Today's focus for close protection teams is Haiti. The multinational Gang Suppression Force reaches the end of its first 12-month mandate on 30 September, and the Security Council is due to decide whether to renew it. The Foreign Office still advises against all travel to Haiti and warns of a high threat of criminal kidnap anywhere in the country, with consular support severely limited. Haiti stays outside routine tasking, and 30 September is the date to watch.
The wider regional picture set out this week has not changed. The Foreign Office logged Iranian strikes and renewed attacks around the Red Sea port of Aqaba in its Jordan advice, the UN envoy warned of a new and more dangerous phase on Yemen and the Red Sea, and the Security Council rolled the Sudan sanctions regime forward by a month. Treat movement through Jordan, the Red Sea approaches and the wider Gulf as taking place inside a live conflict corridor.
On tradecraft, this edition sets out the journey management plan, the discipline that turns a route into a controlled, rehearsed movement and is now formalised in the ISO 31030 travel risk management standard. A principal is most exposed in transit, so the plan earns its place on every task.
The UK national threat level from terrorism remains severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. Northern Ireland related terrorism in Northern Ireland stands at substantial. The standing advice holds: work to the current Foreign Office position for each country rather than an older brief, and keep a fallback route wherever a port or airport could close at short notice.
