Frank Gardner is the BBC's fulltime Security Correspondent, reporting for TV and radio on issues of both domestic and international security. He is an Arabist with a degree in Arabic & Islamic Studies from Exeter University. He began working for the BBC in 1995 before becoming their Middle East Correspondent in 1999. Mr. Gardner has reported firsthand on terrorism and security from all over the Middle East and given evidence to various UK Parliamentary Select Committees on the conduct of the War on Terrorism. In 2004, he was shot six times at close range by Al-Qaeda gunmen while filming in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Gardner survived horrific injuries and although now partly paralysed, resumed his job at the BBC after many months in hospital. In 2005, he was awarded an OBE by HM the Queen in 2005 for services to journalism. Mr. Gardner is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and author of the book Blood and Sand.