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Level up security understanding with Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent and terrorism expert. Frank equips organisations to navigate geopolitical threats and build resilience through firsthand conflict zone insights. OBE recipient for journalism, bestselling author, and survivor who returned to frontline reporting after surviving an Al Qaeda attack.


Frank Gardner OBE is the BBC's security correspondent and one of Britain's leading voices on international security, terrorism, and Middle Eastern affairs. A former investment banker turned frontline journalist, he combines deep regional knowledge with first-hand experience of global conflict. Frank joined the BBC in 1995, becoming Middle East Correspondent in Cairo before taking on his current role as security correspondent. He has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay and covered global conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. In 2004, he survived a near-fatal Al Qaeda attack in Saudi Arabia that left him permanently paralysed from the waist down. He returned to frontline reporting the following year. Drawing on his harrowing experience in Saudi Arabia, Frank recounted his story in the bestselling memoir Blood and Sand. He went on to write his first spy thriller, Crisis, which became a Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller, while Far Horizons also earned acclaim for its vivid travel stories. Frank contributes regularly to the Economist, Sunday Times, and Daily Telegraph, and has been awarded an OBE for services to journalism. A natural storyteller and engaging host, Frank brings wit, charm, and insight to interviews, panel discussions, and live events, and has been recognised with the University of Southern California’s Tommy Trojan Trophy for distinguished speaking. He shares first-hand experiences from the frontlines of global conflict, combining personal anecdotes with a deep understanding of the Middle East, international security, and the art of survival. Book Frank for unique perspective, compelling storytelling, and a front-row perspective on international security, terrorism, and the Middle East.
Book Frank Gardner to gain rare insights from a leading BBC Security Correspondent who blends gripping frontline stories with deep expertise in global security and the Middle East. Secure your event’s success by inviting a speaker whose wit, humanity, and real-world experience will captivate and inform your audience.
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Frank Gardner draws on first-hand reporting from conflict zones and his own survival of a 2004 Al Qaeda attack in Saudi Arabia to ground his sessions in lived experience, weaving personal narrative with analysis of international security and Middle Eastern affairs.
Frank Gardner OBE speaks on international security, terrorism, Middle Eastern affairs, and geopolitical conflict. He is the BBC's security correspondent and author of the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling memoir Blood and Sand, having survived a near-fatal Al Qaeda attack in Saudi Arabia in 2004 that left him permanently paralysed.
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