Until recently, missionary and humanitarian organizations overseas have given little thought to emergency planning, and crisis management has tended to be reactive. The first step in planning is the creation of a planning committee that will design the organizational crisis policies and designate a crisis management team. Contingency policy plans should at least contain guidelines for avoiding terrorist incidents, policies to manage bomb incidents, and policies to manage kidnapping and extortion demands. Kidnapping and extortion plans should establish a contingency reaction team and set forth policies on ransom and negotiation, host government and embassy relations during an incident, removal of the victim's family from the immediate area or the country, and rapid exit from the country. In addition to these policies, contingency plans should clearly allocate authority and responsibilities and contain directives for chief executives in the field and service managers. Contingency planning can prevent panic and permit the organization to respond effectively in time of crisis. 10 references.