Thanks to all of our readers and contributors who have stuck by us these past 9 months while the team has been on individual contracts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.  We appreciate you sticking around and your notes of encouragement to ‘get back on the horse’. The three of us finished our contracts at around the same time and Andrew pressed hard for us to get back into business and ‘do our own thing’ so here we are.

We’ve reopened our Geopolitical Risk Unit as well as our TravelSafe™ service, and are back providing our full suite of intelligence and security services to companies and individuals alike.  We’ll also be re-launching the blog in the New Year to provide you with a single, easy to access, destination for interesting news and breaking security information and advice from a range of open sources around the world.

If there is something you’d like to see here just drop us a line, let us know and we’ll do our best to make it happen.  Of course, should you need our services at any time, in any place, we are only an email away.

As we enter the Christmas period and holiday season, it is important to keep in mind the worldwide threat posed by terrorism and other forms of crime. The religious significance of the holidays and the celebrations that occur over this time could potentially make the season and areas where pilgrims, worshippers and revellers congregate a prime target for militant groups worldwide seeking to disrupt, terrorise and draw attention to their cause. If you are travelling we urge you to remain vigilant to the possibility of attack, avoid (if possible) large crowds of westerners in non-western countries, remain alert to the risk of street crime wherever you are and register your trip with your embassy or high commission in the country you are visiting.

Check out our 10 Golden Rules and the Things Unwary Travellers do for obvious (but oft forgot) hints to help you maintain your personal safety and security. A few simple precautions and a healthy dose of common sense will go a long way to ensuring your holiday abroad is a memorable one (for all the right reasons).

We’re on a break now until 11 January 2011. All of us at A.C. Edwards & Associates wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Joyous Al-Hijira and Ashura.