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Covering Your Assets

Published on Portfolio.com, by Susan Karlin (Nov 8, 2007)

Security specialists John Taylor, left, and Emiel Fisher in a parking garage in northern Virginia.  Photograph by: Andrew Cutraro/Aurora Select

Private protection firms are keeping executives safe from violence and protecting companies from espionage. Here’s how to shop for one.

Security expert John Taylor loves telling the story about the C.E.O. who never even knew he’d been kidnapped. Arriving at the airport in Santiago, Chile, the executive was greeted by a driver and some nattily attired escorts, who took him out for dinner and entertainment. Meanwhile, his actual host was frantically scouring the airport—until he received a call from the kidnapper, demanding that he cough up a five-figure ransom if he wanted his executive back.

“The host paid the bounty, and the guy was dropped off at the hotel after being wined and dined, never realizing he’d been kidnapped until his real host ran up to him at the hotel and said, ‘Are you okay?’” Taylor says with a laugh.

With Blackwater U.S.A. security contractors under fire for the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in September, the private-security industry has lately been under increased scrutiny. But taking certain precautions has become standard in top-tier executive life. Companies are devising ways to protect business travelers in dangerous parts of the world and safeguard corporate assets, intelligence, and reputations.

Thefts, kidnappings, and cases of industrial espionage have been gradually increasing in recent years as law enforcement’s attention has been diverted toward terrorism. According to the Safe Travel Institute in Spokane, Washington, there have been roughly 20,000 kidnappings for financial gain worldwide since 2001. And the federal Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, which assesses intelligence threats to the United States, recorded more than 2,400 new investigations of suspected industrial espionage against U.S. companies in a record 108 countries between October 2004 and September 2005.

As a result, insurance companies that cover corporations are demanding that executives upgrade their level of security when traveling. Having a private-security detail may ward off potential problems, but it also enables companies to privately handle something that might be embarrassing or that could open them up to potential lawsuits if made public.

“It’s hard to get to diplomats, so what’s another high-value target? The C.E.O. of an American company,” says Emiel Fisher, a no-nonsense, 20-year security veteran who now runs his own security and counterterrorism firm, R.D.P. Worldwide, in Richmond, Virginia. “There are some situations a company doesn’t want to initially report to the police, such as missing laptops with sensitive information, which presents image and liability issues, or an executive having a good time—with everything that entails. Where your standard bodyguard might stop an immediate threat, a security detail would go one step further and fix the problem that required the security detail to begin with.”

V.I.P.’s are rarely told “no” by employees, so security may need to improvise ways to keep the rich, famous, and careless from making unsafe choices—hiring a car service if the client is too drunk to drive, for instance, or protecting them from locals who specifically target clients for money or corporate secrets.

And it’s not just exotic locales that are cause for concern. Metal detectors are now showing up at stockholder meetings, for example. “Shareholders meetings have become a big issue,” says Taylor, who runs the Arlington, Virginia, consultancy Homeland Security Strategy and advised corporations affected by the 2001 anthrax attacks. “It’s the only time when the general public knows where a C.E.O. is going to be.”

Prices for executive protection vary. A single bodyguard typically costs $500 to $1,000 aper 12-hour shift, but a round-the-clock executive-protection team might cost a company between $200,000 and more than $1 million a year. Close protection in foreign hot zones can run much higher, from $100,000 to $250,000 per week, given the increased overhead of logistics, armored vehicles, possible air support, and intelligence operations.

Choosing the team with the right skills and experience for a given job is essential. While basic security personnel can be found through trade associations like ASIS International, if there’s a specific threat or an executive has to travel to a volatile region of the world, you’ll need someone who can build a team with specific skill sets.

“There are only a few top-caliber firms that can do this,” Taylor says. “A good sign is if they have Commonwealth of Virginia accreditation.” Virginia has the nation’s most stringent requirements for protection specialists. To become a personal-protection specialist who is licensed to carry a gun, Virginia requires 98 hours of advanced security, firearms, and CPR and first-aid training; 18 hours a year of continuing education for annual requalification; and a background check and fingerprinting. Running a private-security company requires another set of licenses as well as proof of business liability insurance.

The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services lists state-accredited protection services, while the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive’s site contains executive travel tips and links to annual reports on espionage against American companies.

Other states’ requirements are far less stringent than Virginia’s, and many security firms fall short in terms of training and professionalism.
 
“There are a lot of yahoos and cowboys in this business,” R.D.P. Worldwide’s Fisher says. “When I’m interviewing potential employees, I know 20 percent of what they tell me about themselves is pure fiction. So everything they do, from what they’re wearing to punctuality to the interview is like an interrogation. I want to see how well they handle stress and think on their feet.”

According to Elijah Shaw, whose St. Paul, Minnesota, firm Icon Services has guarded many corporate and celebrity clients, most security personnel come from military or police backgrounds, but that experience doesn’t fully translate to an executive-security job without going through special training.

“Sharpshooting or arrest experience may come in handy, but it’s not the main focus, which is to keep your client out of harm’s way and make his day go as smoothly as possible,” Shaw explains. Shaw says that top schools for executive-protection training include Executive Security International, Trojan Securities International, and R.L. Oatman & Associates, so it’s a good sign if an agent has attended one of these programs.

“Some firms can spend a lot of money on marketing and hype, like recruiting a couple of pedigreed security figures as marketing tools but assign the executive a person with less experience,” Shaw adds. “So you should check out the credentials and chemistry of the specific person assigned to guard you. After all, this could be someone who might one day have to put his life on the line for you.”

“Usually the client tells us only 75 percent of the story,” Fisher says. “The other 25 percent is the real meat and potatoes. It’s up to us to figure it out as we go along. A true protection agent protects and listens, then figures out what is the real situation.”

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