For decades, women have become increasingly more important instruments of collection, targeting, and even well-crafted assassination missions. These highly trained and skilled woman are part of every countries most elite teams.

The Mossad utilized females in the Dubai Assassination of a Hamas Leader. The Russians put one of their best, Anna Chapman, here in the US to spy and collect through “sexpionage” – more to follow on her in a separate article (you will love it, she was a freak!).

Over the years some great lessons learned have evolved that have allowed them to get in and out of hostile environments undetected. With these lessons learned, I have sifted and collected the pertinent personal security points that relate to women traveling alone.

Below scrapes the surface to what woman should and shouldn’t do to blend in, decrease exposure, and ultimately elude any potential threats. Pass the word!

Personal Security Tips for Women

• Limit the amount of information shared about your travel plans – before and during the trip.
• Use covered luggage ID tags and remove upon arrival.
• Dress and behave conservatively, as appropriate for the local culture.
• Observe local customs as much as possible and try to learn unintended implications of your personal behavior, mannerisms and dress.  For example, smiling, making eye contact or touching males can be misunderstood in some cultures.
• Keep alert for anyone who seems to be following you or takes special interest in you.
• Vary your daily routine. Never take the same route to or from your hotel and vary the times of your comings and goings. This will make it more difficult for someone to target you for an assault or kidnapping.
• Carry your handbag on the side away from the street to avoid grab-and-run attacks.
• Stay at reputable hotels and avoid rooms by elevators, hallways or terraces.
• Choose a room above the ground floor but not higher than the seventh floor for fire safety purposes.
• You are at your most vulnerable arriving and departing from your hotel.  Don’t linger in the public space around the hotel, the parking lot or indoor garage.
• Use a door alarm, carry a whistle and keep a self-defense weapon near your bed (a fishing weight wrapped in a handkerchief makes a great weapon).
• Consider carrying pepper spray or spray deodorant.
• Carry a high lumens flashlight. Brandon recommends the Surefire P2X Fury Dual Output LED.

Tips to Prevent Sexual Assault

• Wear clothing that is hard to remove. Avoid tight-fitting clothing and make-up.
• Consider wearing a wedding or similar ring, even if you aren’t married.
• Remember, assaults can also be at the hands of acquaintances, so choose fixers, interpreters and drivers carefully.
• Avoid wearing anything that could be grabbed – jewelry, ponytail, etc.
• In case of a sexual assault attempt, yell loudly and smash or break items.  Tell the attacker you’re pregnant or have AIDS.
• Urinating or soiling yourself in the event of an impending attack may be a deterrent.
• Carry a condom…it may prevent you from getting AIDS if you can’t fend off the attacker.

Women, please add to these with your personal experiences, and send this article to anyone who could benefit. If you have any questions feel free to hit me up!

Escape the Wolf

(Featured Image: Angeline Jolie in ‘Wanted’, courtesy of guardian.co.uk)