Good Ezines

In action-packed television series and big screen films such as 24, James Bond and Mission Impossible, federal agents are constantly relying on communications strategies to get them through their missions unscathed. We take a look at three of the best federal and secret service agents television has ever seen.

24

Anyone who’s ever watched an episode of the hit series 24, will know that if hero of the hour, Jack Bauer, doesn’t have a gun in his hand, then he is most likely shouting “damn it” into a mobile phone instead. Amazingly, at no point in any of the 8, 24 episode long series that have been made so far, does he run out of battery or lose signal. But even if that were to happen, it’s likely that CTU would have a communications strategy to cover it. The law enforcement agency can send almost anything to the phones of field agents, providing them with satellite tracking and static images of suspects at the touch of a button. If they don’t have access to a mobile phone, they can easily re-program satellites to locate their agents. With technology like that on his side, it’s no surprise that Jack Bauer is the most fearsome federal agent television has ever known.

007

As a spy, James Bond spends a lot more time under the radar than Jack Bauer, and as a result we certainly see him using the phone a great deal less. However, the communications strategies of the British Secret Service incorporate more than simply being able to communicate via mobile phone. Bond’s most impressive piece of communication technology surely has to be the mobile phone used in 1997 film, Tomorrow Never Dies; this phone could not only make phone calls, but incorporated a lock pick, a fingerprint scanner, a 20,000 volt electric security system, and a remote control using which he could not only start but also steer his top of the range BMW. Of all his gadgets and toys, this is arguably one of the most impressive Q ever managed to produce, and you can be sure that he didn’t design it solely with a communications strategy in mind.

Mission Impossible

You may not have seen all three films that make up the Mission Impossible trilogy, but if you’ve seen even one of the three, you’ll know just how important communication was to Ethan Hunt. After all, if he’d had his own communications strategies in place when his mother and uncle were falsely arrested in order to draw him out of hiding, he might have found a way to establish that they were safe and well. These films are a melee of disguise and deception, in which it’s impossible to know who to trust. You can never be sure that your phone calls are not being tapped into, that your networks are safe or that you’re not being followed. With all the spies and imposters on the loose in these movies, it’s no wonder Ethan Hunt relied so heavily on a good communications strategy to keep in touch with those he felt he could trust.

Agents such as Bond, Bauer and Hunt often find themselves in very difficult situations, where it is hard for them to know who to trust, and who to contact. Fortunately their respective agencies always have a communications strategy up their sleeves which can not only help them to deal with whichever disasters they find themselves facing, but can also help to keep them safe and out of trouble. I would certainly say that James Bond or Jack Bauer’s numbers are certainly ones I wouldn’t say no to having in my phone book!

Jenny Kettlewell is the Marketing Manager for Multitone Systems, a leading telecommunications strategy company. Multitone has implemented custom, integrated communications strategies for businesses and organisations in the public and private sector for over 75 years.