In our latest interview with expert Nick Barreiro, Chief Forensic Analyst of Principle Forensics, we discussed the security risks from any/all social media platform postings and how someone can obtain critical information from your pictures. If you haven’t watched the interview yet, please find it below
According to Vice’s latest article, authorities have been following Instagram profiles of the women related to, or involved with, Russian oligarchs to obtain information about them, their holdings, accounts, and locate assets to seize/freeze by merely identifying and following the weakest link who posts the most. These women who act like ”influencers” or social media celebrities are looking for publicity, but they now represent a significant threat to the security of the individuals they’re around and expose them to unwanted scrutiny. ”Oligarchs themselves rarely use Instagram to accidentally crack open a window into their high living. Rather, it’s the people partying with them: A stepdaughter, an ex-wife, or in the least one infamous case, an escort.” Read the full article here.
The use of social media and the way it affects our lives and businesses have brought a new challenge to the security industry and the protective team’s responsibility. It gives the entire world the ability to look into people’s lives with the mere push of a button. Scandals are created, secrets exposed, and lives ruined. In the case of personal security, social media can be used in the advancement of a protective detail; however, one must know how to utilize it properly. Today, we will talk about Social Media Investigations and Monitoring. For those who are not aware of the term, as we utilize it in protection circles, Social Media Investigation and Monitoring is the process by which you can identify what is being said about your clients, a brand they represent, or the corporations with which they are involved and any threats or dangers that may exist in relation to those aspects.
As we sift through different social media platforms and online channels, we must then determine if what is being said has any significance regarding your clients’ reputation, persona, and safety and if there is the need to mitigate any risks. In other words, it’s like setting up an online, social media “net”. This process then helps you discover everything that is being said, written about, or portrayed on social media and determine its relevance to your clients. You can gather information about the ‘’public opinion’’ surrounding your clients, about people or entities who are angry with them for one reason or the other, people who are obsessed with them, or people who are making online threats. SOCMINT or Social Media Intelligence (not to be confused with OSINT) has seen a huge rise in necessity due to the use of social media and a competent protective detail needs to always be informed and social media investigations and monitoring are a huge part of this process.
Now, let’s see some examples of how social media investigations and monitoring applies in protective services. Let’s say one of the people you are protecting belongs to a large pharmaceutical company and they decided to raise the price of a specific drug, thus affecting the lives and wellbeing of thousands of people. Perhaps another client is involved in a financial institution that quite suddenly makes a significant decision that affects people’s lifetime savings and pensions. You can imagine that there will be a significant number of people who become very angry, and some may want to harm your client. During the recent pandemic, there were a number of “anti-vaxx” groups that were quite vocal and utilized Facebook as one of their many platforms to accomplish their goals. Another example would be the need to discover if there is someone using your client’s name or company to scam others and commit crimes.
We are sure that many of you today are aware of the infamous ‘’Tinder Swindler’’, Shimon Yehuda Hayut, who legally changed his name to Simon Leviev to pretend to be the son of the billionaire Lev Leviev and used his name and company logos to scam people. Although his actions were known since 2017, it was only after the airing of the Netflix documentary in 2022 that the Leviev family found out and filed a lawsuit against Hayut for falsely portraying himself as the son of Lev Leviev, receiving benefits, and committing crimes.
According to Leviev’s family attorney, Guy Ophir, they will now include anyone who has attempted to make a profit from his scam during the next lawsuit. What we can ask is, as security providers, why didn’t someone from the real Leviev family ever discover this scam artist who was extremely public and active on social media as the ‘’son of Lev Leviev’’? Although the real family members were never part of this fraudulent scheme, and it didn’t appear to affect their safety, it did, however, involve their name/brand in a very public and negative way. In other words, it should have definitely been considered as a threat to their reputation. Other people who were harmed by this scam artist were the businesses who did work with them, and their secondary service providers as well.
Another interesting case to mention is Elon Musk where he, the actual client, took it upon himself to “solve” the issue and directly contacted the person of interest who had begun posting his private flight details and created the security risk for him and was literally blackmailing him unless the POI was paid. According to media reports “Elon Musk states social-media accounts that track his travel movements are ‘becoming a security issue.” Tail numbers and yacht names of billionaires are increasingly being shared on online platforms and one can track them by having the appropriate app unless significant efforts are made to secure them from the reach of those diligent few. These are some unique specific details that the security team needs to pay close attention to at all times.
Since Social Media platforms are the way people today communicate with each other, we as security providers must keep in mind that this is not always a positive aspect. Perhaps a person or persons will utilize social media to collectively gather people with their same goal or mission, to get together and plan their next move (Example: protesting outside your client’s house or corporation). In this case, you will want to know what is being said online about the person you protect to determine if there is something of extreme necessity to include in your risk and threat assessment and then take protective measures as well as inform their legal department.
As we have all witnessed too many times, it only takes one well-placed picture or story regarding some alleged activity on the part of your client, and it will go viral quickly, truth or not. Staying one step ahead of this type of “attack” has become a crucial necessity in order to protect your client from embarrassment or exposure. One of the most common issues in recent history is when personnel close to the client i.e., family, staff, vendors, and any other secondary customers post pictures, stories, or opinions and subsequently fail to understand the negative effect these types of communications can and will have on the client’s life, business, and the lives of their loved ones.
2) To discover what information about your client is posted online either by himself, the ones close to him, or his employees and evaluate how these affect his safety.
3) To evaluate a threat (someone is posting online threats directed at your client).
4) To add to your due diligence.
5) To geolocate a picture or a video, sometimes even audio.
6) To include any findings in your Risk and Threat Assessment (We can never highlight this enough, social media surveys and investigations are now a critical part of your Risk and Threat Assessments).
7) To find people obsessed with or following your clients (stalkers).
8) To identify hate groups or terrorist organizations that may affect your client.
9) To identify people or businesses your client may or may not want to do business with.
10)To mitigate risks from the information found online about the person you protect (How are the pictures of my client used or tampered with and for what purpose?).
11)To identify if someone is impersonating your client or a family member.
12)To find out if your client’s moves/visits/travels are posted online (Exposing them to others who may be in the same hotel, conference room, restaurant).
13)To identify workplace violence or insider threat indicators.
14)To find out what is the ‘’public opinion’’ regarding your client (Always keep an eye on what is being said about your client and have a strategy to respond).
15)To determine if a person or persons are utilizing your client’s name or business name in a malicious or unauthorized manner for their own personal gain. (Claiming associations or partnerships, etc.)
How to perform Social Media Monitoring for security purposes?
First, let’s clarify one important thing. ‘’Googling it’’ is not enough, nor is it the answer. There are a number of search sites that allow for user input thus watering down or contaminating information and it’s accuracy. For those who are not aware, Social Media Investigations and Monitoring is quite a different department of protective services and quite often falls under Intelligence Analysis and Open-Source Intelligence. It requires unique skills and knowledge. One must clearly understand different social media and research platforms and how to use each one of them (and/or in combination) to obtain information. How you will approach each case is different and certainly depends on who your client is, their business, close relations, and/or their public image. This will directly affect the searches and the resources used and for what purpose. It is vital in our current day and age to include SOCMINT (Social Media Intelligence) in your client’s service proposal, no matter how public the person may or may not be. Hiring ten Executive Protection agents and a Residential Security Team is not enough anymore. SOCMINT services are a vital part of your Risk and Threat Assessments (Dynamic Risk Assessments too) and enable your protective detail to function more efficiently.
For those who can not provide a certified Social Media Investigator for their clients, follow up with these steps:
1)Understand who your client is, his/her background, the threats, where do they stand in political, social, financial sectors.
2)Be aware of any of the latest changes in your clients’ lifestyle, public opinions, and professional decisions.
3)Be aware of any of their political and social changes. Watch the news from multiple channels.
4)Familiarize yourself with all close family, friends, staff, and associates and their respective social media footprints.
5)Set up a social media investigation and monitoring strategy.
6)Have a good understanding of the Intelligence Cycle (How the intel is being collected, analyzed, disseminated, reviewed, etc.).
7)Have a good understanding of the search tools on different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Reddit, etc.)
8)Do research on the available search engines and the strengths and limitations each one may have.
9)Know how to conduct image, video, and audio research and gather intelligence from them.
10)Invest in appropriate platforms for social media investigations and monitoring (Have in mind, NEVER rely on one platform’s result or just platforms’ results. The user/investigator is the main component of a social media investigation).
11)Download and use appropriate search engine extensions and apps.
12)Invest time in creating ‘’sock puppets’’ or fake profiles and maintain their persona. Sometimes you may need a profile to have access to different forums or groups without being discovered.
13)Train yourself in link analysis (How to look for connections between people, events, and organizations).
14)Set keyword alerts (In multiple languages in case your client has ties with more than one country).
15)Gather, analyze, evaluate, and report your findings to the appropriate department or leadership.
As the threat landscape changes every day, we as protection providers must be able to adapt and keep ourselves up to date with additional training. Today’s executive protection agent must also be skilled and knowledgeable in investigations, open-source intelligence, protective intelligence, HUMINT, and have an increased understanding of cyber security. Large corporations have already created their own embedded intelligence departments, while others are hiring threat analysts and OSINT investigations from outside security providers. The rise of protective intelligence, and whatever that includes, is here to stay and we are seeing it more and more through the highly increased number of related job postings every day.
If you are an Executive Protection Agent and want to learn more on how to utilize Social Media Investigations and Monitoring for Risk Mitigation Purposes, reach out to us.
f you are a service provider and want to add Social Media Investigations and Monitoring for Risk Mitigation Purposes on your service list, contact us to learn about our vendor services.
We will be launching a series of educational webinars that are absolutely free to attend. The aim of the webinars won’t be to present people and their past stories, but to have specific guests who will combine their experience and training in the industry in order to teach you something new, to help your professional development and to provide consultation for you. They will share their opinions, the “do and don’ts” of the industry and answer your questions.
And the best part? The content of each webinar will be developed by you! While we are working on our next webinars, let us know either by a comment here or via email at info@lemareschal.com what topics would you be interested in having discussed, answered and/or receive consultation on? This is a webinar created for you, by you!
It’s not very often when we have the ability to interview and learn from our adversaries. While most efforts are seemingly focused only on physical attacks, they do not give enough emphasis to the paparazzi, media, and all that this facet of protection entails. But we’ve got you covered. This is an interview we have been wanting to do for the last 5 years. What we learned from a retired British paparazzi is that pointing a flashlight toward them won’t work, neither you are safe if you block the tail number from your private jet. We also learned how they find information about your clients, who are willing to pay a lot of money to buy your pictures (no, it is not only the media outlets), to what length they will go to distract you and get that picture and why you will be not able to buy their silence.
*Disclaimer: During this interview, you may encounter offensive language content within the realm of your site.*
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***Copyright @Athena Worldwide, a LeMareschal LLC company. Any illegal reproduction of this content will result in immediate legal action.***
The latest incident with French President Emmanuel Macron being slapped by someone in the crowd has once again fired up the keyboard warriors who take any incident (video or picture) such as this and claim how improperly the Executive Protection team functioned and what would they have done differently and, of course, be more successful. As a Greek proverb says ‘’Whoever is outside the dance (floor), can sing many songs’’ Meaning: It is easy to talk about something when you are not the one involved in it.
As security practitioners, we must be very careful what we say online, keeping in mind, whatever you post online stays online even if you delete it minutes later. We should not criticize security details and/or the people involved because we do not know all the facts, details, limitations and the full story. When you post a comment on a 10-second video, you may not have the full story. You do not know what happened before or after the incident. What you see in a photo may not be the full picture. It doesn’t make you any more ‘’professional’’ when you try to spot the wrong moves in an incident where you weren’t involved and you do not know all the parameters: you are just assuming.
In this case, we heard many opinions:
‘’Why didn’t they keep standard formation?’’- How can you keep standard formation when your principal is anticipating close interaction with a member of the crowd? Greeting lines are extremely tedious and are one of the most difficult situations to read and provide protection.
‘’The reaction time was slow.’’- The reaction time always seems to be slower when you see an incident on a video over and over again rather than being involved with it in real-time in the field.
‘’They were lucky he wasn’t holding a knife.’’ – Actually someone did their job well and made sure he (or anyone else in the crowd) wasn’t holding a weapon. What most fail to understand is that these crowds are previously checked for anything that can be used as a weapon.
‘’Why didn’t they saw that coming?’’ – They don’t teach ESP at Executive Protection schools…
‘’Why didn’t someone teach Macron?’’ – Most protectees won’t sit down and learn from you about protection, they want you to protect them. It’s not their job to know how to do yours…Why do you think you’re employed?
Now let’s address some challenges for protecting public figures and try to make some rational sense of all of this.
Protecting people whose identity depends on the public, such as politicians, in this case, is very much different than protecting a C-Suite executive for example. A politician needs the interaction with public. They shake hands, hug, get pictures with and celebrate with large crowds. Having people like them is what makes people vote for them, and they need to look and act quite approachable to everyone in order to gain votes. If they don’t get the votes, well, then they no longer hold their current political position. They have to attend gatherings and events and most of those functions may be outside of your span of control regarding organizing it. You have to provide services as best as you can with what you have and minimize whatever limitations you can.
In this case ‘’the unknown crowd’’ is the issue. The ‘’crowd’’ provides a good opportunity for the enemy to blend in, act and even escape in some cases. Also, as most public appearances are preplanned and announced, the enemy has the time to be prepared for the attack. And when we say attack, let’s clarify that “attack on your principal” is not only an assassination or physical harm but also an attack on his/her personality, reputation or by causing embarrassment.
While most EP training schools focus only on physical attacks, have in mind causing embarrassing situations may be something your principal is particularly vulnerable and endangered by, thus it is something you must be prepared to prevent. Making sure the crowd has been checked for anything that can be used as a weapon doesn’t mean you are safe from an embarrassing situation. Paying attention to people’s hands and what they are carrying doesn’t mean you can be sure about the intention of a handshake. A handshake can become a pat on the shoulder or a slap on the face. How would you know the intentions of the handshake and act within 2 seconds to prevent it? You must be in very close proximity to do that and sometimes you have limitations on how close you can be with your principal, particularly when they are interacting with the public and potential voters. When any public figure decides he/she want to come within close proximity of a voter, you are required to break the standard formations and you cannot have security between the voter and the principal because they need that ‘’personal space’’.
Act too aggressive and they will perceive this position as very unapproachable, something that goes against your principal’s political campaigns. So you have limitations or adaptations to perform your protective job competently.
Another thing to consider is that some protectees will appear uncooperative with you and your suggestions or directions. They will do the exact opposite of what you have instructed them to do or whatever the plan was because they thought doing something different was ok, safe or was suggested at the last minute by their campaign manager. Some protectees will ask you to protect them no matter what. The fact that they won’t consider changing their lifestyle, and you have to do your best, becomes another facet of the ever-evolving detail.
Have we forgotten the flying shoe incident with President Bush in a press conference in 2008? The red paint thrown at Mary Harney, Ireland’s Health Minister in November 2010? Berlusconi’s nose being broken and two teeth knocked out when a man attending a political rally threw the statuette of Milan’s Duomo gothic cathedral straight in his face in 2009? Eggs being thrown at Bill Clinton in Warsaw, Poland? Nicolas Sarkozy being a victim of a flying pie in 1997? The book thrown at Obama in 2010? The glitter attack on Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlently in 2011? Pope being attacked by a woman who jumped barriers at St Peter’s Basilica and knocked him down in 2009? The famous slap on Dimitra Liani Papandreou, the widow of ex Greek PM at her book signing by a woman who appears to be there to sign her book? Bill Gates’ “Pie-to-the-Face” fiasco? There are so many more similar incidents including paint, body fluids, pies, yoghurt, vegetables, flour and even flashing body parts such as the Femen members who went toplessness in front of the EU-Russia summit, in Brussels, in December 2012.
Can we criticize the EP team members involved in these incidents? Can we say that you would have done better after the incident has taken place? From the moment you have a complete crowd check for weapons, you are in a “secure” space. But what leads you to believe that you have a better understanding regarding the mental status of someone who appears to be a voter or a fan? Can you honestly guess his motives if he/she wants to slap, or spit or in some way embarrass your client?
If you haven’t provided security details for Public Figures, it may seem easy for you to criticize an incident like this, but criticizing what you don’t know and just assuming doesn’t make you right and it very well may show your ignorance. Instead, use this incident as a reminder that people will use anything to harm your client’s reputation and their imagination can be big and quite unpleasant. Keep it as a learning tool for yourself and yet another scenario in your head of what you would or wouldn’t do if…
To all CEOs, celebrities, VIPs and high value individuals…
At some point in your careers, you will most likely find the need to retain, or at the very least, inquire about close protection services for yourselves, your loved ones and possibly for those you employ closest to you. Now, the list of companies and corporations that provide these type of services is quite lengthy and, while at first they all appear very impressive, you need to be thorough as you take a deep look at them and the ideals and morals they represent. Again, you are searching for the perfect fit that best protects yourselves, your families, employees and all things that you need secured and confidential. A quite disturbing trend as of late has been the repeated posting of pics with you as the client, at your locations and in front of your vehicles, private planes, residences, etc. while boasting about the details of who you might be, what was happening or other items of a secure nature. Now, this is entirely unacceptable no matter what the terms or conditions of their employment may be with you. You, and all that that may encompass, are to be secure, confidential and invisible for all intents and purposes. Period. Social media has become the source of all communications amongst a great number of these entities and this in turn has led to a trend of exposing enormous amounts of confidential client information when it is not only unnecessary but highly unprofessional and, frankly, childish. At times, it has even been portrayed as “marketing” when, in it’s true form, it’s nothing more than schoolyard bragging. So, when researching a prospective organization that you perceive may be the one you will choose, a thorough search of all related social media should be performed. The company’s sites, the reviews and even the social media sites of any/all possible employees that you might hire from their corporation. If they are willing to expose their previous clients with seemingly reckless abandon, you will most likely be the next celebrity/VIP pic that hits the Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn circuit and that is, I’m quite sure, not your desire at all. Many companies will show an endless supply of “tactical” pictures, extreme condition photos, worst case scenario snapshots, etc. Please understand that most of the organizations are composed of a large number of former military members, former LEO/SWAT members and private security contractors who have “been there & done that”. But it is always wise to remember that while these skills are highly advantageous should everything go tragically wrong in your day, these type of days should never happen if the proper planning is performed which is completely above and beyond the “hard skills” as they are often referred to. Another highly recommended item is a detailed NDA and total social media blackout for all involved. Leave nothing to chance and be very clear regarding the seriousness that this represents to you and the severity of disciplinary action should it be violated. Again, you and all you hold most dear are to be secure, confidential and private and definitely NOT on the front page of a local newspaper, tabloid, media page or out to the highest bidder. Always remember this…You came looking to us with your concerns and fears, placing your overall well-being in our capable hands. With that in mind, you should always feel protected, safe and secure from anyone or anything that might wish to harm you. And that harm should NEVER be at the hands of the very people whom you have so willingly trusted to provide the very best security, protection and peace of mind.
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Let’s talk about the real world of Executive Protection with all its fantasy myths and all its brutal truths.
Many newcomers in our Craft have a completely different idea of what the profession truly is or what it appears to be, because their view is primarily based on what they have heard, seen in staged pictures, or what Hollywood tells them it is. This lack of honesty will always leave them either very disappointed about the actual day-to-day operations and/or leaves them vulnerable to making some serious mistakes while on duty.
It is common in our industry to see many of our colleagues posting pictures on the internet social media sites of “selfies” taken in first-class airline seats or in the client’s private jet. Some “selfies” show them with their feet up on a suitcase claiming “another classy trip”, or posting from 4 and 5-star hotel rooms, from poolside at an exclusive resort, from the finest restaurants, or next to a limousine parked next to a jet.
However, what is known to all of us who have been in the industry for some time, this type of showboating does a serious injustice to the actuality of the nature of the business. Those “selfies”, pictures, and embellished stories of grandeur don’t do the profession any favors as many practitioners new to the industry, or those contemplating a career change, see a life of luxury and make a judgement call based on smoke and mirrors. And an even more important point to remember is that the client has the extravagant life…You do not! You happen to be present for the sole reason that you must be present to provide protection for the client, not because this life of leisure is yours. Distinguishing the difference is critical.
The reality is- The majority of these pictures are either staged or were taken while not actually working a security detail. We have seen colleagues ask, or even offer to pay, to stand next to a private jet. They put on their best 100-dollar suit, shiny 30-dollar Timex watch, and 12-dollar dark sunglasses and “pose” next to someone else’s 10-million-dollar jet. And we have seen aircraft tail numbers show up in these photos and, for fun, ran the numbers, located the owners, and even tracked the flights. (Now, because you wanted to look “cool”, you have violated another aspect of security, exposed your client, his possessions, and possibly his/her travel schedule, and leaked information that was to be kept confidential…Remember, OPSEC is always first priority, not your ego or accolades from your buddies!)
The reality is- Anyone can pose anywhere, at any time, and make it look like they are working. Anyone can ask a limo driver to take a picture of them next to that limo. If you feel such a dire need to brag about your job to others that you put your client’s health and safety at risk, who in our industry would ever work with you or recommend you to others? If this is how you see it, this is NOT the career for you. If we could only call out all the people we know who were on vacations with their families, and they post pictures pretending to be on a detail. We even know people who traveled to third-world countries to meet their online “girlfriend” or “boyfriend”, and then they posted pictures as if they were working a detail in those countries!
The reality is- When you work for someone, it is rare to have a first-class airline seat next to them on a 6-hour flight. Most clients, no matter how wealthy they are, will book you an economy seat back in the aircraft somewhere. Yes, there are a scarce few clients who will book first-class for their CPOs, but to qualify to work for these clients, you must already be well-established in the industry and have a plethora of industry history and references. And quite often, the CPO has worked for the client for quite some time and there is a close familiarity between the client and the CPO, not unlike the trust a patient might give to their personal physician.
The reality is- When you work with a busy, well-trained team, you will work on rotations and have a schedule that allows for only two things: keeping the client safe and getting to bed to get enough sleep to be able to do it again tomorrow. Anyone who has the time to “enjoy” taking pictures probably has too much time on their hands, isn’t watching their client closely enough, or maybe isn’t working at all. And if you happen to be working alone, you cannot spare any lapse in focus or attention away from your client for your own personal enjoyment. We have been in rotations where after work, we were so tired that we didn’t have the energy or interest to exercise, call our family members or friends, or even eat! Sleep becomes paramount under circumstances like this. This type of scenario is usually due to working long shifts alone or with very little relief staffing, but that is a situation worth discussing in another article.
The reality is- When your client travels, they may be working or on vacation, but you are ALWAYS working. You will ALWAYS get less sleep than your client. When they finally retire for the evening, you are up another few hours planning and preparing for the next day. When they wake, it might be because you are responsible for waking them, or you have to plan for any/all requests they may have upon waking, which means you are up a couple of hours before them. While working, you have to focus on your client’s needs. Finding time to eat and go to the bathroom is not your client’s responsibility or even on their mind. If you want to eat, you have to find your own way to do it quickly and efficiently. If you need to empty your bladder, you have to leave sight of your client and return quickly. If it is not safe to leave your client, then you choose to either hold it or make other arrangements. This is hard enough as a male, but as a female, it is nearly impossible to improvise. Again, a subject for future articles!
The reality is- You will need to find time to eat, sleep, shower, go to the bathroom, write reports, call your family, pay your bills, clean your clothes, charge your equipment batteries, train, stretch, exercise, and accomplish other normal life tasks and all outside of the client’s view. And you will inevitably find yourself doing things you wouldn’t do in your personal life because you must adapt to your client’s activities. And you will need to be an expert in your client’s extracurricular activities to enable you to not only accompany them, but to identify threats to their safety all while riding elephants or horses, scuba diving, skydiving, hunting, mountain biking, and so many more excursions. And an important point to keep in mind…If you know you are not qualified or skilled in any particular activity, learn when to partner up with someone who is or hire your own replacement for the activity in question.
The reality is- You WILL, at some point in your career, find yourself in the presence of an awkward, heated family conversations and you might be asked to take a side. Now, you know its unprofessional to choose a side and you will have to find a diplomatic answer within seconds. You will see behaviors and listen to conversations that will challenge your own personal and professional ethics. And again, learn when to be present, and when to make yourself scarce…You don’t have the luxury of an opinion…If you think you do, you most certainly find yourself on a plane headed home…Unemployed.
The reality is- You will find yourself in challenging environments too. (I developed asthma working in Mumbai and Chris contracted cholera while working in the Middle East) You may get food or water poisoning, malaria, and even get worms from food. Making sure all your vaccinations are up to date and you have OTC meds with you will be commonplace. You will have to work with people who have little to no training or they have been trained differently than you. Some “professionals” in our industry are great with weapons and driving, but have no concept of controlling body odor! They speak 4 languages, but can’t drive a car. They can cook a 4-course meal out of any cookbook from any resemblance of food they can find, but they can’t provide first-aid on an insect bite or gunshot wound.
The reality is- People who come from different cultures and have different perspectives regarding punctuality, performance of their duties, and the common traits of professionalism, have no clue that every decision they make, from their clothing, to their language skills, to hygiene habits, to interpersonal skills, are all weighed and measured by the clients who would hire them.
The reality is- Unless they have extensively worked in foreign countries or locations, many practitioners claim this type of experience having never operated under these circumstances. There are people who have done nothing more than stayed in a hotel in a country or had a layover in an airport, and then claim to have experience there. Travel with your client will come with time and you will, likely as not, find yourself slowly filling your passport with stamps from many foreign locales. But in the beginning, it will likely be close to home, short trips, and nothing terribly exciting. Patience is the key component in longevity with close protection.
The reality is- True professionals will not let themselves be photographed by others and certainly would never photograph themselves while working. And they will not want to work with those who do. True professionals know the difference between ethics and etiquette and follow the rules of each. Doing anything to compromise your client’s business or personal privacy is not just a mistake, it is a catastrophic attack on our industry and our collective ability to earn a living in it. True professionals will know how to dress for any occasion their clients may invite them into and know how to negotiate with the client to avoid unsafe activities and conditions. True professionals will know how to do one hundred things, while in the active company of their client, that will never be acknowledged or appreciated by the client, and a thousand things near their client that will never even be seen or known…Because it’s NOT about you. Never was, isn’t now, never will be.
The reality is- If you seek personal public recognition in this industry for the delicate function you are being paid to perform, if you are seeking a smooth, cushy job, if you crave personal validation, desperately need the praises of your colleagues, if Hollywood has indelibly imprinted its version of EP on you…Make no mistake…you have picked the wrong career field.
However, if you have a high sense of honor, professionalism, discretion, integrity, and patience, Welcome! If you take a deep personal pride in a job well done, come join us! Centuries of protectors came before us and lived by a strict code. The Samurai, The Roman Praetorian, The Varangian Guard, to name just a few, are examples of those who truly understood and abided by a Code and provided unquestionably stalwart and unwavering protection and safety for those entrusted to them. There is no greater honor than to provide protection, safety, security, and peace of mind to those who depend on us most!
Over the last 10 years, I have written a few hundred articles and granted interviews related to protective work within our industry. I have almost always addressed topics of interest from the perspective of a Close Protection Operative or directed advice or opinions toward the CPO.
As threats change with the times, the topics of discussion must change and occasionally we have to address an old topic from a fresh perspective. This article is directed to the security company Owner or Manager and addresses a more mundane yet equally important topic: INTEGRITY.
What many company owners and managers will tell you they are looking for when hiring someone to work for them (and represent their companies), is loyalty, dedication, hard-working, punctual, positive attitude, team player, ethical, honest, law-abiding, and professional. It shouldn’t be surprising but many employees are looking for the same qualities in a company’s top leaders.
Most of us as Managers, CEO’s, CFO’s, COO’s, or other Owners fail to remember that when our company is awarded a contract and we hire people to work for us, our organization’s integrity is judged by, and dependent upon our employees. So as important as they are to us, why did they suddenly resign?
Most successful protection organizations are managed by company Owners, Managers, or CEOs who have been operatives at some point in their careers, so it should be hard to understand how they would neglect their employees, but it does happen all the time, and I do understand.
Below I will try to point out some issues that allow for a toxic work environment for both employers and employees which leads to turnover and poor loyalty.
Each company has its own vision and goal. The question is: are you as the creator or guardian of that vision as loyal to it today as you were on day one? Are you loyal to the people who work for you, to what your company represents, to the profession? Or are you ‘’bending’’ your own work ethic or clouding your company’s vision for that monthly check? Great operatives sometimes work for organizations that have cut corners, lagged behind in paying their employees, failed to support their employees, siding instead with the client, and forcing employees to quit before it was time to give them a raise. If you think that your employees won’t quit and inform everyone they know (including your competitors), about your conduct, you are wrong.
Are you on time with your responsibilities toward the people that work for you? Are they getting paid for their working hours/days expenses and benefits on time? “I HAVEN’T BEEN PAID BY THE CLIENT YET” is not an excuse for not paying your operatives on time. Operating a business and hiring people means you have a specific amount of capital you must set aside to insure payroll. Failing to achieve payroll independence probably means you are mismanaging your profits and maybe your company. Do you return phone calls promptly? Do you promise performance raises at 6 months of employment and then wait for the employee to beg you for it at 7 months?
Are you honest regarding employment contracts? There are companies that practice “Shadow Contracting”, which uses two sets of terms: one for the clients and one for the operatives. The difference between the two is the services promised to the client within the terms of service and what the operative believes they are signing up for in pay, working conditions, risk, and support. In most cases, the client is unaware of this.
Additionally, when you hire a CPO, you informed them about the initial threat assessment, so until they get their foot in the door and deal in real-time with the client and his environment and do their own assessment they have to rely on what you know. As we know, in our line of work, the threat level is, in part, what sets the cost for our services. Some organizations will not inform an operative of the real threat level in order to pay the operative less.
Are you a law-abiding professional? Unfortunately, we have seen people with criminal records running security businesses or Managers who don’t mind hiring employees who have prior problems with the law or regulatory authorities, who add them to their company administration or to their CP teams.
These decisions initially affect the CP effort but quickly destroy the trust and loyalty in the organization as a whole and eventually the Client relationship.
Are you a team player? I have heard the phrase “I want you to see our company as your family”, many times. This is a hollow statement because:
They already have a family.
They are usually under a contract with a time limit
They will never feel like family when your family and friends are in all of the key positions or in charge of the operations.
As a business owner, manager, or CEO you have to think ahead and take care of your people. Some contracts require assignments in distant cities or other countries. Those people, who work for you, protect your client, and basically make money for you are away from their homes and families, possibly in a different culture, unfriendly country, or in a domestic environment that tests their patience, fidelity, fitness, and temperament. Are you focusing on what the CP needs to succeed 20 or 30 or 60 or 90 days into their assignment? Are you watching for complacency and prepared to replace or rotate your CPOs if complacency or boredom becomes apparent? Did you remember to add this possibility in the client’s contract and explain that the CPO the client starts with may not be the one they end up with?
Do you regularly check to ensure that your CPOs do not exceed 12 hours a day in service and that they receive proper time for rest or rehabilitation or training or fitness? Did you put these terms into the contract? Did you secure a retainer?
Recently, I was made aware of a female CPO that took an assignment in a country she had not worked in before. She took the assignment with a signed contract which she was awarded because of her experience working with and protecting children. She was promised a weekly bi-weekly paycheck, time off, 10-hour days, food, lodging, travel, and other allowance “reimbursements” and provided needed equipment. Within 30 days, she was behind 2 paychecks, out of personal money due to not being reimbursed, was working 18 hours a day, was being berated daily by the client’s wife, not allowed to discipline or correct a spoiled child, and was not accustomed to the local exotic diet which was her only source of food, resulting in her being sick and undernourished much of the time she was in the country. Additionally, she was not able to leave once she decided to do so and had to work an additional 4 months before finally being paid an adequate amount of money to allow her to “escape”. She has not yet been paid the balance of what is owed her and has no legal means of demanding or recovering her earnings. The company is still in business and continues its practices. It has no loyalty and the internet is now peppered with negative comments about it.
If you see fallacies in your corporate hiring and management practices or are experiencing a high turnover in CPOs or your management staff, spend some money on a private consultant. They can evaluate your practices for far less than what you are losing in lost contracts and overtime or training costs due to employee turnover. Having the right people working for your company and staying with you for a long time is the best investment you can do.
End of the day, while you are running your own security firm take some time to remember where you came from and guard your reputation within the industry.
Lets have a look on a 48hours detail of a close protection agent.
By Dave Marris
High Risk Security Contractor & Security Consultant
I have been pounded recently by requests from Facebook, and a couple of other sources, by requests from various people wanting to know how they can become involved in the world of protection/security. Most are looking for that “silver bullet” that will rocket them to the top of the EP world in one fell swoop. I try constantly to educate them that this short cut is very, very hard to accomplish. A few have done it, based off of their connections in certain industries, but most do not. There really is no shortcut; there is no silver bullet, only hard work, long hours and a LOT of money invested in training and equipment. It takes YEARS to develop the skill and mindset to qualify you to properly perform this work. Think long and hard before you decide that this is what you want to do for a living. It can be a very stressful way to make a living.
On to the point. I just recently performed a 2 day assignment for a friend of a friend. For those aspiring people that would like to get involved in the industry, I will share “a day in the life” with you. This is a no holds barred description and timeline of a typical 2 day assignment. No glitz, no glam…just a rock hard description of the type of work you are getting yourself into. I myself, I love it…always have. However I warn you, this work is not for the weak of heart, mind, body or spirit. What follows is a 40 hour plus, non-stop roller coaster ride, with zero sleep. To those of you that may think this would be easy…I challenge you to try it, staying awake that long. And remember, you will be performing it sans any stress at all.
This is a long read. Think so? You should try DOING it…
BTW, all information shared here is open source material. No OPSEC information with-in the assignment has been compromised.
Client: The Cleopatra Exhibit, along with 2 principles.
Objective: Guarantee safe transport of two Egyptian Nationals and approximately 300 million dollars worth of Egyptian artifacts (3 tractor and trailers) from current venue in Philadelphia, PA to new venue in Cincinnati, OH.
My Position: ATL, team medic.
Special Equipment: Motorola radios, personal handguns, 1 x long gun-Bushmaster M-4, 1 x shotgun-Mossberg 500, medical gear, GPS.
Timeline: Trucks and PAX MUST arrive at new venue by 0800 of day 2. A press conference is scheduled for 0900 and the one 5,000 pound statue must be uncrated by then so as to be used as a center piece for the cameras. Contractual clause states payment will not be rendered to security company should failure of timeline occur. At no time is any one truck to be separated, either all arrive or all do not. No truck is to be opened at any time by anyone other than the two Egyptians. To do so would cause the curse of 1,000 years and so on… (Rolls eyes.)
My Earnings: $1,000 US dollars, pre tax.
Day 1 (This is all day one as you have to sleep in order for it to count as two days)
0800: Meet with the team to discuss overall plan of operation, routes, comms, etc.
0845: Team splits to accomplish pickup of rental vehicles and inspect loaded trucks at storage location. Sub-Team 1 will pick up clients; Sub-Team 2 will take possession of trucks, check seals, secure and stage trucks for movement. Sub-Team 3 accompanies Team 1.
1000: Sub-Teams meet at storage facility, enter order of march, confirm discussion from earlier meeting. One of the Egyptian Nationals is sick, vomiting and diarrhea. Neither speaks much English and no interpreter has been assigned by the client. This information was never discussed prior to jump-off time. Egyptian National insists on making the trip anyway. Being the team medic, I dispense over the counter meds and some Flagyl to help control the sickness.
1045: Convoy departs Philadelphia for Cincinnati, timeline allows for transit time, including stops and fueling of 14-16 hours, which should put us into Cincinnati well ahead of schedule.
1200: The sick Egyptian needs to stop for a bathroom break. I administer 2 more Imodium to try to stop the diarrhea. Team 2 vehicle (client team) smells like a bad sewer. All chase vehicles refuel since the opportunity presents itself.
1600: Proximity Pittsburg, PA fuel/bathroom stop in major route truck stop. Light snow has begun to fall. One of the drivers of the trucks now decides to pull his truck onto the “free” scale at the truck stop. Up to this point we had not hit a weigh station. Driver informs TL that his vehicle is +- 2,000 pounds above the maximum allowed for his wheelbase. This is a major issue as there are a number of state weigh stations between us and the destination, where the trucks are required to stop, enforced by State Police. This truck will not be allowed to continue if found to be over weight. Security is informed that we will be delayed until a resolution comes from the trucking company about how to proceed. I inquire about length of delay and am told we can not proceed until the green light is given by someone from the trucking company to accept liability. We move trucks and escort vehicles into a defensive posture. TL and truckers hold up with comms in one of the trucks, making numerous phone calls. I extricate my long gun from its case, brought for this very reason, and several jaws hit the street. (Fuck ‘em, it’s my ass.) After 2 hours of chatter and delays while the snow has continued to fall and accumulate, I go over to the “meeting truck” and pound on the door, climb up into the cab. More conversation and I finally convince the driver to continue. If we see an open weigh station, we will pull over, stop and deal with it then. Until then, we roll.
1830: Depart the truck stop.
2000: Approaching Wheeling, WV. The snow has increased from light to something else. Visibility is lowering, as is our speed. We are now traveling at an average of 40 MPH. The chase vehicles are 4WD but the TT trucks are carrying precious cargo, so the speed drop is critical and necessary. We are losing precious time, but still have plenty of time to complete the trip with a few hours to spare.
2130: Approaching the Ohio border, truck 3 calls out over the radio that he has a mechanical problem. Snow has continued and speed has dropped to 25 MPH. His alternator light has come on and his truck computer has dropped his power output to half to save the batteries. Truck 1 informs the convoy that there is a truck stop not far from where we are, and since truck 3 has a small internal generator, he should be able to make it.
2150: At the truck stop we lift the engine cover to find that the serpentine belt on the engine of truck 3 has broken. The broken belt whipped around and also took out the tension pulley. Not good. The truck can not go far without proper repair. Several phone calls are made and a repair shop is open within 4 miles of our current position. They however do not have the parts. The parts will be have to be brought in from another location. This truck is the climatically controlled truck of the 3 and the seals of this truck can not be broken in an uncontrolled environment, so calling another truck to transfer the cargo is not possible. We load up and drive to the repair shop. Good news is the sick Egyptian principle is feeling much better. She wants to know where the “doctor” studied medicine.
2230: After arriving at the repair shop, truck 3 is pulled into the repair bay. The owner wanted to disconnect the tractor from the trailer so that the climate control generator fumes would not make the air in the shop foul. I was tasked with staying with the truck in the repair bay while the rest of the team set security outside. (Remember the long gun?) I told him to open a window. The repair guys were not happy with the fact that I was carrying a rifle in their shop. I told them to get over it and I guess they did.
2300: Parts arrive along with a mechanic that is a specialist with this kind of work. He can not give me a timeline for the repair. I ask him to please hurry.
2345: The mechanic informs me that the shop will be closing at midnight and he does not know if the repair will be completed by then. I tell the mechanic’s helper to go and find the shop owner, and call the TL on the radio and ask her to come inside. With all players there, I inform the TL of the problem. She asks me what I think and I state that I think the shop will be extending hours for the evening. The shop owner agrees. (I sincerely believe this had everything to do with the fact that I had an M-4 slung over my shoulder.)
0030: Repair complete. Per the TL’s orders I flip the owner of the shop a hundred bucks and the mechanic fifty for being good sports. The next obstacle will be the weigh stations.
0045: Order of march is resumed. Snow continues to fall heavily and roads are becoming covered and slick. Average speed is 35 to 40 MPH and we are still some 200 miles from the destination. Luckily for us the weigh station that caused the earlier concern is closed due to the crappy weather. We roll by without incident.
0245: Approximately 100 miles from destination we stop at yet another truck stop for fuel and coffee. Snow continues to dog us and everyone is a bit irritable and tired. We have been switching off drivers, but the contract calls for 100% alert, so no one has slept.
0315: Back on the road. Visibility and road conditions have continued to deteriorate. Lead truck driver is considering calling the roads to hazardous to continue. The TL calls him on the radio and tells him this is unacceptable and we need to continue even if at 25 MPH.
0415: Like magic, the snow suddenly stops. 5 miles further up the road, there is not even any sign of the snow. Ohio is a weird place. We push to 70 MPH and start to make some time. I am driving and tired and beginning to see ninjas with poison dart blowguns peering out from the bushes on the side of the road.
0630: Arrive at the venue with 1 and a half hours to spare. That’s right, we bad. Despite the need to overcome a number of obstacles…success.
0730: Trucks are staged at the loading docks. Local union workers begin unloading the first of the 3 trucks.
0800: Press and television crews begin to arrive. They are filming the unloading and set up process for the statue. Our team is asked to help with securing the area and checking entry credentials, since this is a private event.
0900: The press conference begins.
1100: Press conference runs overtime. Unloading of the trucks begin. This process is incredibly slow as the Egyptians insist on touching every crate as it comes out of the trucks, then mumbling a few words. This is compounded by the fact that every piece of the display is considered “priceless” and must be handled with utmost care. We are contractually bound to supervise the unloading process.
1500: Unloading is complete. We say our goodbyes and head to Daton airport to catch a 1700 flight back to Philly. Downtown traffic is bad and we are delayed enough to miss our flight. After an hour at the airline counter, we are finally put on a flight to Philly via Newark. We have very little time between flights, and we are all traveling with weapons in Pelican cases. If we miss the connector in Newark, out weapons will be on the baggage carousel unattended in Philly.
1935: Depart Daton.
2050: Arrive Newark.
2150: Depart Newark.
2230: Arrive Philadelphia.
2245: Wife and son arrive at the airport to pick me up.
0000: After a shower and a stiff Jack Daniel’s (hey I earned it), off to bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Seriously.
Some helpful hints to getting your foot in the door.
By Jason Collins
CPS, Security Consultant, CP Instructor
You have taken the time to go through one of the many Executive Protection schools around the world. You’ve sacrificed time and money for this training. You’ve learned the core fundamentals to becoming a bodyguard. Now you are ready to break out and start working in the industry.
How do I do this? First off, begin marketing yourself…..from this point on, YOU make or break YOUR future.
Network, network, network…..get to know potential clients, fellow operators, job opportunities. The internet and today’s technologies, brings everything you need to begin, right to your fingertips. So utilize it…… your instructors, fellow students and former graduates are always a great place to start.
Due diligence and following instructions- if you are on a job board site and see a job that interests you, DO NOT just apply for it….thoroughly read the post….if it says “in need of a Spanish speaking operator with 2 years experience in south America”, do not apply if this is your first attempt at finding work, you only speak your native language and you have never left your country. Find out all the facts before jumping into something you have no idea about. Know beforehand, what it is you’re getting into.
Be professional…..again, you make or break your future. You will most certainly be overlooked if you respond to a job bid or post with poor grammar and an obvious lack of professionalism. Sell yourself.
Know what you’re looking for … whether you want to go the celebrity, corporate, local or corporate warrior route, due your research. Utilize the resources out there for finding work in that specific niche. Start small. Make yourself known to local LEO agencies, state and municipal government agencies. Your local mayor, political campaigns, domestic abuse centers and currier services and strike work details are all good starting points.
KEEP TRAINING. I cannot emphasize this enough. Just because you’ve gone through a “bodyguard” school does not mean you’re ready to take on the world…..It is just the beginning….train often. Keep your skill set fresh and evolving. The more you train, the better you become.
And finally……apply with multiple agencies, multiple positions and multiple jobs. Always be on “a list” . more often than not, things don’t “just happen”. Things (jobs/contracts) take time. Logistics and regulations have to be met and followed through. So be on the list so when and if it does happen, you’re there. If you bank everything on one job, you’re going to get discouraged regularly when that job fails to take place.
Hopefully, this can get you on the right track to finding work….always ask questions, be professional, have integrity and don’t burn bridges.
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