Global Security Briefing by Factal and Emergent Risk International

In today’s Global Security Briefing, Emergent Risk International’s Judd Tennant reviewed security at the FIFA World Cup, highlighting the unexpectedly low number of arrests and protests so far. He also shared what organizations should watch for during the tournament’s final stretch. Factal co-founder Cory Bergman kicked off the briefing with a discussion of the rapid advancement of AI, the pseudo-...

In today’s Global Security Briefing, Factal editor Sarah Burke discussed some of the challenges in covering natural hazards like tornadoes, the growing intertwining of extreme weather events and the expanding threat zones from those. Emergent Risk International strategic risk analyst Poornima B, Ph. D., spoke to the increase in drone threats to corporate interests, not only near war zones across E...

 In today’s Global Security Briefing, two Latin American specialists focused on the region. Factal's Latin America Lead, Jeff Landset, spoke about active protests in three countries and what to watch for in others. Emiliano Polo, Emergent Risk International Latin America Analyst, talked about the electoral situation throughout the region. Together, they answered questions about Colombia and E...

In Thursday's Global Security Briefing, just two weeks before the opening match, Factal Editor Joe Veyera gave a final preview of World Cup security concerns, including extreme weather and the risks posed by dispersed soft targets. From Emergent Risk International Judd Tennant spoke about the U.S. mid-term election related threats and impacts. Then Kieran O'Leary talked about using predi...

Factal Senior Editor Halima Mansoor started us off by discussing recent election violence in West Bengal and other developments in South Asia.  Followed by Louise Alestam, Senior EMEA Analyst at Emergent Risk International, who turned the focus on the compounding supply chain issues from the Ukraine and Iran wars. Since the earliest days of COVID, Factal and Emergent Risk International have held a...

After the recent insurgency activity in Mali, Factal Editor Sarah Burke shares what to watch for in the rest of the Sahel and within Mali itself. Madi Honsinger and Emiliano Polo from Emergent Risk International turned their eyes to the Western Hemisphere. Madi provided updates on the security situation around the Men's World Cup. Emiliano focused on El Niño's impacts in Latin America, e...

How do editors handle conflicting information in around the Iran war and the Israel-Lebanon conflict? Factal Middle East Lead Ahmed Namatalla shares that after talking about the continuing impacts of dual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Director of Analysis at Emergent Risk International Kieran O'Leary brings back five things ERI is watching which includes heightened and sometimes violent a...

Let's start off with the good news -- there probably won't be a war between China and Taiwan. Neil Thompson from Emergent Risk International tells you why. This week's briefing started with the compounding complications of the Iran war from Factal editor Sarah Burke. Then Rachel Briggs from the Clarity Factory gave a ten-minute lesson on how to sell a security and intel team around...

Director of Analysis, Kieran O'Leary started with an update on the expansion of the Iran conflict, the mutli-order supply chain impacts and what Emergent Risk International is looking at next. Then Factal producer Dave Clark talked about the safety and security concerns around the most dispersed sporting event in history -- the men's World Cup 2026 with over 100 locations to monitor in t...

Kieran O'Leary kicked things off, providing an update on the expansion of the Iran conflict, what Emergent Risk International is looking at next and why there are hints at a prolonged operation. Then Cory Bergman showed the flood of AI disinformation surrounding the conflict in Iran and demonstrated how to spot it in real time—the same thing Factal editors do every day.  Since the earliest da...

This Briefing explained that since you know your reports are going to be summarized you can structure them to be better understood by LLMs -- all writing is marketing, targeting a specific audience. Dave Clark, marketer and producer with Factal presented on that. Plus security awareness around annual general meetings and how to be more aware of AI security situations within Emergent Risk Internati...

The only way to cover real-time security news is to be familiar with a region's expected news. Factal editors recently shared their regional lookaheads with members -- in today's Global Security Briefing editor Sarah Burke shared selections from the Europe and APAC outlooks. Then Emergent Risk International took a deeper look into U.S.-Europe relations including what Cameron Tisshaw is w...

 In this Briefing Factal producer Dave Clark presents on what makes the Winter Olympics challenging from a safety & security aspect, plus what the European editors are watching for to help members. Then North America specialist Theresa Seiger gets you up to speed on the status of Greenland as the U.S., NATO and the E.U. discuss paths forward. Pearl de Souza from Emergent Risk International foc...

In the first Global Security Briefing of 2026 Factal editor Jaime Calle Moreno took a deep dive into what happened in Venezuela as well as what editors are watching for next. Hannah Poppy, Global Head of Risk Intelligence for Emergent Risk International, turned to the economic protest in Iran, including why these are different than the Woman. Life. Freedom protests of 2022. Kieran O'Leary, Se...

The final Briefing of 2025 features Factal editor James Morgan with an update on Ukraine-Russia. What's the state of the ground war, the drone war, the hybrid war and peace talks? That's the first 20 minutes. Then Kieran O'Leary from Emergent Risk International presents five things ERI is tracking. That includes why tin prices may be an indicator of rare earth metal prices to come,...

In this Global Security Briefing Factal editor Sarah Burke and Emergent Risk International analyst Cameron Evers dive deep into four nations in Africa's unique situations, how they got there and what the business intelligence professional needs to pay attention to next. Kieran O'Leary wrapped up with a preview for Iraq's election. As always, the Briefing is a sampling of how decisio...

Producer Dave Clark from Factal delivered an abbreviated version of his GSX presentation on using games for learning as opposed to longer simulations. The Director of Analysis at ERI, Kieran O’Leary, then discussed various scenarios involving Venezuela and the U.S. He also explained the dispute between China and the Netherlands around a chip manufacturer and what to watch for with the APEC meeting...

The briefing starts with Iman Elbanna from Emergent Risk International talking about the expanding business impacts from the the U.S. government shutdown, with what to watch for if it continues. Iman then continues with five other things ERI is watching -- including the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, France's government crisis, and U.S. National Guard deployments. Factal senior editor Sara...

Factal APAC lead Vivian Wang is back with an expansion on the South and Southeast Asia protests and youth uprisings as they expand into East Timor and the Philippines. One aspect carrying over through the region is the connection to popular anime series One Piece . Emergent Risk International Director of Analysis Kieran O'Leary follows that with things to watch for in Indonesia. Later he dive...

To paraphrase usual host Kieran O'Leary, everything is a polycrisis because every crisis overlaps. This week's Global Security Briefing touches on political crises in France and Nepal, what security teams and businesses should be aware of after the Charlie Kirk killing, what to watch for after Russian drones flew over Poland, the recent airstrike by Israel into Qatar targeting Hamas lead...

This edition of the Briefing starts with Factal Chief Product Officer talking about the employment impacts of generative AI (some job fields are down for entry level positions). He then explores the latest in generative imagery and video, focusing on how the latest advancements will challenge risk intelligence and journalism. Kieran O'Leary shares the five things keeping him and his team of a...

This edition of the Global Security Briefing starts with Factal examining Trump's war on Latin America's drug cartels. Irene Villora, Factal's LATAM editorial lead, discusses the Trump administration's alleged order to use military force, Mexico's response, the expansion of surveillance, and potential implications. Cameron Evers, Deputy Director of Intelligence and Analysi...

This edition of the Global Security Briefing starts with Factal looking at Europe's fire season. Dave Clark goes over the nations with the most fires, urban areas threatened so far, and what the near-term prognosis is after more than twice the forested area burned in 2025 compared to the 20-year average. Kieran O'Leary, Director of Intelligence and Analysis at Emergent Risk International...

This week's Global Security Briefing covered the recent violence in Sweida, Syria hosted by Factal editor Agnese Boffano. Then Emergent Risk International analyst Hannah Poppy presented on the removal of U.S. sanctions on Syria, plus the remaining economic concerns in the nation. Vassilis Benopoulos from ERI finished the briefing with an updated on the Ukraine-Russia conflict's expanding...

Together Factal and Emergent Risk International bring you up to Thursday morning's news on the conflict then they tell you what editors are watching for and what businesses should pay attention. Then ERI talks about the protests and political violence in the United States. Our next Briefing is July 17. Since the earliest days of COVID, Factal and Emergent Risk International have held an essen...