You won't likely have to worry about this if your business
hardly takes you to Atlantic City, let alone across the Atlantic.
But should you ever wind up negotiating in, say, Columbia, here are
some rules to remember, courtesy of David W. Johnson, vice
president and director of operations at Washington, DC-based
Investigative Group International (IGI). The company specializes in
searching for the answers to complex mysteries-such as tracing
embezzled funds to an offshore tax haven. Johnson has also been an
FBI agent, heading SWAT teams and the Hostage Rescue Team, a
60-member counter-terrorist operation.
Rule #1: If you play tourist
in your off-time, go with a tour group. Don't wander unfamiliar
streets alone.
Rule #2: If you believe you're being followed, go to
the nearest police station, or try to disappear into a crowd.
Rule #3: If you are kidnapped, stay calm. "Keep your
ego in check," advises Johnson. "Stay humble, and
don't debate the issues with your kidnappers."
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Rule #4: Look for an escape route.
Rule #5: "Take care of your needs-eat what you can,
and mentally prepare yourself for a long stay."
But what if it's not you but your employee who has been
kidnapped? If you even slightly suspect that's the case,
immediately contact the country's American embassy, says
Johnson-even if the bad guys have been in touch with you and
advised you otherwise. You certainly can't solve the problem on
your own, and kidnappers will know you'll call the authorities,
anyway.
Most companies targeted by terrorists have big marquee names, so
if your company isn't quite there yet, the odds are even better
this will never happen, says Johnson.
Still, if your company has been a presence in a neighborhood for
a while, that could spell trouble. IGI chairman Terry Lenzner, a
former private investigator who worked on, among other things, the
Atlanta child killings of the early 1980s and the 1964 murders of
three civil rights workers in Mississippi, recalls a particularly
dangerous situation: "We did a post-analysis of some American
workers in Pakistan in the late 1990s who were picked up [for] work
every day in the same car by the same driver.
"One morning, a motorcycle came up and stopped the car. A
van came up behind it, and members of a radical group, protesting
the conviction of a Pakistani who shot CIA personnel,
machine-gunned all five workers to death. They didn't have a
chance. But one lesson learned is: Don't do the same thing
over and over."
Prevention Is the
Best Medicine:
"Plan ahead," suggests Johnson, "from the time you
land at the airport to the moment you leave. But that doesn't
mean you need to be paranoid the whole time."
Originally published in the July 2002 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine
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