Dirty Bombs, Summer Travels and Your Career

 

By Robert McGarvey

 

Suddenly the world’s press is full of stories about Isis and the possibility of a “dirty bomb” – a crude nuclear weapon – detonated in Europe.

 

Britain has loomed especially large in that conversation and anybody who has been in London at rush hour can easily picture the horrific result.

 

Understand this: the probability is low.  

 

Very low because security services are in high gear to anticipate and prevent.

 

And of course we also understand that low does not mean nil.  And that possibility should scare the hell out of you.

 

The question: should you alter your travel plans to reflect new, more profound worries about travel and terror?

 

Is your career in jeopardy if you decline travel orders issued by your superiors? There’s a worry we have not much had since September 2001 but it is back and it is real.

 

More business travelers now are asking themselves exactly that question.

 

Indications are that business travelers definitely are concerned about terror and travel.  A new poll via the Association of Corporate Travel Executives found 67% of executives said there was a “toll” on them, or their families, when they went to a place they deemed unsafe.

 

Most interesting is what is unsafe.  According to the data, executives rank France a tad more worrisome than Turkey which is a bit more worrisome than Belgium.

 

They expressed little concern about Tunisia, I’m guessing because they have no plans to go there. The US State Dept. has expressed – loudly for it – concerns about Tunisia and, no, personally I would not go right now, even though I have never been and it houses some terrific Roman ruins I would love to see. But I would not put that on my dance card in 2016.

 

Personally, too, I would gladly go to France or Belgium, and I do not believe I would go to Turkey, despite liking Istanbul a lot and Ephesus even more.

 

Who’s right, who’s wrong? That’s the thing: you have to make your own call. That’s the 2016 reality.  When Brussels – a city typically scorned as simply boring – turned into a charnel house, there’s a new reality at work and we all are piecing together our own responses.  That’s the way it should be. Literally it may be our lives at stake.  And if that’s how it is, I want to call my own shots.

 

What if your family is begging you to stay home? That’s your decision, too. I would not tell anyone to ignore the fears of a spouse, or a child.  In a world where old beliefs – old senses of security – have been shattered by terrorists, a child may know every bit as well as a wizened elder.  

 

I am writing this in a hotel room in Las Vegas – where I am attending a huge conference – and I admit I have no worries about terrorism in this town, which has some of the best security on the planet (maybe on any planet).  

 

Next week I am in the New York area and, nope, have no worries about security.

 

I used to travel often to Belfast when a civil war was flaring and, no, I had no real worries about my security even there.

 

The usual advice still holds: avoid large crowds, avoid tempting targets.

 

Would I go to London? Oh, yes, would love to.  I would avoid the tube in rush hour – especially the Circle Line – but I would do that without any threat alerts.  

 

Would I decline an order from a boss to go to, say, Cairo?  

 

Yeah, probably.  

 

Should you? Could you?  Indications are that rising numbers of executives are now chewing on these questions – especially as worries grow over destinations previously thought to be safe (Brussels for example).  Many believe their companies will respect their concerns but others wonder if their career growth will be slowed.

 

That boss question will not go away. We will be hearing more of it, as more destinations seem to be possible terror spots.  Who goes to Syria on business now? But in a global market, what US executives can shrug off all the cities on any terror watch, from Paris to Rome and Mumbai?

 

The decisions won’t be easy.  Careers may be at stake. So may lives. The calculus is grim but it is real.

 

Don’t ask me what to do.  It’s your life, your decisions.