​When Conditions Collapse, Command Matters

Salus provides experienced command, coordination, intelligence, communications, logistics, and field support during serious incidents and crises.

 

Our people have led international disaster teams, FBI counterterrorism operations, military and Coast Guard missions, aviation emergencies, SWAT operations, evacuations, hostage negotiations, search and rescue, humanitarian operations, and complex recovery efforts.

 

We do not arrive to observe.

 

We arrive to help establish control, protect people, support command, solve problems, and keep the mission moving.

 

Understand the situation. Establish command. Set priorities. Act.

 

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The Bottom Line

 

During a crisis, you do not need another consultant explaining the incident you are already experiencing.

 

You need experienced people who can:

• Build an accurate operating picture

• Identify immediate priorities

• Support incident command

• Coordinate agencies and organizations

• Find personnel, equipment, and resources

• Solve logistics problems

• Support public and internal communications

• Protect essential operations

• Anticipate what may happen next

• Drive decisions into action

 

That is SalOPS.

 

Experience Earned Under Real Conditions

 

Salus personnel have:

• Managed one of the world’s most frequently deployed international disaster-response teams.

• Led United Nations disaster-assessment and coordination missions.

• Directed FBI counterterrorism, intelligence, and investigative operations in the United States and overseas.

• Investigated the bombings of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

• Supported operations during the Westgate Mall terrorist attack in Nairobi.

• Worked counterterrorism assignments in Afghanistan.

• Served as the senior United States military official in Haiti.

• Led Coast Guard disaster response, evacuation, mass care, port security, contingency planning, and humanitarian operations.

• Commanded SWAT and special-operations personnel during high-profile and complex events.

• Managed airport police, emergency operations centers, 911 communications, security, and emergency-management programs.

• Coordinated response to aircraft accidents, bomb threats, security breaches, evacuations, severe weather, law-enforcement emergencies, and infrastructure failures.

• Led FEMA continental United States air-operations planning and preparedness.

• Conducted search-and-rescue, disaster-response, and recovery operations in the Caribbean, North Carolina, and Texas.

• Led crisis-communications, public-safety, aviation, energy-assurance, and cybersecurity programs.

• Supported sensitive operations after the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.

• Managed hostage negotiation, crisis intervention, behavioral emergencies, and critical incidents.

 

This is the team available to Salus clients.

 

Command Experience Behind the Response

 

International Disaster Operations

 

Michael Schaff brings more than 35 years of international crisis-response and emergency-management experience.

 

He retired as a Battalion Chief from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s Special Operations Division, where he managed USA-1, one of the world’s most frequently deployed disaster-response teams.

 

As a member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination system, he helped lead international responses to major disasters and advised host-country leadership during complex operations.

 

When conditions are chaotic, resources are limited, and multiple organizations must work together, Michael has operated there.

 

Counterterrorism and Complex Investigations

 

Matt Espenshade served for 24 years as an FBI Special Agent and senior leader.

 

He led the FBI’s Nashville office and held senior leadership responsibilities in the Memphis Division. As FBI Legal Attaché in Budapest and Nairobi, he worked with United States ambassadors, foreign police, intelligence services, and international partners.

 

His assignments included counterterrorism work in Afghanistan, the Westgate Mall terrorist attack in Nairobi, the kidnapping of an

American humanitarian worker in Somalia, and the investigation of the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

 

He understands how intelligence, investigations, command, diplomacy, and operational response come together during high-consequence events.

 

Military, Coast Guard, and Humanitarian Command

 

Captain Greg Duncan has more than 35 years of experience leading disaster response, evacuations, mass care, military operations, maritime security, humanitarian missions, and critical-infrastructure protection.

 

He served as the senior United States military official in Haiti and coordinated with United States Southern Command, the Haitian government, foreign governments, and federal and local agencies.

 

His career also includes future-operations responsibility within United States Pacific Command, Coast Guard contingency planning, port security, counterterrorism capability development, and National Special Security Event operations with the United States

Secret Service.

 

National and Regional Crisis Operations

 

Marc Duncan has led emergency-management, aviation, public-safety, counterterrorism, crisis-communications, intelligence, and disaster operations for more than three decades.

 

From 2012 through 2017, he led the consultant team responsible for FEMA continental United States air-operations planning and preparedness. His work integrated aviation, logistics, incident coordination, and large-scale disaster operations.

 

He has led or coordinated search-and-rescue, response, and recovery activity following disasters in the Caribbean, North Carolina, and Texas. His work also includes operations following the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan and public-safety initiatives involving Los Angeles World Airports, Raleigh-Durham International Airport, New York City, and the City of Raleigh.

 

Crisis Negotiation and Behavioral Response

 

Joe Waring, CPP, brings law-enforcement supervisory experience in hostage negotiation, crisis intervention, behavioral and mental-health response, peer support, investigations, and critical incidents.

 

He served on the board of the Texas Association of Hostage Negotiators and is qualified as a Mental Health Peace Officer.

 

Joe understands that disciplined communication can prevent a volatile situation from becoming a violent one—and that the wrong action at the wrong time can make the situation worse.

 

What SalOPS Provides

 

Incident Command Support

 

Salus can augment the existing incident-management structure without displacing the authority of the responsible organization or jurisdiction.

 

Support may include:

• Incident command and general staff assistance

• Emergency operations center support

• Situation assessment

• Incident action planning

• Operational coordination

• Resource tracking

• Decision support

• Command briefings

• Documentation

• Shift-transition support

• Liaison with agencies and partners

• Demobilization planning

 

We help commanders see the whole problem while operational personnel handle immediate tasks.

 

Common Operating Picture

 

A crisis cannot be managed effectively when every department has a different version of events.

 

Salus helps establish:

• What happened

• What is happening now

• Who or what is at risk

• What has been confirmed

• What remains uncertain

• What resources are available

• What actions are underway

• What decisions are required

• What could happen next

• What information must reach leadership and operators

 

SalINTEL, SalTHIRA, and SalCAPA can support this work, but experienced people remain responsible for interpretation and

judgment.

 

Field and Surge Support

 

When an organization’s personnel are overwhelmed, unavailable, or missing specialized capability, Salus can help coordinate additional support.

 

Requirements may include:

• Emergency-management personnel

• Security and protective personnel

• Investigators

• Intelligence specialists

• Aviation and transportation expertise

• Logistics personnel

• Crisis-communications support

• Technical specialists

• Damage and operational assessments

• Search-and-rescue coordination

• Recovery-planning personnel

• Specialized contractors and partner resources

 

The requirement determines the team.

 

Emergency Logistics

 

Plans fail when resources cannot reach the people who need them.

 

Salus can support:

• Personnel movement

• Transportation

• Lodging

• Fuel

• Equipment

• Communications

• Protective support

• Staging

• Supply coordination

• Vendor and contractor liaison

• Alternate facilities

• Air operations

• Resource requests and tracking

• Movement into restricted or disrupted areas

 

We account for competition, access constraints, damaged infrastructure, limited availability, and changing priorities.

 

Crisis Communications

 

Operational actions and communications must remain aligned.

 

Salus supports:

• Command messaging

• Internal communications

• Employee and family information

• Public information

• Media coordination

• Stakeholder notification

• Rumor and misinformation monitoring

• Protective communications

• Message approval and release procedures

• Coordination among operational and communications personnel

 

Salus developed and led the crisis-communications program for Raleigh-Durham International Airport—a program customer representatives described as among the strongest of its kind in the country.

 

Intelligence and Investigation

 

An incident may also involve deliberate acts, insider activity, fraud, theft, cyber compromise, workplace violence, or criminal conduct.

 

Salus can integrate:

• Protective intelligence

• Threat assessment

• Investigative support

• Behavioral analysis

• Insider-threat review

• Information validation

• Law-enforcement liaison

• Evidence preservation

• Suspicious-activity analysis

• Cyber-physical incident coordination

 

We distinguish confirmed facts from reasonable assessments, incomplete reporting, and rumor.

 

How We Enter the Fight

 

1. Establish Contact

 

We identify the responsible authority, immediate need, operating location, known conditions, and available support.

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2. Build the Operating Picture

​

We determine what is known, what is unknown, what is changing, and what requires immediate attention.

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3. Set Priorities

 

Life safety. Incident stabilization. Protection of essential functions. Continuity. Recovery.

 

The order may change as conditions change.

 

4. Assign the Right People

 

We deploy or coordinate personnel based on the mission—not on who happens to be available.

 

5. Support Command and Operations

 

We work inside the existing authority structure, communicate directly, document decisions, and help convert priorities into action.

 

6. Prepare for the Next Operational Period

Good incident support solves today’s problems while anticipating tomorrow’s.

 

No Ego. No Theater. No Paralysis.

 

Salus personnel understand command.

 

We know when to lead, when to support, when to advise, and when to get out of the operator’s way.

We do not create complexity to justify our presence. We do not overwhelm commanders with information that has no operational value. We do not confuse activity with progress.

 

We identify what matters and help get it done.

 

When the Incident Exceeds the Plan

 

The plan will not survive unchanged.

 

Personnel will be unavailable. Communications will fail. Resources will be delayed. Information will conflict. Authorities will overlap.

 

Priorities will compete. The incident will create problems no one predicted.

 

That is when experience matters most.

 

Salus brings commanders and operators who have worked through terrorism, disasters, aviation emergencies, military operations, major investigations, evacuations, humanitarian crises, public-safety incidents, and infrastructure disruption.

 

When conditions change, we help you regain control.

 

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