Crisis readiness levels indicate a graduated state of alert (or readiness) to be used across the company, increasing in severity from Readiness Level 1 (least severe) to Readiness Level 5 (most severe). An increase in readiness should correlate with a specific change in activities, behaviors, and alertness.
| Level | Communication | Exercise Term | Description | Readiness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Level 1 is considered the US normal, and as a standard of practice, should not apply to individuals and teams serving internationally. | INTERNAL | Relaxed, Unaware of your Surroundings / Not Prepared to React to Anything | USA Normal BY POLICY, RELIANT INTERNATIONAL TEAMS ARE NEVER AT THIS LEVEL |
| 2 | International normal readiness level. Standard overseas threat level. Level 2 situations are taken care of locally by the field team. | AWARE | Normal Operations / Regular OPSEC maintenance | Overseas Normal |
| 3 | Local Field Team manages the situation, but the team informs Reliant's International Crisis Manager by reporting the international incident so that Reliant can evaluate the situation. Typically at this level, the incident is localized and on a smaller scale. Reliant would not know of the incident without the field team informing us. Reliant would like to hear that "we are fine" and be available to help evaluate the situation and provide assistance if needed. | PREPARING | Increase Situational Awareness and OPSEC / Potentially Limit Operations by Location or Activity – Discuss necessary actions with Security Team + CMT | Increased Situational Awareness |
| 4 | Local Field Team still mostly manages the situation. As soon as possible, the team informs Reliant's International Crisis Manager by reporting the international incident and Reliant's ICMT is now actively involved in the decision-making and helping the field team directly | ENGAGED | Major crisis affecting individual team member/ Event Limits Team Operations / Prep Crisis Plan of Action Potential for Shelter in Place/ Places of Refuge | Responding to Threat |
| 5 | Management of the crisis is now beyond the capacity of the local field team to manage independently. Reliant's International Crisis Management Team or its pre-approved delegate is now managing the situation until the Local Field Team returns to a position to do so themselves. This is a major crisis resulting in ongoing disruption to field operations or the threat now inhibits the ability of the team to safely continue.. | Potential for Evacuation and Orderly Relocation | Major crisis affecting team leader or multiple team members/ Event inhibits the safe continuation of the team operations / Execute Crisis Plan | Potential for Demobilization |
Examples of Each Level:
- Level 1: Reliant encourages overseas staff to never enter Readiness Level 1
- Level 2: Normal crime (purse snatching); normal secret police activity; casual interrogations; generalized terrorist presence
- Level 3: Interrogations or detection of surveillance; known terrorist activity in immediate vicinity area of operation not focused on western citizens
- Level 4: Increased threat level warnings specific to our team; warning of pending natural disasters (hurricanes/typhoon/volcano); known terrorist activity in immediate vicinity area of operation focused on western citizens; detection of targeted terrorist surveillance
- Level 5: Generalized threats to our team; targeted efforts of the secret police; increased actualized or highly imminent threat to the lives of our team or a visitor; coup-d’etat destabilizing country; unpredicted natural disaster (major earthquake) cutting off critical resources of power, water, and food for longer than our typical shelter period; outbreak of war
