Some teams operate nearby, ready to react
*Multi-layered defence system in place
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 15: Close Protection Team (CPT), Advance Team, Counter Assault Team (CAT), Quick Reaction Force (QRF), Surveillance/Counter-Surveillance Team, Intelligence and Threat Analysis Unit and some other similar like teams are and will be part of the VVIPs during their visits to keep them fully protected from any kind of attacks.
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“The CAT and QRF will be a highly trained tactical unit that will respond to attacks, provide suppressive fire, if required and create safe pathways for evacuation. These teams will not stay close to the VIP but operate nearby, ready to react,” sources told the Excelsior.
They said the Surveillance/Counter-Surveillance Team will play crucial role in detecting hostile surveillance, identifying suspicious persons or vehicles and monitoring possible threats before they escalate. They will blend into the environment and work covertly.
The existing Intelligence and Threat Analysis Unit is responsible for gathering real-time threat information, analyzing risk levels and advising the team on travel/stay decision. This unit, as per the sources, works with the Government or local agencies frequently.
“The Communication Officers are also being deployed with the VIPs to handle secure communication channels, radio traffic, coordination between teams and emergency broadcast protocols,” the sources said.
However, as per the sources, the Close Protection Team is an integral part of VVIP security system and will continue to play major role to protect the VVIPs. It is a band of minimum one section of security personnel which protects VVIP closely when all other security provisions are breached.
“Close protection team is assigned to a VVIP as per his or her threat perception. The team works in close coordination with other security teams like escort party, PSOs, QRT etc. It acts and reacts as per the security scenario arising with VVIP. In the recent attempt of attack on NC president and former CM Dr Farooq Abdullah, the attacker breached other provisions and reached in the close contact of VVIP. He was able to reach in the close proximity of VVIP and pointed his gun towards him. But, intervention of CPT by NSG and JK Police blocked the attacker, his weapon was taken over by the CPT, and got handed over to the local police,” the sources said.
Key roles of the CPT include advance reconnaissance, checking locals in advance for risks, escort and movement of security, mitigating potential dangers through threat assessment, reacting to any security breach and working with local law enforcement or other security units, the sources said.
“All these components combine to create a multi-layered defence system. The outer layer includes surveillance and CAT/QRF while the middle layer comprises motorcade and advance teams. The inner layer has the CPT. The layer approach ensures that threats are detected early and neutralized before reaching the VIP,” the sources said.
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