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5
Assessing the Risk and Threat
of Hostile Organizations
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana
Philosopher (1905)
On the evening of Tuesday, June 16, 2009, James Amburn, an American
banker and nancial advisor, was kidnapped from his home in Speyer,
Germany. The adversaries in this case can perhaps only be described as
history’s most usual crew of kidnappers to ever target another individual.
Amburn arrived at his residence to nd four men, all retirees with an age
range of between 57 and 80 years of age. They had traveled from their
homes in Bavaria, a distance of some 280 miles. Amburn had been the
advisor for these men and when the economy turned downward, they
lost approximately $5 million in