June 10, 2023
  • Articles

    A Secondary EP Role Does Not Mean Second Class

    This mission and my team were an afterthought.  C-suite executives, including the CEO, and spouses of a major U.S. multi-national investment bank were coming to a Hong Kong conference.  Protecting those executives during their busy days of on-site and off-site meetings and presentations was essential.  The bank’s U.S headquarters Human [...]
  • Risk Assessment

    Security Risk Analysis of Hostile Environments

    For companies operating in hostile environments, corporate security has historically been a source of confusion and often outsourced to specialised consultancies at significant cost. Of itself, that’s not an inappropriate approach, but the problems arises because, if you ask three different security consultants to carry out the same security risk [...]
  • Bombs

    You Want ME to Search for a Bomb?

    The policy of many organizations, in response to a bomb threat call, is immediate evacuation, especially in a location that is open to the general public.  There may be instances where evacuation is the best decision, but in the majority of cases, an emergency evacuation may actually put untrained personnel [...]
  • Security News

    What is the PSC

    Since I have been talking up the Protective Security Council Conference (PSC) in the social media, I have been asked, “What is the PSC and what about this ‘new’ conference?”  First, the PSC is an organization of security professionals created and managed by Michael Nossaman.  He has a long history [...]
  • Career Development

    Becoming A Trusted Advisor. What Does It Take?

    I had the honor of speaking at a Protective Security Council conference during which I heard an oft-repeated question among other executive protection practitioners in attendance, and incorporated into a number of other conference seminars and presentations: “What does it take to become a trusted advisor to protectees on matters [...]
  • Marketing

    Branding Your Company’s Executive Protection Services

    How do you create a brand? One of the key elements is market positioning. Branding begins by formulating a strategy that differentiates you from your competition. Part this process is creating a one word positioning statement. For example, Volvo’s word is “safety,” Victoria Secret’s is “sexy.” What is yours? […]
  • Legal & Regulatory

    New Employee Misclassification Interpretation – A Warning To Security Companies

    The Federal government, specifically the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), continues to aggressively pursue a crackdown on the misclassification of workers as independent contractors.  Below is the preamble to a new DOL Administrator’s Interpretation of the rules for pursuing enforcement action against employers that misclassify workers. While it is not [...]
  • Featured Articles

    Security Budgets May Get Clipped Again

    Low inflation and low interest rates constrain price increases, yet salary and wages, and health care costs continue to rise above the level of inflation. It is a bottom line squeeze. […]
  • Executive Services

    How to avoid mangling press coverage of your CEO and company

    Recent press appearances by officials in the limelight offer a stark comparison about how press coverage should be done and how to mangle it. Governor Chris Christie, responding to allegations that a bridge lane closing that resulted in a huge traffic jam for four days was politically motivated, barricaded himself [...]
  • Featured Articles

    Signs That You Are About To Be Punched In the Nose

    The bad news is that violent crime in the U.S increased from 2011 to 2012 according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Justice survey.  The good news is that more than 70 percent of violent crime was simple assault.  Statistically, about the worst that a victim of violent crime will [...]
  • Legal & Regulatory

    The U.S. Department of Labor Is About To Commit “White Collar” Crime

    A new labor rule will double the minimum salary for overtime exemption. It will put millions of salaried workers back on the time-clock and create additional administrative burdens on employers.  by Michael Nossaman One of the rewards of working is getting promoted. It signals that your personal effort has been [...]
  • Legal & Regulatory

    Security Company Loses Stadium Contract and License Over Hiring Practices

    Brimming with enthusiasm and anticipation of his team taking on their archrival Green Bay Packers, a Minnesota Vikings fan approached a stadium entry gate. It was the first 2016 home game in the new $1.2 billion U.S. Bank Stadium.  Entering a stadium security checkpoint is not normally a noteworthy event, [...]
  • Executive Services

    PRINCIPAL PROTECTION; Lessons Learned

    PRINCIPAL PROTECTION; Lessons Learned The Evolution of Protective Operations by R.E. “Rick” Colliver Available now from Varro Press Protection, like any other process, is evolutionary. And we should agree that a large part of any evolutionary process is failure, which is another way of saying “learning through our mistakes.” As [...]
  • Featured Articles

    Packages and Gestures

    Carrying contraband or carrying something hazardous to public safety will be different than how a person carries routine items or packages. The differences we look for are very clear and very obvious once you know what they are. by Dr. Robert Rail Packages – we see them around us every [...]
  • Featured Articles

    Is Assessing Vulnerability A Duty?

    The 18th century Irish statesman and author Edmund Burke is credited with saying, “”The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Actually, the attributed quote was a paraphrase of what Burke wrote about the public man’s duty to do the right thing. [...]
  • Security News

    IRS Issues New Meals & Entertainment Deduction Rules

    Let's Do Lunch! In the good old days, the three-martini lunch was part of doing business and you could deduct 100% of the cost. The steak and lobster dinner followed by floor seats at the [...] This content is for PSC members only. If you are a member, please log [...]
  • Secure Transportation

    A Tale of Two Attacks

    An Objective Look at Recent Vehicle Ambushes. Just how important is it for a Protective Detail Leader or Security Manager to be able to recognize the indicators and warnings associated with various threats and understand the capabilities of potential attackers? The answers can be found by taking a closer look [...]
  • Security News

    ADVANCE: The Guide For Conducting A Protective Security Advance

    ADVANCE The Guide For Conducting A Protective Security Advance by David L. Johnson Finally, someone has written a detailed book about how to conduct an Advance – the most important function of the protective security agent. This is an incredible book. It covers all the important, and sometimes gritty tasks, [...]
  • Executive Services

    Basics of Building a Tactical “Go Bag”

    For military, police, and security professionals, the career demands that we are prepared to respond to a variety of threats and that we have the right equipment on us or with us to adequately respond. Beyond the professionals, many “civilians” have taken an interest in their personal safety and want [...]
  • Security News

    PPS, MMA, UFC. What Do They Have in Common?

    I don’t know anything about Futbol (soccer).  I don’t know anything about UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).  The parentheses are for others like me. I do, however, know something about hiring a PPS (Personal Protection Specialist). I also know that there are people who are as [...]
  • Career Development

    Research The Private Security Firms That Are Best For Your Career

    Post 9/11 America is stacked with private security companies that specialize in everything from executive protection to corporate security to overseas contracts.Discovering which private security firm best fits a candidate’s skillset, ambition, and personality is no easy task.Smart candidates, however, ask the hard questions and conduct their own research to [...]
  • Career Development

    Get Better At Networking

    In business, the goal of networking is to get something of value. For many, that means a new job or more business.  Unfortunately, for most people, their networking strategy and tactics will never work.  They launch a full frontal assault by loading up with contacts; boosting their LinkedIn connections to [...]
  • Legal & Regulatory

    Turkey Tossing. OSHA Issues Security Guidelines For That

    Just out of college, in 1971 I worked as a writer for an advertising agency that had a number of retail clients. One of our clients, a small appliance retailer, wanted to do a Thanksgiving promotion. In keeping with the theme of the holiday, he decided to give away turkeys. [...]
  • Featured Articles

    The Art of Training and Operating with Counterparts

    As stated in my article ‘SPECOPS/Private Contractors’ in the December 2008 issue of Soldier of Fortune magazine, “The face of contract work has changed forever.” The invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq created a vacuum that was quickly filled by Private Security Companies (PSC), all eager to cash in on [...]
  • Executive Services

    No Need For High Speed Paparazzi Evasion. Just Outsmart Them

    There are two parts to this narrative about how we took care of an A-List Hollywood star during his visits to China as a brand ambassador for our client, an international tier one luxury brand.  The first is how Abate Risk Ltd leveraged personal information we gathered about him to [...]
  • Featured Articles

    The Security Driver Triangle

    Getting from point A to point B safely and securely requires the interaction between the driver, the vehicle and the environment they drive through. THE DRIVER, THE MACHINE, and THE ENVIRONMENT is called the Security Driver’s Triangle. If there is an accident or a successful ambush it is caused by [...]
  • Featured Articles

    Why Security Risk and Frontline Risk Management Is Everyone’s Business

    The world is more complex than ever before. The issue of uncertainty based on disruption and change, happening at a rate that we have never experienced before, adds to the challenges of the way we manage risk as individuals, departments, and even at the organisational level. Dealing with threats (such [...]
  • No Picture
    Articles

    COVID-19 SECURITY SOLUTIONS. HELP OR BE HELPED.

    We are not in this on our own, we can help each other respond in our professional capacity to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharing Is a way to do that. In fact, when asked why they joined the PSC, a majority of members included comments such as “sharing,” “helping others,” and [...]
  • Featured Articles

    Security Officers Are Not Independent Contractors Court Says

    Company Also Violated Record Keeping Rules The employment of independent contractors in the security industry is common. It is a useful and convenient method to increase the number of personnel needed or to offer specialized [...] This content is for PSC members only. If you are a member, please log [...]
  • Career Development

    Interpersonal Skills for Close Protection Officers

    Interpersonal skills are life skills used every day to communicate and interact with other people, individually and in groups. For close protection operatives/officers (CPOs), or bodyguards. These soft skills include aspects of self-management such as professionalism, image, communication, teamwork, and meeting the expectations of clients and Principals. Specific traits that [...]
  • Security News

    New Standards For Workplace Violence Prevention And Incident Investigations

    Two documents published in 2011 put new demands on businesses to implement effective safety measures to reduce the incidence of workplace violence. In September, OSHA issued a compliance directive that establishes uniform procedures for its field staff when responding to incidents and complaints of workplace violence and conducting inspections in industries considered [...]
  • ID-10075457
    Featured Articles

    The Psychology of Risk

    An Interview with Dr. Gavriel Schneider How do high levels of comfort and safety affect our attitude toward risk and how does this impact our level of preparedness and ability to respond to risky situations? To answer those questions I asked Dr. Gavriel Schneider, an expert on integrated risk management, [...]
  • Legal & Regulatory

    Congress Will Try Again To Crack Down On Independent Contractor Misclassification

    With No Fanfare, Congress Re-Introduces the Payroll Fraud Prevention Act of 2014 to Crack Down on Independent Contractor Misclassification by Richard J. Reibstein, Esq. Most bills in Congress dealing with independent contractor misclassification are introduced with a great deal of fanfare. But not so with the Payroll Fraud Prevention Act [...]
  • Executive Services

    A Physical Security Primer For Executive Protection Professionals

    One of the most underrated and unused security assets is the skill set that executive protection professionals bring to the task of designing and implementing physical security plans and programs. That may come as a surprise to some, including protection professionals themselves.  Let’s examine the reasons why that is so. [...]
  • Executive Services

    Leadership in Executive Protection

    What is leadership today? What has happened to the so called leaders of the industry? Who really makes the decisions that affects the lives of the people that we protect? Has the profession sold out? […]
  • Leadership

    CEO: “I Take Responsibility for Security.” What does that mean?

    An all too common response in the aftermath of a security incident serious enough to draw scrutiny and criticism is for the organization’s CEO to declare, “I take responsibility.” If this mea culpa is proclaimed boldly enough and with an air of authenticity it might actually be viewed as noble [...]
  • hotel-keys
    Executive Services

    The High Cost of Not Doing a Hotel Advance

    It is a common practice that hotels around the world require guests to use or show a room card for entry, especially late at night. It is also common for competent protection specialists to give advance notice to hotel security staff that their principal is in residence and will be [...]
  • Featured Articles

    Tips for Becoming or Hiring an Independent Contractor

    The Federal government and the states recognize Independent Contractor (IC) as a legitimate worker classification.  However, either knowingly or unknowingly, employers sometimes incorrectly misclassify workers as ICs instead of employees. “Employee” is generally the default status the government assumes in ambiguous circumstances.  Worker misclassification is an expensive and time-consuming mistake. [...]
  • Management

    Beware the Obamacare Syndrome

    Do you have an idea to improve efficiency, cut costs, increase revenue, or expand?  Think it’s such a good idea that it will work flawlessly and everyone will hail you the conquering hero? The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is a good example of how to really [...]
  • Executive Services

    Baby Wrangling: When Your Principal Is A Child

    Editor’s Note:   A recent article published on the PSC website described a foreign protection assignment that included caring for the child of a protectee who was attending a public event that the child could not attend.  That sparked a memory of an article we published in a 1996 edition of Tactical [...]
  • Threats

    It’s Summer. Hot, Humid, Dangerous, and a Security Risk

    Working outdoors in heat and humidity greatly increases the risk of heat-related illness and death. When your security officer or agent goes down from heat, the negative effect doubles: the security officer’s health is in jeopardy and, as a result, the protective security he or she provides is in jeopardy.  From [...]

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