9 minute read
Noel G Whelan
NOEL G WHELAN
Story by Jasmina Siderovski
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International Counter-Terrorism subject-matter expert. Advisor, Speaker, Educator, Trainer, Author. (Govt, Corps, Orgs)
Noel G Whelan is an International Counter Terrorism Subject Matter Expert – serving 30 years of service in military and counter terrorism. Enriched with a wealth of experience working with Governments, providing critical threat analysis and risk resolution assessments to counter hostile reconnaissance and activities by potential domestic and exterior terrorist groups and individual lone wolf assailants across land, sea and air. Mr. Whelan also provides intricate threat analyses and risk resolution working with corporations to low companies to operate across a multitude of environments, globally, whilst seizing the business initiative and minimising risk, at the same time.
Mr. Whelan works with some of the best technology innovators to protect their products and services from hostile intellectual property theft. He provides guidance which assists them to confidently, efficiently and profitably research and develop new products. Advising on key areas such as; cyber-terrorism and cyber-incursion as well as cyber-threat technology and cyber-threat specialists.
His expertise extends to Working with Professional Services Firms and professional services firms and their clients to enable them to meet the specialised needs of their customers and consumers while being protected from a multitude of invasive and non-invasive attacks on their brand, technology, services and reputation.
Mr. Whelan also works with individuals to allow them to safely explore the difference between management and leadership. Managers have their eye on the ball while leaders have an eye on the horizon. This allows them to develop necessary leadership skills whilst building on their natural management foundations.
Mr. Whelan provides:
Life coaching;
Private ‘understanding terrorism’ tuition and tutoring;
Private ‘anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism’ tuition and training;
Leadership training;
Strategic planning training; and Weapons training.
His commitment to individual development and training saw him establish an on-line training academy; International Counter Terrorism Training UK.
Working as a Movie Military advisor, Mr. Whelan has worked on various movies from Hollywood blockbusters to documentary movies. He provides advice to directors on military protocols to make scenes look realistic and have been asked to make cameo appearances.
A world-renown International CounterTerrorism Expert and Author specialising in Islamic Extremism, European and US Defence Policy, and Nuclear Defence Strategy, Noel G Whelan started his journey as a trainer to various international governments and royalties. He continued his career as an International Security Operator working on various transnational missions for more than 25 years, being commissioned by different governmental agencies from the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. His missions have taken him to countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland, UAE Turkey, Greece, Italy, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Tunisia, Libya, Borneo, and Lebanon. He has worked with and advised leading organisations and agencies like the Department of Homeland Security United States, British Armed Forces, United States Federal Agencies, HM Prisons, and British Airways to name but a few.
Being a successful author of two books including Where Demons Dread, Mr. Whelan has also been numerously interviewed in magazines and leading international TV networks such as BBC, Sky TV, and ITV. He was awarded a Degree of MA in Terrorism and Security from the University of Leeds in 2007. He has been a lecturer at Park Lane College, Leeds on risk management and higher education programs, and also a guest lecturer at the Department of Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Programs at Lamar Institute of Technology Beaumont Texas.
Utilising his extensive international experience dealing with anti – and counterterrorism issues Mr. Whelan currently focuses on teaching and training internationally on subjects like Combating Radicalisation Leading to Terrorism and Violence, Countering Lone Wolf Terrorists, Countering Explosive Devices, Critical Infrastructure Protection.
In 2020 Mr. Whelan is launching an E-learning Training Academy, International Counter-Terrorism Training (ICCT) focusing on educating people on anti- and counterterrorism techniques tactics and strategies globally. Mr. Whelan has also worked on and consulted movie productions such as 13 Hours in Benghazi directed by Michael Bay and A Terrible Beauty by Tile Films Dublin, Ireland.
Below is an extract from my Autobiography that I have just finished working on. It’s the reason why I was drawn to my profession and life’s mission to protect people globally. I had been a victim of a severe armed robbery and a gun was put to my head at 9 years old. I promised myself I would do whatever it takes to protect people and fight evil.
“Suddenly one of the men walked over, stretched out his arm, and pulled something from under his jacket. The other peeled off into the corner on the other side of the shop. I knew even then that something bad was going down; I felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Then the man closest to me pointed the object at Mary behind the cash register. It was a long gun, a sawed-off shotgun.
“Give me the money or I’ll blow your head off!”
To this day I can still hear and see it so clearly in my mind’s eye. Everything just slowed down to a nine-year-olds heartbeat as the man with the black mask demanded the money. His arm was stretched wildly out with the barrels of the shotgun pointing at Mary’s face. I thought for a moment about kicking him in the balls and punching him in the eye for shouting at her like that, but I couldn’t see his face well under the black balaclava.
What I saw was the armed robber’s hand which was shaking with his gloved finger clearly on the trigger. I know today via my training, that it was his adrenaline pumping through his thieving veins in his fluxed out body.
Then it happened. My faithful four-legged friend, and an only real friend in my little world, decided to do what a true friend would do - protect his best pal. He started barking.
Oh, great! I thought to myself. Mad Max was barking, which immediately drew the attention of the armed robber towards me. Now the robber had no choice, the clock was ticking. He had to take control of the situation, as eventually, his actions would draw attention from outside. He looked down at me for a brief moment and all I could see was a dark face and the crazy whites of his eyes.
Then quick as a flash he stuck the barrels of the gun to the side of my head and shouted again.
“Give me the money bitch or I’ll shoot the kid!”
At this point, Mighty Max, the have-a-go terrier who thought he was an Irish wolfhound in disguise, decided that enough was enough. He sunk his bared aged teeth into the leather leg boots of the armed robber who still had a loaded shotgun pointed at my head while trying to extract money from a now-terrified, hysterical Mary.
I could now feel the pressure of the two shotgun barrels firmly pressing against the right side of my head.
Mary! My Mary! I’ll never forget the shock and terror in her eyes, collapsed on the ground roaring crying with fear. Sometimes days just go from bad to worse. Now the armed robber’s situation had changed yet again. He was losing control. In my future training such turning points, as
had taken place in this robbery, would intimately be examined. The first rule of attack, fear, and dominance over submission is not to lose control. He had a shotgun embedded into the head of a nine-year-old, who unbeknownst to him was protecting consciously his mother’s £20 note.
Her words: On her very life, don’t lose this… kept playing over and over in my mind. I continued to clench my fist even toghter.
Now the armed robber had a brave little dog chomping at his motorcycle boots and a cashier, who was by now curled up in a corner, wholly terrified, unable to give him what he was insisting on - the cash.
Suddenly with all the commotion Francis, the store owner, came running out from the back, and events went into a different gear. Francis very bravely, without hesitation, put both hands above his head and walked to the back of the counter. There he gently lifted Mary onto a high stool while quietly reassuring the manic armed robbers that everything would be okay and to calm down. It was only afterward that I learned Francis was an army veteran. He served with the Irish Army in the Peace Corps in the Congo in 1962.
I remember his voice was placid yet strong and reassuring. As soon as Francis opened the cash register the other thief darted over holding a carrier bag he’d pulled out from under his black jacket and held it nervously open.
Francis serenely accommodated their demands and filled the bag with money. The thief, with his hand on the trigger, lowered his firearm from my head and pointed it at Francis. Relieved I quickly reached down, pulled a weary Max off the thief’s half-gnawed boot, and lifted him into my arms. I so wanted to do the same for Mary.
I now had the £20 secured in my left hand and was protecting my brave little friend in the other. After the armed robber was handed his easy pickings he turned to the other and nodded. They both shouted collectively at Francis, “You and the girl to the back of the fucking shop now! Pronto! Pronto!”
I didn’t know until later that the back of the shop held the post office safe and luckily those clowns were only snap and grabbers. I guess I didn’t move fast enough because the gun-wielding robber grabbed and dragged me and a whimpering Max towards the back of the store, bashing my shoulder off the side of the refrigerator unit on the way. I braved up to him and yelled, “You’re hurting me!” The thief glared callously down at me, with his eyes now bulging in his sockets. “That’s fucking life kid.”
Then he threw Max and me to the ground beside Francis and Mary. As they backed out of the storeroom, the gun-wielding thug shouted back, “Don’t fucking move or I’ll blow your heads off!”
After a few moments looking at Mary crying while being consoled by Francis, I started wondering, Why are you crying? What’s the problem? We didn’t die.
I heard the motorbike revving and tearing off. Then silence, a long silence. The robbers were well gone when Francis phoned the Guards. Mary was still crying as new customers started flooding into the store.
Suddenly I started to panic and dashed to the front of the counter and there they were. Thank God, I thought to myself. They only took the shop’s money and not my mother’s highly valuable cigarettes. I quickly grabbed the ten John Players Blue and banged them into my pocket along with the £20 note. Objective met, mission accomplished a job well done. Mum will be happy”.
Email: noelgwhelanct@gmail.com
