Robert Pelton's continuous quest for knowledge and understanding has taken him to remote and exotic areas in more than eighty countries. Among his collection of unbelievable experiences are tales of survival in war-torn Central America, his role in organizing the world's first television interview of Taliban leaders, and his capture by death squads in Algeria.

In his presentations, Pelton never romanticizes war or conflict—he simply takes the opportunity to tell North American audiences about the reality of life in other parts of the world, unfiltered by the agendas and political calculations of the mainstream media. In addition to his television show, His best-selling books include Come Back Alive, The World's Most Dangerous Places, and The Adventurist. His latest book, Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror, explores the future of warfare, conflict, and a rarely explored phenomena: the use of hired guns in the War on Terror.

Pelton's work has been featured in The New York Times and Germany's Die Welt. He is a regular guest on CNN, and has appeared on the BBC, CBS, and Fox. With Eason Jordan, the former head of CNN, Pelton is currently starting an intelligence company in Iraq.

In this presentation, Robert Young Pelton introduces audiences to the phenomenon of hired guns in the War on Terror. The result of a three-year globe-spanning odyssey to penetrate and understand this shadowy world, Pelton's speech will deliver stunning insights into the way private soldiers are used.He takes us inside the CIA's dirty wars; the brutal contractor murders in Fallujah and the Alamo-like sieges in Najaf and Al Kut; and the Deep South contractor training camps where ex-Special Operations soldiers learn the ropes. He painstakingly deconstructs the most controversial events and introduces the pivotal players. Most disturbingly, Pelton shows that there are indeed thousands of contractors-with hundreds more being produced every month-who have been given a license to kill, their services available to the highest bidder.

One-of-a-kind adventurer Robert Young Pelton lets you enter the world beyond the evening news, showing you that "The world is not as scary and is more scary than most people can imagine." Drawing on his experiences travelling in, and writing about the world's most dangerous places, Pelton's talks weave a compelling and provocative picture of the realities of war, political corruption and organized crime, and poverty. He offers concrete advice, based on amazing-but-true anecdotes, on how to survive hostile environments and hostile people.

From surviving Russian bombs in Chechnya to a plane crash in Borneo, Robert Young Pelton has felt death breathing down his neck many times, and come back to tell us the tale. His incredible stories offer unique life lessons in: seeing the world and ourselves differently, courage and quick thinking when everything is on the line, and building trust in difficult circumstances. His dynamic, always up-to-the-minute presentations will open your eyes and your mind to a different way of living.

Robert Young Pelton, best known as the host of Discovery's The World's Most Dangerous Places, recently returned from Afghanistan, where he covered the "War on Terrorism" for CNN. As the only journalist permitted to travel with volatile General Rashid Dostum of the Northern Alliance, Pelton and CNN were privy to sights and sounds even other major news organization were not. Pelton heard the U.S. airstrikes on the Qala-I-Jangi prison from his room in the Dostum compound, witnessing with frightening clarity the firepower of the U.S. military. More notably, Pelton is the journalist who first brought "American Taliban" John Walker to the world's attention. By now, most of us know the story of the California man who traveled to Pakistan on a student visa and ended up fighting for the Taliban. We first saw his image as he lay, wounded, on a hospital gurney after the failed prison uprising that killed the CIA's Johnny "Mike" Spann. His on-camera discussion with Robert Young Pelton of his time in the "Jihad" and in Al-Qaeda training camps has become one of the most famous and controversial images of the conflict.

This is your chance to hear all about the campaign in Afghanistan from someone who was there. Robert Young Pelton does not pull punches or gloss over uncomfortable details. His audiences can expect a smart, straightforward account of this conflict.