Executive Protection: More than just the Beef

By John J. Enright, Partner
Personal Safety, LLC.

Celebrities, VIPs, high-ranking corporate executives and politicians are often seen in public surrounded by burly men with stern looks, dark shades and earpieces. In the executive protection business, we refer to this as “close protection”. In my former career as a United States Secret Service Agent – assigned for several years to the Presidential Protection Division at the White House – close protection of our “protectee” was just one facet of the multi-layered protocols used to safeguard elected officials and heads of state.

Security advances that included complex intelligence gathering, multi-step threat assessment, technical security enhancements, development of countermeasures to potential threats, motorcade route security, and medical emergency precautions were just some of the preliminary advance procedures we would undertake to ensure a safe environment for those under our protection. Many private executive protection companies perform some semblance of an advance security survey, but more often than not, the extent of protection is what we refer to as “load and go” – a driver and a bodyguard accompanying an executive on their normal travel routine, providing convenience of a chauffeured vehicle and a bodyguard / assistant to deal with it all – from carrying a bag to deflecting an attack. Often times an executive’s safety relies solely on the physical acumen of bodyguards to repel physical attacks. In contrast, the US Secret Service as the premier executive protection agency in the world operates on the basis that having to engage close protection against a physical attack already represents a multi-level failure. In other words, if it comes to blows or bullets, you’ve already failed in your mission to provide a secure environment. It is quite rare to find these exacting standards and this degree of know-how in the private executive protection world. Entire areas of concern such as kidnappings, attacks on motor vehicles, medical emergencies, family safety, executive staff security, travel, office security, natural disasters, continuity of operations and crisis management are often paid lip service to, superficially addressed, or simply ignored in establishing protocols for the protection of an executive.

Executives and their families requiring security protocols often reject the thought of having visible protectors at their side. In fact, VIPs who are not well known personalities can actually attract unwanted attention just by the size and look of their entourage. Many would rather enjoy a more subtle mode of protection along with an emergency preparedness plan that both they and their staff can administer. Similarly, CEOs have a vested interest in the safety of their executive staff, other key employees, and their families. The absence of key executives for long periods of time due to illness, injury or family problems can cause great disruption to a company’s business plan and have devastating effects on the bottom line. The selected executive protection consultant should be able to provide an entire array of protective enhancements to executives and their senior staff who require security but not the entourage of a protective detail. The consultant should be able to prepare an executive to deal with emergencies that may occur during travel, and train them to protect themselves from exposure to dangerous situations by changing their behaviors and routines while at home and abroad.

Executive protection starts with raising the level of awareness of an executive, his key staff, assistants and family members. Robust training programs that enable an executive to protect himself and his family by raising awareness of dangers and how to deal with them should be the first approach executive protection consultants take when retained by a client for this specific purpose. Even executives with close protection agents assigned to them will find themselves in situations where they do not have bodyguards close by and must decide for themselves what to do next. Traveling overseas is another area where we often find executives on their own, daily making routine decisions that affect their security in a foreign country. Threat assessments should be conducted on the executive, the family, the staff as well as the company, and should be followed by vulnerability assessments of lifestyle, residence and office environments, travel routines and habits.

Let’s pick one area that is often ignored to demonstrate the depth and breadth you should expect from executive protection: preparation for medical emergencies away from home. Most executives travel often – sometimes by themselves – and fail to consider that they could get seriously injured or become ill at a moment’s notice while traveling in the US or abroad. Imagine the quandary of medical personnel in a foreign country – or even here in the US – trying to treat a patient in an emergency but having no information on that patient’s medical history. Life-saving medical decisions are often made in moments by referring to a patient’s medical history. Without the ability to reference such information, valuable time can be lost or the wrong treatment prescribed. Imagine also waking up in a hotel room in a foreign land with severe headaches, chest pains or some other illness with complex symptoms requiring immediate medical attention. What would you do? Calling the front desk for an ambulance and hospital referral might be your first thought. In many countries, however, the hotel’s hospital of choice may not be yours. Executives should be armed with the right information that provides quick access to their medical information as well as the contact information of a carefully chosen hospital. All of this information should be determined by and prepared for in a detailed plan by an executive protection consultant.

Overseas travel should not be approached as just another business trip. Separate from taking precautions for medical emergencies, executives should have an appropriate travel itinerary advance conducted by executive protection professionals to guard against specific dangers facing them in countries they are visiting. A sample of items to be examined may include hotel selection, local travel by taxi or a vetted car service, in-country intelligence assessment that examines factors of local crime and violence, terrorism, anti-American sentiments, local areas to be avoided, local fraud schemes affecting business travelers and tourists and safety of traveling family members. Every step of an executive’s trip should be examined and addressed by an executive protection professional, and travel arrangements should be made only after consultation between this professional and the executive assistant making those arrangements. Similar security steps should be addressed for all traveling executive staff and key employees, especially when traveling to high-risk countries. Ensuring security advance preparations for all employees makes sense on a variety of levels. If an employee is faced with an emergency overseas, the company and executive will he held personally responsible for the safe return of that employee. It makes perfect sense for the company to take ownership of planning travel for employees with security in mind and avoid the escalation of a crisis with many legal, logistical and financial implications.

Training executives and staff to travel more securely should be strongly considered by executive protection professionals when advising corporations. Prediction, recognition and avoidance of dangerous or high-risk situations should be considered the primary means of protecting an executive from the perils of overseas travel. Recognizing suspicious activity, avoiding high crime areas, awareness of cultural differences and bringing less attention to yourself in a foreign land should be considered paramount. Understanding unique criminal violations of law in certain foreign countries can be critical as well. For example, littering on the streets of Singapore can bring swift action, arrest and detention by police authorities in that country. Other countries have unique sections of their criminal code that should be understood before traveling to foreign lands. Religious and cultural characteristics should be thoroughly understood by the traveler to avoid embarrassing or dangerous situations. Training programs can often offset the cost of expensive security precautions, bodyguard details and other elaborate steps that the executive may not want to employ anyway. The right training can indeed provide the same peace of mind, and often pound-for-pound better safety than expensive security details, if your executive protection consultant is experienced in the protocols suggested.

Office and residence security assessments should also be conducted early on in the executive protection process, since these are the routine locations executives and their families can be found. Employing security protocols before an assessment is conducted is not recommended. The more common security enhancements are often employed in a “I have a hammer and everything looks like a nail” fashion, before conducting the proper assessment. This only leads to a false sense of security. Here’s an axiom any executive looking for executive protection should take to heart: security systems are only as good as their design, the understanding of those using it, and the ability of the system to operate as intended. Inclusion and interview of all stakeholders at these locations is of absolute necessity. Also, professional guidance in employing specific technology and establishing specific, protocols, policies and procedures for each location is essential in building a secure environment.

At the office, robust security plans that stress access control to the building, guest sign-in and vetting, badge issuance and limited access to the executive suite are among the areas that will set the tone for a secure environment. Vehicle control, garage access, parking lot location, employee safety, CCTV technology, and detailed policy and procedures governing security at the workplace are key pieces of an executive security program. If you are going to provide security outside the workplace, it makes perfect sense to ensure that the office environment is the one location that a CEO or executive staff cannot be easily accessed by an attacker. Imagine that after investing a significant part of the executive protection budget to institute a secure environment, a disgruntled employee simply walks into the executive’s office and violently attacks the executive. Was the office suite itself easily secured from people with access to the building? All scenarios of viable danger must be examined using the correct security assessment model when deciding on strategic security enhancements.

Protection of proprietary company information, copyrights, data, products and communications should be considered an essential part of your program. With ever-increasing reliance on information technology and conversion of all critical business assets, processes and communications into the digital realm, IT security becomes key to any executive protection program worth its salt. This area again does not so much involve deployment of permanent security personnel as much as it does the institution of strict policies and procedures governing all corporate information. Compromise of IT security can jeopardize not only the safety of executives but also the security and welfare of the company as a whole. IT security should be considered an always and everywhere affair – not just limited to business hours or to the company’s physical offices. For example, compromise of voice and data communications during critical corporate meetings can also jeopardize a company’s business planning, providing the competition with privileged corporate information and strategies.

It is important for executives to remember that when they arrive home and greet their families, they still represent interests that may expose them to danger, and in turn, endanger their families as well. For that reason, development of a family and residential security plan is considered as important as any other facet of a robust executive protection program. Technology enhancements, liaison with law enforcement, attentiveness to surroundings and changes in neighborhood dynamics are all areas of consideration for the executive protection consultant to address. Garage access for all family cars as well as direct access to an alarmed home will immediately offer shielding from the public eye and will afford family members ease of secure access and departures. Obviously, children cause many other concerns and require specialized expertise for their daily protection. Cell phones, panic button pagers, communication trees with neighbors and other procedures will all aid in the development of a security program that will protect an executive’s family. The strict adherence to security protocols and the development of a security mindset will ultimately offer as much if not more enhancement to providing a secure environment for an executive’s family then the presence of bodyguards at their side each day.

One of the most basic of all home protections is a carefully selected or constructed “safe room” within the home to hide in case of a home invasion or intrusion. The presence of this room could make a life-and-death difference while the family awaits arrival of police during a violent episode in the home. This room should provide reliable communications to law enforcement, food, water and other provisions in case of extended occupation and must be located in a remote but accessible section of the home. The purpose of this room is to provide immediate protection to a family unit or executive while awaiting the arrival of first responders. Safe rooms should be hardened facilities with passages constructed with the thought of providing impenetrable protection from intrusion. They should not look any different from other rooms and can serve as a functioning room during times of inactivity. For instance, a safe room could be utilized as a laundry room but have a reinforced doorframe, special locks and no windows. The construction of a safe room can be accomplished in almost any home and often without exorbitant expense, depending on the level of protection required.

During family discussions with executive protection professionals, children’s routines should be discussed at length to develop sound procedures for travel to school and activities outside the home. Some of these issues will surround the usage of carpools, chauffeured cars, or family vehicles driven by the parents. Routines as well as school schedules should be examined to provide as much irregularity in the daily schedule as possible. Arrivals and departures at school should be varied. Vehicle route awareness is paramount to the safety of students. Changing schedules, routes and routines will greatly enhance a family’s ability to keep potential attackers off-guard and contribute significantly to a family’s security on a daily basis. Requesting regular patrols from local law enforcement will further enhance such security.

It is essential to understand the very human element in executive protection – that any such protection is only truly effective if the protectee is cooperative and buys into the consultant’s program for protecting them and their families. Many VIPs and executives who wouldn’t even dream about walking around without hefty life insurance, business insurance, information security, etc. do not have an executive protection program, because they cannot reconcile the overbearing and heavy-handed nature of most executive protection out there. Intelligent executive protection need not involve major disruptions of your lifestyle or business, permanent staff at your residence, or strangers with guns following you around everywhere you go. As the examples in this article demonstrate, actual close protection is actually the last resort in protecting an executive from a successful attack. A few years ago, former Secret Service Director Brian Stafford was interviewed about Secret Service protocols. He put the same sentiment succinctly when he said that if the Service got to a point during a protective assignment where the guns came out, we had already failed in our mission. If all of our pre-mission protective protocols or advance procedures are carried out properly and with attention to detail, chances are the guns will not have to be taken out.

Executive protection is not about the “beef” or about a (hopefully successful) reaction to an attack on a principal. Rather, it is about preventing attackers from ever getting into a position where they can do harm to the executive, their family, staff, business or reputation. Providing an executive with a secure environment using predictive measures, deterrence and prevention should be the primary goal of any successful executive protection program for senior level executives, VIPs, celebrities and their loved ones. The best security is not necessarily seen, but felt.

John Enright is a former federal agent with 31 years of progressive experience at the Department of Treasury / IRS Enforcement, ATF and US Secret Service, including as Agent in Charge, Protective Intelligence Division, as well as permanent assignments and leadership at the Presidential Protection Division. His positions also include Director of Counter-Terrorism, US Attorney’s Office, RI and Director of Providence Emergency Management Agency. Mr. Enright is a recipient of the ASIS Law Enforcement Officer of the Year award. He is currently Chief Instructor and partner at Personal Safety, LLC.