Joseph Smith is the Americas Analyst in the Special Risks Analysis team based in London. Joe is responsible for providing analytical support to deployed consultants on active kidnap-for-ransom and extortion cases, sharing insights on extortive crime on Control Risks’ online subscription services, and producing bespoke consultancy work detailing kidnap-for-ransom and extortion trends specific to individual client exposure.

Joe’s recent consulting experience includes:

• Focussed analysis of the kidnap threat to local and foreign employees working in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry in kidnapping hotpots on Mexico’s Gulf Coast. The report informed a series of briefings designed to equip employees with knowledge to guarantee their own safety. 
• A comparative analysis of the extortive crime threat as it relates to the domestic, expatriate and business traveller employees of a global tech company with operations in San José, Costa Rica. The report enabled the client to focus security on those of its workforce who were most at risk.
• An in-depth review of the risk of kidnapping and extortion for an educational organisation looking to improve its understanding of the threat environment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The analysis highlighted the types of extortive crime that would most likely affect employees and students, such as express kidnapping, enabling the client to provide tailored security advice to its care. 

Prior to joining Control Risks, Joe worked in external relations for a Nicaraguan development charity. He also worked as a freelance analyst for Salamanca Group, producing reports on kidnapping and extortion in Latin America, and as a campaigns assistant and Caribbean researcher at Amnesty International. Joe has an undergraduate degree in French and Spanish from the University of Oxford, and a Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London.