Reconnaissance is a crucial aspect of close protection activity, military operations, through to civilian protection from man-made and natural hazards used by meteorological and environmental services as well as a whole host of other agencies needing to ascertain risk of danger. These days the term is much more commonly replaced by `human intelligence’ and practised by specialised units.
The word reconnaissance entered the English language around 1810 not coincidentally of course during the period when the British were at war with Napoleon’s French army. It derives from the French word literally meaning to `recognise‘.
Reconnaissance refers to an operation whose objectives are to obtain information by employing a number of detection techniques. The information required for a close protection operative would centre around the identification, intent and risk component of a potential ‘enemy’ securing evidence of their motivation methods and hence employing threat assessment and risk management strategies as part of the operational goals.
A close protection operative would, for example, use route reconnaissance, assessing a planned route of their principals’ journey and identifying risk areas. A similar process would be employed in carrying out venue reconnaissance. Here a venue would be pre-checked by the close protection team, assessing the effectiveness of emergency exits and meeting points and implementing pre-planned strategies to deal with potential risk.
Q. A close protection team would pre-check a venue in order to assess the effectiveness of pre-planned strategies to deal with potential risk.
True / False / Impossible to say
