Bullets whizz overhead. Mortar shells explode all around. One might think exposure to danger of this nature would be all in a day’s work for an agent in the US Diplomatic Security Service.
Fortunately for John Rendeiro, the mission to Somalia in 1993 was one of only a few times he encountered serious combat. “It taught me a great deal,” he recalls. “There were lots of hostilities. It was shortly before Black Hawk Down [also known as the Battle of Mogadishu, when US special forces fought Somali militia]. In these environments you have to analyse every move you make, as it is quite literally a matter of life or death.” However, instead of governments and agencies, Rendeiro nowadays advises the corporate community on how to mitigate risk as business is conducted around the world.
Dangerous times
Consumers of current affairs have digested an unusually high volume of harrowing news images in the last year. Mexico has endured one of the bloodiest years in its recent past. A passenger jet was shot down over Ukraine amid a prolonged territorial war, almost certainly by pro-Russian separatists.
Kidnap and murder in Nigeria by Islamic fundamentalists is wreaking havoc. Worst of all, arguably, is the self-styled ‘Islamic State’ (IS, also known as Isis) that is spreading terror and death across parts of Syria and Iraq. Rendeiro spent more than 30 years at the heart of the US intelligence community. After much deliberation, he retired in 2006 and joined International SOS (ISOS). I ask him: has the world ever been a more dangerous place?
“We are in the worst moment of recent times,” he says, after a few seconds of reflection. “There have been bad times in the past, but this [issue with IS] qualifies as a horrible situation. Time will tell where it goes. People are working hard to figure out how to deal with it.”
A love of travel
As a youngster growing up in Pennsylvania, where he was the eldest of eight siblings, Rendeiro developed a love of travel and foreign languages. By the age of 15 he had saved enough money to buy a flight to Portugal where his grandfather lived.
Later, he went on to work and travel across Spain and France. Before becoming an intelligence officer in the military, he was a graduate teaching assistant in a Spanish class. Despite his expertise with Latin-based languages, he was sent to Moscow in 1987. It was the beginning of a life-long relationship with the country. “It was a fantastic experience. These were the last days of Gorbachev. Between ‘87 until ’91 things were really opening up in a lot of positive ways.” But once you’ve learned the Russian language, says Rendeiro, you keep getting called back. A quieter position in Switzerland followed. But given the nature of the job, he was seconded to undertake projects in Greece, Hungary, Somalia, Madagascar and, of course, back in Russia. In subsequent years, his duties took him Liberia, Afghanistan and Haiti following the earthquake in 2010.
But by 9/11 he was stationed in Washington and playing a key role at one of the most important times in the history of US security and intelligence. “After the attacks it became extremely challenging. There was no room for any mistakes. It was a new era of sharing information across departments and, when necessary, with the public.”
At first, Rendeiro was unsure about whether moving on from public service was what he wanted to do. But he describes leaving the government intelligence community and joining ISOS as “leaving one fraternity and joining another. There are differences in terms of resources, but there are similar approaches. Companies have to build networks. Travel buyers/managers have to take an integrated approach to security – it shouldn’t be piecemeal. Set up a duty-of-care committee. Involve the stakeholders. You have to prepare travellers, track them and respond in an emergency.
Keep evaluating what you’re doing and ensure good governance.” Finally, undoubted Europhile that Rendeiro is, I was curious to know how harsh criticism of US foreign policy from this side of the Atlantic over the last ten to 15 years had affected him. “I always stayed away from politics. My job as a professional was to be objective. When things happen people always have opinions. Some praise, others don’t. I found it easy to stay apolitical,” he concludes. Once a diplomat, always a diplomat, I guess.
John Rendeiro profile:
John Rendeiro joined International SOS as VP, security and intelligence, in 2006. Previously, he was assistant director for international programmes for the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. He has also served as an intelligence officer in the US Army.
Among his academic qualifications, he holds a BA in Modern Languages from Widener University, and a MA in Spanish Language and Literature
from Temple University, and is a graduate of the US Army War College.
He is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Russian.