Americans evacuate Middle East with help from private security firm

MCLEAN, Va. – As Americans remain stranded in the Middle East in the midst of the United States and Israel’s war with Iran, government and private agencies are working around the clock to effect evacuations.

In addition to the U.S. State Department’s 24/7 task force aimed at evacuating Americans, private security company Global Guardian is also working around the clock to complete the same mission.

Global Guardian has evacuated more than 4,000 people from the Middle East as of Friday, according to CEO and President Dale Robert Buckner.

While its operations and logistics teams are based in an office building in Northern Virginia, the firm has staff in more than 140 countries, allowing Global Guardian to reach nearly every corner of the world for emergency response or evacuation.

“We provide medical evacuation services, if someone is kidnapped or extorted, we provide payment for kidnapping, ransom, extortion negotiation,” Buckner said. “We provide executive protection travel to approximately 300 missions per month in approximately 84 countries.”

The private security firm also performs camera surveillance of residential and commercial properties and has cyber analysts monitoring mobile devices.

The company was coordinating multiple emergency response evacuations after the United States and Israel hit Iran in a joint strike last weekend; But this isn’t the first time Americans have helped get out of a crisis zone.

“That means moving people out of Puerto Vallarta a week ago and Jalisco, Mexico. It means moving people out of Asheville, North Carolina, which was destroyed by a hurricane,” Buckner said.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE PROVIDES UPDATES ON AMERICANS FLYING FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

Logistically, getting the tourists out of the war zone and back to safety is a process, but the company works quickly, completing the first border crossing within the first six hours of the missile attack.

The firm immediately received a call from a pair of students studying abroad, Vice President of Operations Colin O’Brien told Fox News. He said they were trying to leave Dubai.

“About four and a half hours after the phone call, we mobilized our teams to pick up these people, and they were two college-age women,” O’Brien said.

Global Guardian security firm is working around the clock to carry out emergency evacuations in the Middle East.

“Once we got them in the car, we were able to move across the Oman border and eight hours later we were at the border. We went through the border checkpoint and went to a hotel in Muscat, where we could stop and give them a short rest while we arranged their return home,” he says.

The group said it remains active throughout the year to ensure evacuation plans are in place before disasters strike.

“There’s a story of, ‘Here’s the collection point, this is the key transit area,'” Buckner said. “From a legal perspective, that’s what you need in terms of paperwork. Then we’ll check you into a hotel or put you directly on a commercial plane. “Most likely, we’ll put you on private charter at this point in the war.”

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Buckner said most of these missions carried out in the region were ground operations carried out by local people. He says the company has ground teams working year-round in the 140 countries where it is present. Continuous training throughout the year.

“We communicate, we coordinate, we execute. Large-scale event support with executive protection agents, armed agents, armed vehicles, medical and security personnel,” he said, describing the firm’s standard operations capabilities.

“We coordinate whether the company needs drivers. From Dubai to Oman, from Israel to Oman, Jordan or Egypt. From Bahrain to Saudi Arabia,” Buckner said.

While the company is coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it has not yet conducted a flight mission on behalf of the ministry, he said.

Security firm analysts are making plans to evacuate Americans.

Global Guardian offers these services through a system it calls “Duty of Care Membership,” which Buckner said costs $15,000 annually for a family of five.

“You’ll sign a contract, whether it’s a family, a family office, typically a large corporate logo. Then we’ll be at your disposal,” Buckner said, describing the emergency response services included in the agreement.

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For Americans currently stuck in the Middle East, the cost of evacuation using ground and air resources varies by situation and location, Buckner said.

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