Continued... Peter Moore today


Do not keep a calendar


At first, he did draw out a calendar and ticked off dates. But ultimately, “It was not helpful – the most depressing thing going, when you go month after month, year after year. You don’t want that - it is traumatic.”


Don’t get attached to things


At one point, Peter started collecting bits of fluff and building them into a ball. After six months or so, he had a huge ball! He was impressed. Then one day, the guards became suspicious and thought he’d hidden something in it. So, they broke it up and threw it away, causing him great upset.


He was moved around to different houses with different guards. It turns out communications between the groups wasn’t too good and he could exploit this.


For example, when senior people came in, he’d say, "The Americans are not keeping your people like this." They'd agree and make some concessions. Then, when he moved elsewhere with new guards, he’d ask, “Why you putting the blindfold on – they didn’t at the last place.”


Ultimately it worked: in his final year, he was not in chains, or handcuffs or blindfolds.


Telling the truth


Peter’s fellow captees did not tell the truth about themselves, possibly part of their previous military training. They lied about previous jobs and their family situations. As time went on, it became more and more difficult to maintain the level of detail and accuracy required.


Following the example of his security team, Peter lied about having a wife to encourage his kidnappers to have more concern for him than they would a single man. He knew it would be difficult to imagine someone from scratch, so he envisioned a friend from Guyana and created a whole story about their life together. “Two years down the line, it gave me a bit of a focus – I would tell different bits about our fictitious life together to different Iraqis.”


But beyond that, he told the truth about everything. His approach is “Tell the truth – absolute truth – you have nothing to lose.”


Keeping your mind active


Peter knew it was important to keep his mind active. He tried to solve many problems by thinking them through. He’d plan an escape, or a rescue, think about how he would behave (lie down and put your hands out – your rescuers won’t know who you are). He also practiced interviews, negotiated buying a motor bike, made shapes by looking at the fabric on the curtains.


He also used to have conversations with his pillow and got very traumatised when he lost that. So, he decided not to get attached to anything in the future. “Every couple of months I asked them to get me new clothes and pillow, so I didn’t get attached to them.”


Lessons learnt for security


Peter has also had time to reflect on the lessons that can be learnt about his security set up in Baghdad:


Complacency


A significant problem was that the approach to security had become routine and complacency had set in.


Security is everyone’s concern


When Peter had his concerns on his journey to work, his thoughts were “if my security team think it is ok, then it’s fine”. There were unhelpful distinctions between the roles of Principal, Client and the Security Team, with the underlying message: Don’t listen to the Principal, the Client is paying and the Security Team are in charge of security. It is important to empower everyone to have a role in security. The key thing is, if you have a concern – say it!


Trust your instincts


When Peter saw the excessive number of police vehicles in the road on his way to work he thought, “there’s something wrong here”. He’s since learned the military saying that sums it up really well, “the presence of the abnormal, absence of the normal,” and says “if it’s wrong – it’s wrong”. He and his security team could have turned around and discussed whether to go on or not.


Practise and check using radio and other security equipment


When the security team in the car outside saw the police storming the building, they tried to radio Peter upstairs in the training room. Unfortunately, Peter’s radio was in his bag, switched off and on the wrong channel anyway. They had tried the security team outside the training room – but their radio


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battery was dead too. Clearly, it is imperative to make sure your equipment is working, charged, accessible and you know how to use it.


Technology set up


There was a panic button system in place – with a button in the car linking to the Green Zone five miles away. This triggered a call to the security team but by then the kidnap was in progress. There are now more technological solutions available to protect against kidnap. It is critical that these are set up in the most effective way.


Training


Survival training and general security training would have helped a lot. “Clients and Principals go on training – but do the training teams?” Is there an assumption that a military background is all the training that is needed?


Politically sensitive work – treading on toes


Peter will never know why he was selected for kidnap. But he believes some of the work he carried out in the weeks beforehand might provide an insight. He had installed some tracking software on the payroll system in the Ministry of Finance. This would enable them to spot any duplicates and highlight those corruptly claiming more than one salary. In doing this, he may have inadvertently incensed corrupt officials, which in turn made him a target.


It is important to understand the impact of our role, the implications of this and consider any possible negative outcomes.


Being prepared for kidnap


Looking back, Peter thinks if he had been wearing body armour and a functioning radio, he may have resisted the abduction. “I could have just sat on the floor. It would have been very difficult to shoot me there and then.” But this is easy to say with hindsight. At that point, he truly believed his security team would save him and that it was impossible for them to be abducted too.


His question for you: “Do you really believe it’s possible for you or your security team to be kidnapped?”


If not, perhaps you should think again and make sure you have put the right preparations in place.


Andrea Berkoff Editor


City Security magazine


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