THE TORCHSTONE WATCH
THE TORCHSTONE WATCH
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TorchStone publishes The Watch to assist our readers in proactively managing risk—whether personal, professional, or organizational—in an increasingly insecure world. The featured articles, blog posts, and expert interviews address vulnerabilities and issues we have frequently encountered while safeguarding high profile individuals, wealthy families, multinational corporations, and international sporting events across six continents. Now, more than ever, security seems to be a precious commodity. Our goal is to give you more of it through The TorchStone Watch.
SPOTLIGHT ISSUE
How to Practice Sustainable Situational Awareness
By TorchStone VP, Scott Stewart
Situational awareness is simply paying attention to what is happening in the environment around you in an effort to identify and avoid potential threats and dangerous situations. By practicing three of the levels of situational awareness, you can learn to spot developing threats and proactively act to either avoid them or mitigate their impact. Threats don’t just materialize out of nothing. There are almost always some sorts of warning signs that are missed due to negligence or a lack of awareness.
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The Benefits of Living Gray – Part Three: On the Internet
Living gray on the Internet means being conscious and careful of what you post, and what other information those posts may contain. Social media can be a valuable tool for criminals to target less wary persons who share location check-ins, vacation plans, or even work details. An individual post may not display much, but together, social media profiles—coupled with metadata—can make a person a valuable and vulnerable target.
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The Benefits of Living Gray – Part Two: At Home
While many people understand the benefits of being gray—especially when traveling to high threat locations—they tend to overlook the fact that being gray can also be beneficial at home. The same principles of traveling gray can be applied to living gray. Statistics show that Americans may be more vulnerable at home. Living gray helps present a neutral façade to outside observers. It can help you be more aware of those around you with bad intent while reducing the likelihood of you being a target.
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The Benefits of Living Gray – Part One: Travel
The term being gray means fitting into the environment so that an observer does not see you as anomalous. The phrase infers things such as avoiding wearing bright clothing or other items that might draw attention to you, but it also applies to affecting behavior and demeanor that permit you to fit into the ambient flow of the place you are. The goal of being gray is to present a neutral façade to outside observers so that you are perceived as neither a valuable, nor a vulnerable target. Being gray is not something that only trained government agents can do. Anyone can be gray with a little research, thought and effort.
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White Supremacist Terrorism Goes Beyond The Turner Diaries
The threat posed by domestic right-wing extremists, and specifically white supremacists, has been receiving a lot of publicity lately. FBI director Christopher Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee during his Sept. 17 testimony that racially motivated violent extremism comprises the largest portion of the FBI’s domestic terrorism investigations, and that of the racially motivated cases, “people subscribing to some kind of white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the biggest chunk of that.”
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TorchStone’s Scott Stewart talks with Steve Olivas on his podcast “The Commute”
Scott Stewart, Vice President at TorchStone, was interviewed by Steve Olivas on his podcast “The Commute.” From the podcast’s promotional description: “Scott Stewart, former DSS agent and now corporate security expert, checks the bus for possible breeches in security this week. Really, really cool interview – lots of great info and an extremely articulate guest.
READ MORE >5 Lessons Security Leaders Should Learn from COVID-19
TorchStone’s David Niccolini, executive vice president and co-founder, and Scott Stewart, vice president, describe insights security leaders can take away from their pandemic experiences. Specifically, David and Scott discuss the need for scenario-based planning, the importance of contingency plans to build resilience, and the critical nature of maintaining flexibility.
READ MORE >Reputation Risks Facing High-Net-Worth Families
In August 2020, David Niccolini, executive vice president and co-founder at TorchStone, presented as part of a three-part series of live, 30-minute briefings with reputation management, Internet law, investigations, due diligence and risk mitigation experts, discussing the risks facing high net worth families. The program was broadcast live via Zoom, and was hosted by Reputation Communications and moderated by its founder and CEO, Shannon Wilkinson.
READ MORE >Countering Mexico’s criminal insurgency means offsetting largesse and threats
TorchStone’s Scott Stewart published an opinion piece in The Hill titled, ” Countering Mexico’s criminal insurgency means offsetting largesse and threats.” Mr. Stewart begins: “Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is wrapping up a three-day trip to the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco and Colima, some of the Mexican states most impacted by criminal violence.
READ MORE >Always Moving Forward with Chris Sanchez
Chris Sanchez, Vice President at TorchStone, interviewed by Glen Burton on his podcast, “Always Moving Forward,” discusses his role in National Security.
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