Maritime Fault Lines in the Americas and the Quiet Currents of Increasing Conflict
US–Venezuela tensions escalate as the Caribbean becomes a maritime battleground, with the US targeting narco-state vessels and reshaping regional security.
February 2026 Look Ahead
February 2026 presents a compressed risk environment driven by a convergence of major holidays, mass-gathering events, religious observances, and planned political demonstrations, particularly in Washington, DC. The highest-risk windows fall around Super Bowl Sunday (Feb 8), Mardi Gras/Lunar New Year (Feb 17), and late-month democracy-related mobilizations (Feb 21 and Feb 27–28). Organizations should anticipate crowd density, alcohol-related disorder, protest/counter-protest dynamics, transportation disruption, and heightened soft-target exposure.
RMS International’s 2026 Threat Forecast
As 2026 unfolds, public and private sector global security teams will operate under mounting stress originating from a hybrid of geopolitical tensions, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and emerging technologies that essentially collapse the boundary and threaten public and private sector verticals between digital and physical domains. The current security environment and potential 2026 technological and physical security disruptors will require senior leadership or board-level engagement, cross-functional coordination, and faster recovery cycles.
Auld Lang Sigh: Confetti, Champagne, and Counterterrorism
An ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve plot was quietly stopped—another reminder that modern extremism is solitary, digital, and often prevented before midnight. Consider contacting RMS International’s Intelligence Services to protect you or your organization’s people, assets, operations, and reputation. Sustained and proactive vigilance, through threat assessments, social media monitoring, and proactive intelligence efforts remain essential to preventing violence that I increasingly personal, opportunistic, and designed for emotional impact as opposed to strategic gain.
RMS International: January 2026 Look Ahead
RMS International’s Intelligence Services have identified 20 holidays, religious observances, socio-cultural, and protest events in January 2026. The identified events in January 2026 may prompt pedestrian and traffic congestion, protests and possible riots, business closures and other significant impacts. Consider contacting RMSI’s Intelligence Services for access to analysts and a customized threat assessments on the threats posed by events occurring in January 2026.
Where Warmth Meets Warning: The Quiet Vulnerabilities of Holiday Gatherings
Holiday celebrations bring light and community, but also crowded, symbolic spaces where joy and vulnerability meet, demanding quiet, careful guardianship.
The New Quiet Men: The Re-Emergence of the New Irish Republican Army
New IRA resurges quietly amid post-Brexit grievances, drawing disaffected youth and testing Northern Ireland’s fragile, unfinished peace.
December 2025 Look Ahead
The most critical global security flashpoint this week is the diplomatic-military interface in the Ukraine–Russia war. Negotiations for a “peace framework” are actively underway, with high stakes for European security architecture, alliance cohesion, territorial norms, and downstream cascading risks.
When Global Markets Get the Geopoli-Jitters
Markets have the “geopoli-jitters” as global tensions shake stocks, crypto, and supply chains. In 2026, resilience, not certainty, will ultimately define success. Consider contacting RMSI’s Intelligence Services for access to analysts and a customized threat assessments on the threats posed by the stagnant or down-trending global market events and the potential impact on an organization’s people, assets, operations, and reputation.