COBUS CLAASSENS
Cobus Claassens spent a large part of his life as a professional soldier in the South African army. After 13 years of training and operational posting he acquired plenty of experience as an infantryman, a member of unconventional forces, and a paratrooper. He rose to the rank of Major and had a command posting leading an Airborne Battalion Group. After resigning from the South African army Cobus worked for one of the more high profile private military companies of that time - Executive Outcomes.

In 1999 he formed his own security company by the name of Southern Cross., eventually selling it to Securicor in February 2003. He now works in the freelance security and security consulting business.

He operates worldwide though his love of tropical climates keeps him, at least for now, coming back to his African roots.

ROBERT YOUNG PELTON
Robert Young Pelton is known for overcoming extraordinary obstacles in his search for the truth. He has made a career of bypassing the media, border guards and the military in his goal of getting to the heart of the story. His recent journeys have taken him inside the siege of Grozny in Chechnya, the battle of Qala-I-Jangi in Afghanistan, the rebel campaign to take Monrovia in Liberia and inside the hunt for Bin Laden in the Tribal Areas. In addition to his work for National Geographic Adventure, Pelton has worked for Discovery Channel, ABC News, CBS 60 Minutes, CNN and other major media networks. As an author, Pelton is best known for his classic underground guide to surviving danger; Robert Young Pelton’s - The World’s Most Dangerous Places (Harper Collins) now in its fifth edition. His other books include Come Back Alive (Random House), an intense autobiography, The Adventurist (Broadway Books) and his latest, Three Worlds Gone Mad (Lyons Press), a book about three wars and the people Pelton met fighting them. He is currently writing a book about mercenaries and private contractors for Crown Books and a young teen book based on his early childhood for Penguin.

PETER WARREN SINGER
Peter Warren Singer is the National Security Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director of the Brookings Project on U.S. Policy Towards the Islamic World. Dr. Singer is considered the world’s leading expert on the private military industry. His book Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell University Press) was the first to explore the industry and was named best book of the year by the American Political Science Association, among the top five international affairs books of the year by the Gelber Prize, and a Top Ten Summer Read by Businessweek. It was also recently featured in the History Channel docu- mentary “Soldiers for Hire.” Singer continues to serve as a resource on the private military issue to the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of Defense-Joint Staff, CIA, European Union, and, most recently, played a role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse investigation.

ALAN W. BELL
Alan W. Bell is the president of Globe Risk Holdings Inc., and an expert in international coun- ter-terrorism. His distinguished career includes more than 22 years of specialized military experience related to global security issues. Mr. Bell has trained close protection (body- guard) teams for two kings, two presidents, and has been involved in counter-terrorist opera- tions throughout the world. Since forming Globe Risk Holdings Inc. Mr. Bell personally directs the delivery of all corporate level services, consulting for major crown corporations and agencies, governments, natural resource and exploration companies, insurance companies, telecommunication firms, food manufacturers, television networks, chemical companies, and shopping centers. Currently, Mr. Bell serves as a consultant to a large number of international corporations as well as a number of Ontario’s Tactical Weapons teams and the Canadian governments Special Emergency Rescue Team, an anti-terrorist special assignment group. Globe Risk Holdings Inc. has supplied security support to business operations in such diverse areas as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Sudan, The Republic of the Congo, DRC, Angola, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, Philippines, Greece, Europe, Russia, U.S. and Canada.