisure

Transportation
Strikes

Civil Unrest Meeting Locations

Hotels
Local News

Airport
Train
ETC Weather / Season
Past Natural
Disasters

Political Climate Sporting Events Holidays

Trends

Atheist & Religious

Festivals
Anti-US/Christian/ETC
Bank / Transportation

DOWNLOAD FULL-SIZE IMAGE

Holiday
Intelligence Writing Secrets for
the Uninitiated
I ntelligence writing is not mystical. It is matter of
fact.
My favorite definition of intelligence comes from the
Hoover Commission (1955):
“Intelligence deals with all the things which should be
known in advance of initiating a course of action.”
The following are several short and meaningful statements
followed by my interpretation as if relates to our role in
executive protection, from the book Communicating With
Intelligence: Writing and Briefing in the Intelligence and
National Security Communities (2nd Edition) by James S.
Major.
I highly recommend reading this book whether you’re a
novice analyst or a veteran that wants to brush up on the
fundamentals. You can find it on Amazon.
“Lead With Your Knockout Punch”
This has multiple applications. First, your intelligence prod-
uct needs to lead with the most important information first
(not methods, or academic chicanery, just the cold hard-
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facts and conclusions-what your reader needs to know). Be-
gin with your conclusions, then follow up with your analysis
of what it means. In a more broad view, each paragraph of
your product must also begin with your knockout punch of
that paragraph.
“The Three Missions of Intelligence Writing”
1. “Make Judgements About the Future”
With limited time, questionable information, and evolv-
ing situations, the analyst must make judgements about
how various events impact the principal. Example: How
will missle tests in the region impact commericial and
private aviation?
2. “Interpret Foreign Cultures and Alien Problems”
For our purposes, this means to find the WHY behind any
particular event that happens to be at the center of our
research. Example: What caused the riot two blocks form
the principal’s hotel?
3. “Support Decision Makers”
The analyst supports decision makers by INTERPRETING
information, not just presenting information. They do
so by answering questions, providing background for
understanding a question, and by warning of potential
problems.
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How to Write Winning
Travel Intelligence

W hat if you asked 10 analysts for travel intelli-

gence reports for their 10 different principals
traveling from their homes in Silicon Valley to
a hotel in Shanghai? Might you get 10 completely
different reports?
Travel intelligence means many different things to many
different people. I am going to outline how I prefer to
structure and curate my travel intelligence reports. What to
include, what is assumed, what’s irrelevant, and so on.
The structure of my travel intelligence reports share similar-
ities with reports of iJet, OSAC, and the US State Depart-
ment. (USE WHAT WORKS!) I also abide by the principles
from “Intelligence Writing Secrets for the Uninitiated.”
Travel Intelligence VS Travel Research
The focus of our travel intelligence report is safety and se-
curity of the principal (and their assets). Their assets include
physical property (vehicles, planes, etc.) and intellectual
property (confidential business information, trade secrets,
etc.). We are also being conscious of potential threats to
the principal’s image (embarrassment), potential inconve-
niences during travel, and more.
All information outside of safety, security, and immediate
factors impacting the principal will be referred to simply
as “travel research,” and this will go in a separate report
for the executive protection team. Travel research should
be completed well in advance of the trip because of visa
and immunization requirements. Plus, if the situation at the
destination is so dangerous that you need to insist on the
principal avoiding this location, then it’s best to do this in
advance.
The travel research should include information about the
following: entry requirements, immunization requirements,
background (culture, currency rates, etc.), and any pre-
liminary security concerns. Don’t forget to research what
items are contraband such as firearms, taser, handcuffs, sat
phone, etc.
Technically it’s all intelligence, but we need to agree on
terms for the sake of communication.

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Collection Phase (CHECK), Now What?
We started our intelligence collection phase with this in
mind: “we need to address the issue of the client’s safety &
security.”
Logically following that issue is the question: “What are the
greatest threats to the principal during the trip (and how
can they be avoided or mitigated)?”
Threat ? Risk ? (Insert Synonym) ?
As an equation, Threat = Risk X Impact
(source: Executive Protection: Rising to the Challenge by R. L.
Oatman)
“Risk” is better understood as likelihood, while “Impact” is
simply the potential effect of the threat if it materializes.
Threats: The Big Four
Generally, regarless of location, these are our primary
threats: assassination, kidnapping, injury, and embar-
rassment. However, some might say this isn’t sufficient.
We could easily expand to include street crime, medical
emergency, and more.
Potentially, we could assign our own values to any or all
of these factors, once we’ve concluded our research. We
could even take into account the value designations from
OSAC (crime, safety, terrorism), iJet, the US State Depart-
ment, and the home country government, which may have
a terror or crime designation for its cities.
These threats could easily be assigned values based on
risk, impact, vulnerabilities, and security measures (mitiga-
tion).
It’s Time to Produce the Report
The report should begin with an overview or summary of
your conclusions. In this summary, you need to state what
the greatest threats to the principal are–preferably two or
three which you discovered during your collection phase.
These threats or concerns can range from negligible to
significant, and they have to be supported by evidence.
For a trip to Luxembourg, maybe your primary concern is a
looming strike by airport workers. But for your trip to Mexi-
co your primary concern might be kidnapping.
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After outlining our primary threats regarding the principal’s
proposed travel, we will give detailed evidence to support
those concerns. Further, we will give an informed recom-
mendation for mitigating the threats. Side note: this is up
to the discretion of the policy maker/reader of the final
report. They may want security recommendations from the
analyst, to get an informed perspective different from their
own. But if the analyst has a limited security background,
then maybe the reader doesn’t want their recommenda-
tions. Their call!
After our summary, the body of the report will include de-
tailed information supporting the conclusions we stated in
our summary.
Some of this supporting information would include the
following:
-Travel alerts & warnings from the US State Department,
OSAC, iJET, or others
-Crime, safety, and/or terror ratings by US State Depart-
ment, OSAC, iJET, and home country government
-CDC travel health notices
-Recent trends in crime: nation-state & local–especially
those involving high profile victims
-Recent social unrest & current trends
-Past terrorist attacks in the area (with emphasis on his-
torically symbolic dates [More on this later–see “Mark
These Dates (It Could Save Your Life)”]
Almost Done!
We will end our report with an Appendix.
Here we can include any other supporting documentation
that did not quite belong in the report. This might include
a map of intended stops with areas of concern annotated,
a weather forecast, relevant diagrams/statistics, and our
favorite–emergency contacts!
Every book ever written about EP or travel safety has stated
that you need to know where these are: embassies, consul-
ates, hospitals, police stations, and more (such as second-
ary airport).
And… You’re Done
But you’re not really done because the situation is dy-
namic, conditions will change, and the principal’s itinerary
will change. So continually monitor the situation, and make
revisions as necessary, keeping everyone informed.
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This sample report is meant to give an example of how one might structure their own travel
intelligence report. I did not include real or fictitious content (in the body) because I want the
reader to focus on the structure–not the substance.
9 Deadly Travel-Health Alerts

A s an analyst collecting and producing travel

intelligence, you will undoubtably come across
alerts from iJET, The Center for Disease Con-
Save these to your travel intel folder, and use them as
references!

trol (CDC), The US State Department, and others They will save you time, and your team will see how knowl-
edgeable (and organized) you are, should you ever have to
about a range of ridiculous viruses and illnesses
explain this information.
you’ve never heard of.
On to the chart...
As an exercise for myself and the reader, I have created a
simple chart breaking down the most common and notable
illnesses that we should be aware of.

You’re going to see alerts for these, so you might as

well know if they’re fatal, if there’s a vaccine, and how
to prevent becoming affected.

I have a document to simplify all of this for you:

“9 Deadly Travel-Health Alerts” PDF (next page) &

[download full file here]

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 9 Deadly Travel-Health Alerts

(source: Center for Disease Control)

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 Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonepowell/

Mark These Dates (It Could

Save Your Life)

C an we use the anniversaries of past terrorist

attacks to predict future attacks?
Attackers of all kinds are inspired by their predecessors.
They will even take previous attack anniversaries and other
significant dates into account during their attack planning.
Was it a coincidence on September 11th, 2012 when the US
Consulate and CIA Annex in Benghazi, Libya were attacked
by Islamic militants?
This tool enables the analyst to make better informed
calculations about threats to the principal. Plus, the securi-
ty staff can be hyper-aware of potential attacks. They may
even change their approach to security for a particular trip
because of this information.
Click this button to access the .ICS calendar file, and
receive instructions to import the dates into your personal
calendar (iCal, Outlook, Gmail, Etc.).

Not likely!

I created a digital calendar with over 50 of the most notable

terrorist attack anniversaries in world history, which you can
import into your personal calendar (iCal, Outlook, Gmail, ADD TO CALENDAR
Etc.). This simple tool–the first of it’s kind, allows the analyst
to overlay terrorist attack anniversaries with the dates of the
principal’s travel itinerary.

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Travel Intelligence Hacks–
Moving Forward

A rmed with this 23 page PDF, I am confident

that you can make a remarkable contribution to
your executive protection program.

You have at a minimum, an understanding of the role of

travel intelligence in executive protection, and you have a
detailed framework to leverage in your intelligence mission.

It is now time for you to take these tools and apply them
specifically to your program. You’re responsible to improve
upon my ideas and refine them to work for your needs.

If you have any questions or comments, please email me at

lishok@epnexus.com

I would love to hear from you!

Travis Lishok
Principal | EP Nexus
www.epnexus.com

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