Homework Responses Wk 5 & 1

Class,

 

During this week’s lesson, we learned about two different type of details.  Covert details are designed to blend in with the surrounding environment.  Vehicle selection begins with utilizing vehicles that are commonly found in the city, state, or country the principal will be traveling in.  Sending out a decoy motorcade to divert attention away from the actual principal is one common tactic found within a covert detail (McGovern, 2011).  The positives with utilizing this detail ensures the principal is able to move around discreetly with as little to no details made available to the adversary. Swapping vehicles multiple times is another way in which the protection team can keep the adversary in a reactive state to ensure maximum protection without broadcasting to everyone the principal is on the move.  The cons to this type of detail involves the actual principal not agreeing with the vehicle choice he or she may be traveling in.  Consistent threat updates and communication with the counter surveillance teams will help minimize the amount of exposure or risk to the principal.  An additional area of concern for the covert detail is the strict compliance of Operational Security as we learned in the last lesson. One small detail that is leaked to the public about the principal may tip off the entire covert operation (McGovern, 2011).  I would utilize a covert detail when making a visit to higher threat area.  For example, when I was deployed to Afghanistan the Secretary of Defense at the time flew into the country in what seemed to be unannounced.  Little did I know prior to taking this class this was called a “covert detail.”  By design the secret service detail did not want anyone to know he was flying in and thus landed in the middle of the night unannounced to “most”.

An overt detail is the exact opposite.  During an overt operation a lot more, details are made available outside the protection team.  Public Affairs office and media teams have more situational awareness on when the principal is to arrive at least down to the day and sometimes the hour.  The planned itinerary is made available to more personnel.  Especially when there may be a planned speech to be given at a specific location at a specific time.  I feel this makes the job of the protection team much more difficult.  The counter-surveillance team has a lot more responsibility to ensure the information that is made available to the public is not used to plan a coordinated attack.  The cons to this type of detail include additional manpower and resources to “lock-down” a specific area more because the public is more in tuned to what and when is exactly going to occur.

 

Nick

 

McGovern, G. (2011). Protective Operations: A Handbook for Security and Law Enforcement.  Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=71c2fbb7-974b-41b6-9700-7db9e5cf88e6%40pdc-v-sessmgr01&ppid=pp_Cover&vid=0&format=EB