POINTS


Project On Insurgency, Terrorism and Security






"What Your Travel Agent Won't Tell You!" a guide to secure travel overseas, is available from Booklocker or Amazon Books.






Research Before Travel




Prior to going abroad, the wise traveler checks on current conditions in the country/countries on the itinerary. Governments put out useful travel information, and newspapers or other media in the area provide a good day-by-day view of crime and other problems. While abroad, it is particularly important to keep current on world events that may impact Americans. The Internet can help in that regard as well. Check on issues such as the level of corruption you are likely to face, holidays that may affect your travel, exchange rates, and learn a few words of the language, at the least. Cyber-cafes offer a good, if expensive, way to keep up with events and communicate home.

Sources of Travel Information



  • The State Department's Travel Advisory Pages can be valuable. Travel safety consultants suggest that you consider the State Department pages as being, at the very least, "diplomatic" when it comes to U.S. allies.

  • The British Foreign Office advisories are worth comparing against the State Department's versions.

  • The State Department's OSAC site is designed for business people with special security needs. Parts are restricted to members and constituents of the Overseas Security Advisory Council. However many sections of the site are open to the general public. The news section is one of those areas that are open.

  • The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has a useful site.

  • Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a site with travel advisories.

  • Other sites, for those who have facility in foreign languages, include Belgium (English, French, Dutch), France (French only), and Italy (Italian only). Additional detailed data on countries are available from the CIA. Much good information on business and social conditions in many locations overseas is also available from the Commerce Department. You may also find useful local information at embassy sites for various countries. Key sidetes include: www.embassyweb.com and www.embassyworld.com.

  • Be Alert, a government guide to overseas security in PDF format.

  • Corrupt officials are a problem where ever they are found. The International Center for Corruption Research has the Transparency organization's information on relative perceived corruption of government officials around the world. This is one of the most comprehensive sites available on the subject.

  • Health concerns and medical advice for the global travel community is available from a number of sites including:Center for Disease Control, Health Canada Online, World Health Organization, Travel Health Information Service, Travel Health On-line and The Travel Clinic.

  • Air travelers should look at the sites of the Federal Aviation Adminstration, Air Safe.com

  • The Currency Converter performs interactive foreign exchange rate conversion on the Internet. The measurements converter works with different units of weight, capacity, length, area, speed, pressure, temperature, circular measure, and time. For time there is probably no more accurate place than the U.S. Naval Observatory master clock site. However Time and Date has an easily-used world clock and a variety of items relating to timekeeping and calendars.

  • The Cybercafe Database Search Engine is an adjunct to establishing a good backup web-based communications link when traveling anywhere in the world. Updated daily, it includes names, addresses, phone numbers and weblinks to currently operating cybercafes and kiosks around the world. The Netcafe Guide is another site to find locations where you can get on the net while traveling.

  • A listing of holidays and festivals is available via the web. This is useful while traveling, and should be consulted in advance of any trip. Another similar site is Anyday. Other links get you to another potentially useful world holidays site.

  • Foreign Language Dictionaries is a site with early 100 foreign language dictionaries. Web page translations are available at Systranmt. Alta Vista's translation site is easy to use.

  • The State Department's Annual Terrorism Report as well as reports on significant terrorist incidents against Americans can be found, along with terrorist group profiles at the Dudley Knox Library. The Department of State's Counterterrorism Page has useful information of many sorts. Another page/portal worth looking at is devoted to the explosive terrorist situation in South Asia. Many insurgent, rebel and protest groups can be reached and researched directly through one of the more amazing jump stations on the web, Terrorists, Freedom Fighters, Crusaders, etc.



  • News Sources



  • The BBC.
    This is the "Third Broadcast Medium" of the BBC, adding the Web to their Radio and Television journalism. There is an excellent World News page at the BBC.

  • The International Herald Tribune is considered one of the best newspapers in the world.

  • Kidon Media-Link. This is a comprehensive site of media pages around the world.News Central lists about 3,500 newspapers and similar services around the world. Not all the links work at any given time, but the overall the site is quite useful. The Bourque site boasts that every on-line newspaper in the world is linked here. Other sites list many newspapers and magazines from outside the United States. The Guide To Online Newspapers has one of the better indices to online newspapers on the Web. The database is divided into regional and national sections and there are databases for newspapers in major world languages.



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