W.A.S. Securitys Global Counterterrorism Services Offers Crews Transiting Piracy Zones Crew Hostage Survival Course

Seven-Figure Ransoms, Skyrocketing Insurance Premiums and Balking Re-Insurers have lead W.A.S. Security to the Pre-Emptive Approach with Training, Deep Maritime Intel and Danger-Zone Vulnerability Assessments.

Lafayette, Colorado (25 October, 2008): W.A.S. Security, Inc., today announced the expansion of three of its key services to better serve the maritime industry, beginning with their Crew Hostage Survival Course tailored for crews that have been seized by pirates or terrorists.

“The number of requests for information from the maritime industry we’ve received of late on getting crews trained in hostage survival has grown exponentially,” said Bob Newman, president & CEO of W.A.S. Security. “So we had Intelligence Branch complete a comprehensive study of the various pirate factions by region and tailored our course to train crews how to substantially increase their chances of survival with specific pirate groups.”

The shocking tenfold increase in insurance costs in the last 10 months for commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden, when added to increased danger pay for crews, is approaching the untenable when coupled with huge ransoms, the fees demanded for ransom consultants and long cargo delivery delays. These costs eventually find their way to the consumer.

“The foundering global economy can’t handle the end result, which is painful price increases for the consumer. A trained crew reduces the chances of violence and homicide once captured and can actually reduce capture time,” according to Newman. “This alone can help get insurance costs lowered and we save the client even more money by conducting the training in the port of their choice via a mobile training team of federally certified hostage-survival instructors.”

But how does the maritime industry help prevent crews from being taken in the first place?

“Our Maritime Intelligence Program and MVATs. We start by developing deep intelligence within pirate areas of operation that when properly analyzed and synthesized and delivered in a timely manner to the client can seriously reduce risk. Then we deploy one of our Maritime Vulnerability Assessment Teams to expertly assess true risk as opposed to speculated or estimated risk,” Newman said. “This combination makes crew companies, freight companies, ship owners and operators, and insurers and re-insurers much happier in these challenging times. Having crews, cargo and ships seized, and paying ransoms, can be quite avoidable.”

The result? Crews ramp up their survivability quotient, and deep “intel” and vulnerability assessments give the industry better options with greatly improved tactical and operational information. This all adds up to impressive savings for the client and a safer crew and ship.

W.A.S. Security is comprised of career maritime special operations, intelligence and counterterrorism professionals from the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. Navy Advanced Survival-Evasion-Resistance-Escape (SERE) Course, Royal Navy, U.S. Secret Service and other such organizations. W.A.S. Security staff members have trained thousands of personnel in hostage survival, have global maritime security experience (200+ years combined experience), and extensive worldwide experience in intelligence collection and development.

Mr. Newman will be delivering related presentations at the Intersec Trade Fair & Conference in Dubai in January and the 5th Philippines Ports & Shipping Conference in Manila in February. He will also be available in Hong Kong 14-16 February. Contact: Bob Newman: 303-435-9213 / [email protected]