WEEKLY ROUND-UP #26 (19 JUNE-26 JUNE)

We will go back to some of our tweets of interest of the past week and expand further on the indicators that we presented as they affect the security situation of a country. When we produce vulnerability assessments for our clients, six threat factors are analyzed and assessed while four hazards are also analyzed and assessed. If gaps are identified they are covered by atmospherics elements. The goal of our tweets is to highlight and provide examples of the research that we do.

From 20 June:

Ecuador murder rate down 15% in 2014. We judge that murders targeting tourists are atypical.

Our comment: Our competition will highly likely only report the first sentence, as any news outlet would do. The catch is that the second sentence -which can loosely be labelled as "analysis"- is a  paid for service for our competition, as one travel risk mitigation company previously told us. No kidding.

From 21 June:

Assessment: Kenya's tourism & dire security situation directly linked to its fight vs Al-Shabaab in Somalia. We also judge that even if Kenyan forces withdraw, the extremists will continue attacks. Prospects of safer tourism highly unlikely. See us for details.

Our comment: This is a real intelligence assessment that is properly referred to in our industry as "open source intelligence". We challenge any reader to disprove this accurately analyzed and long term outlook. As a matter of fact this constitutes basic intelligence analysis based on past trends and patterns. That simple.

From 25 June: 

Brazil update: Rio de Janeiro: street crimes up by 50% in first 90 days of 2014. Affluence triggered opportunities. Contact us on how to stay safer.

Our comment: We always provide a "so what?" to our tweets. Why report a news event or a statistic without offering to make sense of its potential importance? Well established security firms fail to expand on their tweets as it is easier to report a past event. Less so to provide expert insight...

Our outlook: For us at PAR-SEC Consulting offering analysis, insight and other small snippets into what matters on a courtesy basis makes sense. Travelers as well as our twitter followers benefit and we gain credibility and a well deserved exposure that differentiates us from our competitors, making us innovative. We will continue to establish corroboration of our dependability and while we will convince that we are better suited to keep our clients safer while abroad without gimmicky electronic gadgets or with reactive travel alerts which are both indicative of lack of insight and denuded of analytical reach, we offer accurate intel that will ensure that our clients are ideally equipped to achieve their travel goals while in riskier countries, for business or leisure. After all we, contrary to a world renowned " geopolitical intelligence and advisory firm" accurately assessed the security outcome to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. For free and for all via twitter. 

We welcome inquiries so we can determine your security needs. Your first consultation is always free. We invite you to review our past twitter posts @parsecconsult as well as this blog's entries. 

We encourage feedback and questions to our e-mail:parsec.consulting@gmail.com

Our website: http://parsecconsulting.wix.com/parsecconsulting

Attribution: copies and redistribution of the above material in any medium or format is authorized providing full attribution is credited by using full link of present blog. 

WEEKLY ROUND-UP #25 (05 JUNE-12 JUNE)

We will go back to some of our tweets of interest of the past week and expand further on the indicators that we presented as they affect the security situation of a country. When we produce vulnerability assessments for our clients, six threat factors are analyzed and assessed while four hazards are also analyzed and assessed. If gaps are identified they are covered by atmospherics elements. The goal of our tweets is to highlight and provide examples of the research that we do.

From 10 June:

1.  Peru update: Are you a mining firm operating in Apurimac area? We judge violence likely to soon escalate there targeting mining companies. Consult us to accurately evaluate your security needs. Our clients stay safer while abroad & return home "mission accomplished"

From 11 June:  

2.  China update: cases of H7N9 were fewer in March. Guangdong is still the province with most cases. Stay away from live poultry markets and farms. 

Our comment: We often aim our Weekly Round-Ups for the tourist. Business travelers and employees of corporations who operate abroad are likely to encounter some risks from time to time despite of carrying out due diligence (to include duty of care from the employer) and we will discuss further on these inherent possibilities to them. For instance the interior region (similar connotation to a province or state) of Apurimac is rich in several minerals (especially gold) and is a lucrative area for foreign mining companies to operate. Locals know this and have actually known this for hundreds of years. It is widely recognized that many of the residents who are Quechua indigenous people feel that they never got their fair share and this adds to their perception - quite rightfully at times - that foreign companies literally come barging in and regardless of any environmental consequences would exploit the land for its immense riches by excluding residents of reasonable employment prospects and from any share of indirect profits such as basic infrastructure upgrades or other community benefits. Thankfully that era is for the most part over, mainly driven by decades of grievances, grudges, protests and violence. However, the stigmas of the past have a real effect on local perceptions. This is when the likelihood for resurging or sporadic violence is possible but more specifically from a collateral nature to company representatives. It constitutes a remote and difficult threat to properly assess as the sources are at first unimportant in appearance albeit numerous such as from corrupt or lax officials, etc. 

From a different standpoint hazards also constitute potential risks to the business traveler and can occur despite taking a series of preventive measures. Often it is unclear of how or if a disease or a virus can be contained or how it may be transmitted, etc. Are there indications of an outbreak? Is there a vaccine in development? How can a person be confident to avoid coming in contact with a vector? These are all questions that certainly necessitate knowledge and for a dedicated team that can carry out pertinent research and monitoring of the many health hazards as we can, to include access to expert medical and virological advice that are available to us.

Our outlook: The two scenarios articulated above are real and at the same time often difficult to completely contain or avoid. We at PAR-SEC Consulting do accurately assess the likely atmospherics to better understand and interact with the many local populations worldwide. There are many other resources available to understand some of the peculiarities of conducting business abroad while accounting for cultural sensitivities however there is a fairly large margin for error that would be exposed.  

On the other hand we carefully and continuously focus our health hazard monitoring to areas where newer diseases or emerging strains are initially identified such as MERS so our clientele can be properly appraised of what it means to them along with our recommended courses of action. 

We welcome inquiries so we can determine your security needs. Your first consultation is always free. We invite you to review our past twitter posts @parsecconsult as well as this blog's entries. 

We encourage feedback and questions to our e-mail:parsec.consulting@gmail.com

Our website: http://parsecconsulting.wix.com/parsecconsulting

Attribution: copies and redistribution of the above material in any medium or format is authorized providing full attribution is credited by using full link of present blog. 

WEEKLY ROUND-UP #24 (30 MAY-04 JUNE)

We will go back to some of our tweets of interest of the past week and expand further on the indicators that we presented as they affect the security situation of a country. When we produce vulnerability assessments for our clients, six threat factors are analyzed and assessed while four hazards are also analyzed and assessed. If gaps are identified they are covered by atmospherics elements. The goal of our tweets is to highlight and provide examples of the research that we do.

From 31 May:

1.  Soon traveling abroad? Not sure of safety considerations? We welcome inquiries so we can determine your security needs. Your first consultation is always free. We offer unrivaled security solutions for travelers.

From 02 June:

2. We tweet indicators of evolving security situation, what it means and a weekly summary with an outlook. Free. We really focus our work on assessing what's likely next, setting us apart. 

3.  We are the only travel intel & advice firm to offer accurate insight & proven assessments. Our competition do "travel alerts" & other news.

From 03 June:

4. Traveling soon to the Philippines? Be aware that more regions are now affected by terrorism & insurgents. Consult us prior to travel.

Our comment: More and more travelers and tourists of all ages, from all venues, financial backgrounds, etc fly to thousands of destinations around the world for numerous reasons. Most travelers actually go to countries that are considered safe such as most European countries, Canada, Japan or many more. Some others, trusted to be more experienced, often opt for the less popular spots, for personal reasons. They are the ones that usually keep better informed of what is required before the trip, to consult their government travel warning websites, etc. Another category, usually business travelers and employees of companies who operate in hazardous regions worldwide will retain the services of travel risk mitigation companies. Obviously those companies are successful as most have been in business for a long time and offer all kinds of services in order to keep their clients safe, as they should. We offer services that target the same clientele however we use innovation in order to set ourselves apart. We must be operating in a new and effective manner as some of our competitors do actually read this blog and our tweets regularly. We also keep our advice in an easy to follow manner. We also are proud to announce that our services, besides being highly effective are also probably the most cost effective available. As an example, our condensed Brazil FIFA 2014 World Cup travel advice is provided free, unlike some of our competitors who will charge a fee, for a document that is easily comparable, fact for fact. They do offer additional information and graphs such as the addresses of the stadiums or where prominent areas known for crimes are situated but your government offers that service for free. Why pay for that? 

On a daily basis many of our competitors report the news via Twitter without explaining what it means. We tweet almost daily as well and more specifically we report items that are related to the security situation of countries that are considered at a higher risk for people who choose to travel there. More accurately we tweet indicators that allow us to showcase what is actually happening and what it means. A competitor disclosed to us that providing extra input than strictly reporting the news "is a paid for service for our clients". 

Not us. 

As an example, on 03 June we tweeted that the known insurgent and terrorist groups that operate within the Philippines are now known to be present in areas that are outside of their usual areas of operation. This is important for travelers as the collateral risk to them may elevate. The several vulnerability assessments that we have posted here were all generic and do differ greatly from what our clients invest in. What we offer to our clients are accurate assessments into the likelihood of potential and specific threats or hazards to occur, we quantify that risk and we recommend accurate and easy to follow courses of action for you the client. Straight forward. If your itinerary changes, so does the content of the vulnerability assessment that is written for you. 

What is the first step to contacting PAR-SEC Consulting?

First you can either e-mail us or you can use this e-form. 

Simply describe where you are going, when, for how long and other basic details. We will then answer you within 24 hours and will automatically initiate our first consultation which is always free. We will first ask for some questions to qualify you if you actually require our services. We do not sell. We will forward to you what exactly we can do for your specific requirements for information. This is when you either decide to pursue or not with us. That simple. Once our clients decide to receive a vulnerability assessment from us we require a 50% deposit via PayPal. Our research, analysis and assessment usually can take from five to seven days and the associated production costs have a ceiling. Once the intelligence document is produced we will send you both the .PDF and the original research documents via e-mail as they are your personal property. Once you open the e-mail we will automatically debit the remainder 50% of the agreed upon fee. We will send daily updates the following day until the day you leave your destination. Be assured that we never use the same document twice as every travel destination is uniquely different and requires adequate research, analysis and accurate assessments to properly advice against the possible threats and hazards. 

We welcome inquiries so we can determine your security needs. Your first consultation is always free. We invite you to review our past twitter posts @parsecconsult as well as this blog's entries. 

We encourage feedback and questions to our e-mail:parsec.consulting@gmail.com

Our website: http://parsecconsulting.wix.com/parsecconsulting

Attribution: copies and redistribution of the above material in any medium or format is authorized providing full attribution is credited by using full link of present blog. 

2014 BRAZIL FIFA WORLD CUP TRAVEL ADVICE SUMMARY

We are reproducing all of our previous blog posts pertaining to our travel advice for the upcoming Brazil FIFA 2014 World Cup. As well we also offer a tabulation of several indicators to the security situation for all 12 cities. 
The goal behind this post is two-fold. We often provide free advice such as the following whereas most travel risk mitigation firms will offer similar services against a fee. In addition, as a start up innovative travel intelligence and advice firm, we wish to further publicize & share our capabilities, as a demonstrator,  with our future clients and current followers. Please note that this will the last blog post that we will publish regarding this important sporting event.

The main generic threats and hazards to visitors to the 12 FIFA host cities

Dengue fever hazards in Brazil

Cuiaba vulnerability assessment during 2014 FIFA World Cup

DATE	THREAT	HAZARD	SO WHAT?
03 JUNE		Hacktivists plan to disrupt Games, targeting sponsors, security forces.	This could constitute a collateral hazard to travellers.
31 MAY	Gov't to deploy military around airports, stadiums & hotels to prevent petty crimes		Likely to attract protesters in areas where visitors & tourists are concentrated, elevating collateral risks of injuries.
14 MAY	Authorities to hand out leaflets to visitors: "Do not resist mugging".		Resisting may lead to injury/death.
9 MAY	Several protest groups & ANCOP met to refine their protests plans during World Cup games.		Likely to be in 1st few days: Sao Paolo, natal, Cuiaba or Salvador.
6 MAY		Most of Brazil hit by drought as 70% of hydro power from water.	Possible rationing or power blackouts cannot be discounted.
22 APRIL		Gov't attempts to bolster cyber defences for 12 host cities to prevent hacker attacks.	Given the fact that many stadiums/arenas will be 4G WIFI deficient, end state is questionable.
21 APRIL		Lab made GM mosquitoes were released in Bahia state to fight dengue.	Updates on results remain unclear at this time.

Every travel destination is uniquely different and requires adequate reasearch,

analysis and accurate assessments to properly advise against the possible threats and hazards. We welcome inquiries so we can determine your security needs. Your first consultation is always free. We invite you to review our past twitter posts @parsecconsult as well as this blog's entries. 

We encourage feedback and questions to our e-mail:parsec.consulting@gmail.com

Our website: http://parsecconsulting.wix.com/parsecconsulting

Attribution: copies and redistribution of the above material in any medium or format is authorized providing full attribution is credited by using full link of present blog.