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 the title suggests, this book is about the lessons learned through several thousand years of trial-and-error, creating and adopting best-practices, striving to provide protection for persons of public interest and others at risk.
This book was originally envisioned as a companion text for courses in protective operations. But as it evolved, it became apparent that it is a valuable guide for specialists and managers employed in the protection field, to help them enhance and add value to their own vulnerability assessments, protective operations, and security management. The end result is a massive book that is both broad in scope and depth of detail not found in run of the mill cookie-cutter books that focus on guns, cars, formations, and AOPs.
PRINCIPAL PROTECTION; Lessons Learned goes far beyond these basics and provides contract and corporate protection professionals alike with a wealth of applicable information and knowledge that can only be acquired through extensive study and actual experience. This is not just a read and put on the shelf book, you’ll use it again and again as a reference and guide.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Principal Protection
Chapter Two: Comprehensive Security
Chapter Three: Understanding Threat and Risk; an Introduction
Chapter Four: Assessing Threat and Risk in the Field
Chapter Five: Ethics, Etiquette and the Scope of Your Employment
Chapter Six: Conducting the Advance
Chapter Seven: Hazardous Device Search Techniques
Chapter Eight: Protective Detail Planning and Management
Chapter Nine: Managing Protection
Chapter Ten: Lessons Learned Through History
Appendix A: A Glossary of Terms
Appendix B: White House Security Review
Appendix C: Security Checklists
Appendix D: Bibliography
Appendix E: State v. Hessler (2000), 90 Ohio St.3d 108
Appendix F: National Special Security Events Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress
The six appendices alone are useful additions to a professional’s library.
Appendix A is an extensive Glossary of Terms, acronyms and abbreviations that protection specialists will likely encounter during the course of their employment.
Appendix B “White House Security Review”, explains a methodology for security assessment but also illustrates the type of precursor event that can predicate such an in-depth analysis and the scope of work required in such an undertaking. Remember that the higher the profile of the Protectee, the more attention will be focused on your work.
Appendix C is a collection of commonly found checklists that the reader can modify for their own use as appropriate. Regardless of how many years we spend in this business or how many routes and venues we advance, it is always helpful for us to have some sort of guide to ensure that we have not overlooked something.
Appendix D is a bibliography of material relating to the field of dignitary and executive protection. Regardless of the age of the material, many of the tried and true observations remain valid to this day and help us to shape our protection programs.
Appendix E is a copy of State v. Hessler (90 Ohio St.3d 108, 2000-Ohio-30) which provides an excellent review of a case of targeted violence including background on the perpetrator and his relationship with his victims. For protection personnel involved in threat assessments this will afford a rare glimpse into the violence process and resultant effects.
Appendix F is a congressional executive summary explaining the formation of the National Special Security Events (NSSE) designation. Protection personnel working key special events that are specified as NSSE should be familiar with this act.
Rick Colliver has served as the global security director for two multi-national corporations with operations in 24 time zones, and has managed protection details on four continents. He is the course developer and lead instructor in the Principal Protection program at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy and is an adjunct instructor in protective operations through several police, military, and academic organizations. He has held clearances with the US DoD and DHS, and serves on the Advisory Board of the American Board for Certification in Dignitary Protection, and the Advisory Council of the Protective Security Council. He is co-author and narrator of School Safety and Security; An All-Hazards Approach (http;//seem.findlay.edu) and a contributing author to Robert Gruber’s Physical and Technical Security: An Introduction (Thomson Delmar, 2005).
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