“Intelligentia Scientia – Knowledge through Understanding“
SAINT | SSD operates where human complexity meets operational risk. Founded on more than three decades of international experience – spanning peacekeeping, international policing, humanitarian security, and risk intelligence – our work bridges the gap between traditional threat models and the human realities that underpin them.
Drawing on this operational foundation, our practice has evolved from on-ground international civilian crisis management to remote intelligence analysis. This transition leverages advances in analytical methodologies while applying hard-won operational insights through the strategic distance that remote practice provides, delivering contextual intelligence unconstrained by local operational pressures.
We believe that effective security, whether in conflict zones or boardrooms, begins with understanding people: their relationships, motivations, and the social architectures that shape behaviour. When organisations misread this human terrain, they misread risk.
Our approach centres on two intersecting domains:
- Security Risk Management (SRM): Delivering context-rich threat assessments, operational foresight, and actionable intelligence for mission-driven clients
- International Civilian Crisis Management (ICCM): Supporting programming and decision-making in politically sensitive, data-dark, or transitional environments
All of our work is grounded in Human Domain Analysis – an approach that integrates intelligence methodology, social science insight, and real-world application. From mapping community sentiment in post-crisis settings to assessing political volatility for commercial operations, we provide analysis that cuts through complexity and informs action.
This isn’t theoretical. It’s operational necessity. In an era when security models are increasingly technical but not necessarily contextual, understanding the Human Dimension is the difference between reaction and resilience.
Founded in Europe in 2003, and now based in Aotearoa New Zealand, SAINT | SSD engages globally and operates remotely by design. Our goal is to support those who navigate complexity with purpose – and who recognise that context, not control, is what shapes outcomes.
- cater to need, aspiration and benefit
- assist with self-sustainable participation, local ownership and self-determination
- solutions and outcome orientation
- do no harm principle
- intergovernmental agencies
- state security sector
- state development agencies
- non-governmental and civil society organisations (NGOs/CSOs)
- private sector
To provide a quality, professional and comprehensive service of the highest possible standard.
Ethical, culturally-aware and socially responsible.
- Professionalism
- Discretion
- Integrity
- Dependability
- Quality
- Flexibility
Our Director
Dr. Simon de Saint-Claire brings over 30 years of operational experience across intelligence analysis, human-centric risk, and complex security environments. His work focuses on interpreting how human behaviour, social systems, and strategic context converge to shape risk – whether in politically sensitive settings, fragile states, or domestic operational environments.
A former New Zealand Army officer, Simon spent more than a decade serving as a strategic adviser to the United Nations Secretariat, supporting peacekeeping, stabilisation, and political transition missions. Since 2002, he has worked across the triple nexus (peace, security, development), providing field consultancy, strategic insight, and applied research to intergovernmental bodies, national police authorities, technical assistance NGOs, and the private security sector.
Through SAINT | SSD, Simon integrates structured intelligence methodologies with Human Domain insight and social science frameworks. He currently supports clients in both Security Risk Management and International Civilian Crisis Management – offering contextual analysis, foresight reporting, threat assessments, and tailored analytic frameworks that connect human behaviour to operational decision-making.
Simon’s academic grounding spans international relations, socio-cultural systems, security sector governance, and intelligence practice.
His work is anchored by the principle:
“Knowledge through Understanding.”
