With Americans currently stranded in the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict, both governmental and private entities are operating continuously to facilitate evacuations.

Alongside the U.S. Department of State’s task force dedicated to the 24/7 evacuation of U.S. citizens, the private security company Global Guardian is also laboring non-stop to achieve the same objective.

According to CEO and President Dale Robert Buckner, Global Guardian has successfully evacuated over 4,000 individuals from the region as of Friday.

Although the operations and logistics teams are based in a northern Virginia office, the company maintains staff in over 140 nations, granting Global Guardian the ability to reach almost any part of the globe for emergency responses or extractions.

“We offer medical evacuation services, as well as negotiation and payment for kidnappings, ransoms, and extortion if someone is taken or targeted,” Buckner stated. “We are currently handling approximately 300 executive protection travel missions each month across roughly 84 countries.”

Additionally, the private security firm performs camera surveillance on both residential and commercial properties and employs cyber analysts to keep an eye on mobile devices.

Following the joint strike by the U.S. and Israel on Iran last weekend, the company has been organizing numerous emergency evacuations; however, this is not the first instance where it has aided Americans in escaping a crisis area.

“This involved extracting people from Puerto Vallarta and Jalisco, Mexico, just a week ago. It also meant rescuing individuals from Asheville, North Carolina, after it was devastated by a hurricane,” Buckner remarked.

From a logistical standpoint, extracting tourists from a war zone and returning them to safety is a complex process, yet the firm acts swiftly, managing to complete their initial border crossing within the first six hours of the conflict.

Deputy Vice President of Operations Colin O’Brien reported that the firm immediately received a call from two students studying abroad who were attempting to depart Dubai.

“Within roughly four and a half hours of that phone call, we had mobilized our teams to retrieve these individuals, who were two college-aged women,” O’Brien stated.

“After placing them in the car, we moved toward the Omani border and arrived within eight hours. We navigated the border checkpoint to reach a hotel in Muscat, where we could pause to give them a brief rest while we organized their transport back home,” he explained.

The company stated that it stays active throughout the year to guarantee that evacuation strategies are established prior to disasters occurring.

“The plan outlines the pickup location and the key crossing site,” Buckner noted. “It details the legal paperwork requirements. From there, we either place you in a hotel or directly onto a commercial flight. Given the current state of the war, however, we will most likely put you on a private charter.”

Buckner indicated that the majority of these missions in the region involve ground transportation managed by local personnel. He noted that across the 140 countries where the firm operates, they maintain ground teams that work and train consistently throughout the year.

“We are communicating, coordinating, and executing. We utilize executive protection agents, armed agents, armored vehicles, and large-scale event support staffed by medical and security personnel,” he said, outlining the company’s standard operational capabilities.

“We coordinate driver requirements as needed. This includes routes from Dubai to Oman, Israel to Oman, Jordan, or Egypt, and from Bahrain into Saudi Arabia,” Buckner added.

Although the firm is collaborating with the State Department, it noted that it has not yet carried out a flight mission specifically for the department.

Global Guardian provides these services via a “Duty of Care Membership,” which Buckner stated is priced at $15,000 annually for a family of five.

“You sign a contract—whether you are a family, a family office, or typically a large corporation. We then become available at your beck and call,” Buckner described, referring to the emergency response services covered by the agreement.

Regarding Americans currently trapped in the Middle East, Buckner mentioned that evacuation costs utilizing ground and air assets fluctuate based on the specific circumstances and location.