How to get on a Watchlist Episode 5: How to kidnap an executive

Authored by encyclopediageopolitica.com and submitted by sageandonion

In the latest installment of our new podcast, we sit down with a kidnapping historian and author, and an executive protection and kidnap & ransom expert, to discuss the topic of executive kidnappings. Philip Jett is a retired attorney who has represented multinational corporations, CEOs, and celebrities from the music, television, and sports industries. He is the author of The Death of an Heir: Adolph Coors III and the Murder That Rocked an American Brewing Dynasty, which was named one of the best true crime stories of 2017 by The New York Times. He followed that book with another true crime story titled Taking Mr. Exxon: The Kidnapping of an Oil Giant’s President. His newest book, a work of historical nonfiction, is called Stranded in the Sky and will be released in May 2023. He is joined on the show by Scott Stewart, the Vice President of Intelligence at TorchStone Global, and Stratfor’s former VP of Tactical Analysis. Prior to this, Scott was a Diplomatic Security Service special agent and Protective Intelligence coordinator for the technology company Dell. He was the lead DSS investigator assigned to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the follow-up New York City bomb plot. As part of the US government’s Hostage Locating Taskforce, Scott interviewed a number of high profile kidnapping victims such as Terry Waite, and as the US embassy’s deputy regional security officer In Guatemala, Scott investigated numerous kidnappings of American civilians and the kidnapping of Rigoberta Menchu’s daughter.

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How to Kidnap an Executive – How to get on a Watchlist In the latest installment of our new podcast, we sit down with a kidnapping historian and author and an executive protection and kidnap & ransom expert, to discuss the topic of executive kidnappings. Philip Jett is a retired attorney who has represented multinational corporations, CEOs, and celebrities from the music, television, and sports industries. He is the author of The Death of an Heir: Adolph Coors III and the Murder That Rocked an American Brewing Dynasty, which was named one of the best true crime stories of 2017 by The New York Times. He followed that book with another true crime story titled Taking Mr. Exxon: The Kidnapping of an Oil Giant’s President. His newest book, a work of historical nonfiction, is called Stranded in the Sky and will be released in May 2023. He is joined on the show by Scott Stewart, the Vice President of Intelligence at TorchStone Global, and Stratfor's former VP of Tactical Analysis. Prior to this, Scott was a Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) special agent and Protective Intelligence coordinator for the technology company Dell. He was the lead DSS investigator assigned to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the follow-up New York City bomb plot. As part of the US government's Hostage Locating Taskforce, Scott interviewed a number of high profile kidnapping victims such as Terry Waite, and as the US embassy's deputy regional security officer In Guatemala, Scott investigated numerous kidnappings of American civilians and the kidnapping of Rigoberta Menchu's daughter.

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Books and media mentioned during the episode, and suggestions for further research on this topic:

Additional geopolitical reading suggestions can be found on our 2022 reading list

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Lewis Sage-Passant is a Doctoral Researcher in the field of intelligence and former Military Intelligence Officer with extensive experience working and living in the Middle East and North Africa and Asia Pacific regions in a variety of geopolitical analysis, security & conflict risk and threat intelligence roles. Lewis specialises in geopolitical intelligence support to the oil & gas industry, the financial sector and leading technology firms.

Colin Reed is a former US government intelligence professional, now working in the private sector to provide geopolitical insights and risk analysis to business leaders.

Additional credit goes to several unnamed members of the Encyclopedia Geopolitica team, as well as our colleagues in the intelligence and security community who helped to make this podcast possible

sageandonion on September 29th, 2022 at 16:05 UTC »

Submission statement: In our latest episode, we sit down and discuss international kidnap and ransom risks with former US Department of State Special Agent Scott Stewart, who was the lead DSS investigator assigned to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the follow-up New York City bomb plot. As part of the US government’s Hostage Locating Taskforce, Scott interviewed a number of high profile kidnapping victims such as Terry Waite, and as the US embassy’s deputy regional security officer In Guatemala, Scott investigated numerous kidnappings of American civilians and the kidnapping of Rigoberta Menchu’s daughter. We also talk to Philip Jett, a historian and author on the topic of kidnappings.

While this topic is a little less geopolitical than other episodes, there are some interesting case studies from Scott's DSS career discussed here, and for those considering a career in private sector intelligence, an understanding of K&R risks is crucial.

As always, very happy to take questions from this excellent subreddit!

Thank you,

Lewis