The BBC’s security correspondent, Frank Gardner will be making a special key note appearance at MIS Training Institute’s third Annual Chief Security Officer Summit 2009, in Barcelona on December 14 to 16, 2009.
The summit seeks to bring together security directors from across Europe and beyond to tackle the most critical and strategic security challenges at the highest level.
Frank is well known for his reporting of both domestic and international security, notably on Al Qaeda related terrorism. Frank’s career at the BBC has seen him report extensively on the so-called ‘War on Terror’ in Guantanamo Bay, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.
In 2004 he survived being shot six times at close range by Al Qaeda terrorists in the Riyadh suburb, Saudi Arabia. His cameraman Simon Cumbers was killed but Frank’s miraculous survival was most likely due to a small Qur’an he was carrying with him which his attackers found when attempting to rob him. After many months in hospital he returned to the BBC to resume his job and in June 2005 he was awarded an OBE for services to journalism. Frank openly condemns his attackers saying, "I just think it’s cowardice to shoot somebody who’s defenceless. That isn’t brave, that’s not making a stand for your beliefs, that’s just cowardice. What kind of battle is that? It’s one thing for them to be taking on the police in a shootout but taking on a couple of unarmed defenceless journalists?", but his determination to return to his full and active life make his story both fascinating and inspirational.
Delegate registrations are being taken. Visit www.mistieurope.com/cso for more information or to register.
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