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SPARTAN9 | Newsletter 9/2020

Dear <<First Name>>

My name is Grant Rayner, and I'm the founder of Spartan9. We provide consulting and training services designed to enable you and your organisation to operate safely, securely, and successfully in complex and higher-risk environments.

This is our monthly newsletter for September, which we use to keep our clients, partners, and friends updated on what we're up to. If this isn't your thing and you'd like to unsubscribe, you can click on the link at the bottom of the email.

PROJECT UPDATES

What we've been doing, where we've been travelling to, and what's next.

 

New book release

Another month, another Field Guide:

The Field Guide to Accommodation Security

This field guide is designed to guide you in the selection of secure accommodation during engagements in complex and higher-risk environments.

The guide focuses on the security of hotels, apartments, guesthouses and residences.

You'll learn the advantages and disadvantages of each accommodation option. You'll also learn how to assess the security of your accommodation and the options available to you to augment security and increase the level of protection.

Parts of this field guide are technically orientated and may not be light reading for some. The guide will get into the nuts and bolts of physical security, particularly when it comes to increasing the level of security protection. Starting with hotels, each chapter will go progressively deeper into security design and technology.

Overall, the combined knowledge you’ll gain from learning about the different approaches to securing each type of accommodation will enable you to make effective decisions and implement appropriate security measures regardless of where you’re staying.
 

Previous book releases

This new Field Guide follows three other books released in the last few months:

1. The Guide to Travelling in Higher-Risk Environments

2. The Field Guide to Deployment Planning

3. The Field Guide to Personal Security

All of the field guides are now available for download as PDF from our website. All books are available on the Apple Bookstore (available in 51 countries). Pricing is the same across all platforms.

Thank you to everyone who purchased a copy of these books last month. I hope you found them interesting and useful.

If you read the books and find any errors or inconsistencies, please let me know and I’ll add it to a backlog for the next review and release. Similarly, if you believe there's something I've missed that you think should be included in these guides, give me a shout by email.
 

Please help to spread the word

Writing is hard, and knowing that people are buying and reading these books makes it worthwhile. Please help to spread the word.
 

More to come

The next book in the Field Guide series will be The Field Guide to Transport Security. It's on schedule to be released before the end of October.

The Field Guide to Transport Security will herald the end of the Field Guide series for the moment. Once that guide is published, I'll be focusing on finishing up two other long-standing writing projects: a book on designing and delivering world-class crisis simulations and another book on security evacuations.

TRAINING UPDATES

Training workshops, retreats, and customised training solutions.

Last month I previewed a new training capability called 'GREY CATALYST'. I'm still fiddling with the design of the website, so nothing to publicly release for the moment. I'll follow up again on this initiative next month.

If you have specific training needs, please get in touch.

GEAR AND TECH

Useful gear and technology for operating in challenging work from home environments.

This month we went deep into accommodation security. Here are a few modern home security devices and systems we discovered along the way:

Logitech Circle View Camera. A HomeKit-enabled home security camera. Features a 180° field of view and built-in privacy features. The camera is one of the first to support HomeKit Secure Video, enabling you to securely store activity detected by your cameras in iCloud. Details here.

Simplisafe. Simplisafe provides a suite of different sensors, integrated into a simple home security system. They also offer a security camera (SimpliCam) that can be used by itself or as part of the system. Details here.

Abode iota. The Aboda iota also offers a host of integrated sensors. Overall a good setup, but limited in terms country availability. Details here

USEFUL LINKS

Links to topical and useful information.


Cleared for Takeoff: Exploring Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020's Research Potential. Bellingcat reviews the AI world building capabilities and limitations of Microsoft Flight Simulator, and evaluates its potential as an open source investigative tool. Read here.

Race for Coronavirus Vaccine Pits Spy Against Spy. A New York Times article (behind the paywall but viewable using a reader) describing the scramble for a vaccine and the efforts of Chinese and Russian intelligence services to collect information on vaccine research. Read here.

Gram by gram. The Silk Road is dead. Meet the next generation of digital black markets for illegal drugs: fully decentralized, pay-by-crypto, and end-to-end encrypted bazaars. Read here.

How a book on Cold War propaganda inspired British counter-terror campaign. A short expose on the history of the Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU), a UK counter-terror communications / covert propaganda unit, Read here.

Defying Peace Deal, Freed Taliban Return to Battlefield. Confidential research shows that the majority of Taliban prisoners released under an agreement signed by insurgent leaders and the US are taking up arms to fight Afghan forces and continue their 'jihad' to overthrow the US-backed Afghan government and replace it with an Islamic emirate. Read here.

Is America in the Early Stages of Armed Insurgency? David Kilcullen believes that America is in a state of 'incipient insurgency.' Read here

If you're looking for a data set on violence in the US, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) provides real-time data and analysis source on political violence and protest around the world. Learn more here.

Russian Private Military Contractors in Sub-Saharan Africa: Strengths, Limitations and Implications. This article explored the operations of Russian PMCs, arguing that, despite their image of strength and efficiency gained in Ukraine and partly in Syria, their use will have limited strategic effect in sub-Saharan Africa and is unlikely to yield sustainable long-term benefits for Russia. Read here.

Death decreed over Zoom. On 4 May, a Nigerian man became the first known person in the world to be sentenced to death via a virtual court on Zoom. Read here.

Hate Speech on Facebook Is Pushing Ethiopia Dangerously Close to a Genocide. Ethnic violence set off by the assassination of a popular singer has been supercharged by hate speech and incitements shared widely on the platform. Read here.

COVID-19 spreading rates. Get an intuitive ‘feel’ of new COVID-19 cases spreading rates. This simulation shows you the average rate of newly reported COVID-19 case. View here.

Police Arrests 3 LeT Terrorists Who Picked up Weapons, Cash Dropped by Pak Drone in J&K's Rajouri. Another case showing expanded use cases of drones in unconventional warfare. Read here.

Getting out of the hall of mirrors: China’s security apparatus is without parallel. A topical article by Michael Shoebridge discussing recent events affecting the strategic relationship between China and Australia, through the prism of intelligence operations. Read here.

That's it for this month folks. Stay safe out there.

Grant Rayner
Spartan9

 

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