With MI5 stint under his belt, he does special ops for CEOs

In Nick Day's world, turmoil is good for business. The former operative of the British Special Forces and MI5 intelligence service now heads Diligence Inc., a business-intelligence agency he co-founded with ex-C.I.A. officer Mike Baker to evaluate all areas of risk.

So for the past hour, in his U.K. offices in London's Canary Wharf tower, he has been explaining how stock-market collapses, the euro-zone debt crisis, civil unrest in Greece and even the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are good for his business.

"Whenever there is a financial crisis there is fraud and corruption and we are asked to unravel ...