If you don’t normally
have a personal or executive security plan – or even if you do – in this issue
Christian West, founder and CEO of AS Solution, shares six case studies that
show how you can heighten protection for you, your employees and customers on short
notice.
By Christian West, CEO, AS Solution
1. Suddenly Wealthy
When an entrepreneur
taps a gold vein in the burgeoning digital economy, valuations can skyrocket
overnight – as can personal wealth and public prominence. And along with
increased prominence can come higher threat levels.
We work with many highly
successful founders who have had to ramp up personal security measures from one
day to the next and build protection programs that quickly evolve with changing
needs.
The challenge:
Sudden wealth leads to
greatly increased prominence, new vulnerabilities, and the need to mitigate
risk
The principal, the young
founder of a young startup, suddenly found himself in the news as his company’s
valuations rose astronomically. Like most other people in his situation, personal
security was the furthest thing from his mind until unwanted incidents began to
pile up and his board started talking about the need for protection.
With few employees, the
company had neither a security department nor any experience with executive protection.
So they turned to us to learn more about their options and make sure the
principal was not taking unnecessary risks.
The solution:
Quick reaction to manage
the most vulnerable situations – and a flexible protection strategy to meet
evolving needs
The founder traveled
frequently and was headed for a city that even non-experts knew was a high-risk
destination. Could weprovide protection for this trip?
We quickly arranged for
a security driver and an executive protection agent that could get the
principal around the city in question discreetly, efficiently, and, of course,
safely. Things went well.
This resulted in more
secure travel support for more trips as well as event security. Discussions
about deeper involvement ensued, leading to the creation of a personal
protection strategy based on an analysis of pertinent risks, threats and
vulnerabilities (RTVA) – as well as the company’s young culture and the
principal’s personal preferences.
The results:
An iterative approach
that grew to comprise comprehensive risk mitigation measures
Over the course of less
than a year, the program grew alongside the principal’s mounting prominence and
the company’s increased awareness of evolving threat levels. We progressed in
small, iterative steps in order to learn as we went along, communicate with the
company, and to make sure that all services were tailored to the client’s
preferences.
The program that began
with one-off secure travel support for high-risk destinations now includes an
embedded EP manager, EP and residential agents, and an intelligence analyst.
Furthermore, we continue to support the principal and other executives in the
company on their frequent travels domestically and abroad, typically three out
of every four weeks.
2. Vacation Security
Don’t forget to pack
security for your next family vacation
Corporate travelers are
often accustomed to a greater degree of service – including security service –
when they are on the road for the company compared to personal vacations.
But as this case
illustrates, sometimes just a little bit of travel intelligence and a single
security driver can go a long way in keeping everyone safe while enjoying a
family holiday.
The challenge:
A last-minute trip to
Mexico requires a security evaluation
One of our clients
decided to travel with his family on a personal trip to Mexico. The destination
was a popular tourist hub and typically considered safe. However, the company’s
security team wanted a security evaluation of the destination prior to departure.
The principal and his family were leaving the next day.
The solution:
Draw on intelligence
from a recent deployment
One of our executive
protection teams had just finished escorting a dignitary in the town. Using
their network prior to and while on assignment, they became aware of some
circumstances that elevated the risk level for travelers in the area.
At the time of travel
for the principal and his family, no event had yet occurred, but the risks were
still prevalent. We thus recommended that a security driver accompany the
family on their vacation. The family agreed to this plan.
The family had a safe
vacation and enjoyed their driver. However, shortly after they returned home,
the security situation in the town took a turn for the worse, especially for
tourists, when several incidents occurred in public areas. A few weeks after
the family returned home, there was an attack close to where they had stayed.
The results:
A safe trip enabled by
timely information
Our team had this
insight one month prior to the attack. The U.S. State Department issued a
travel risk alert for the area one week after the attack.
When the news reports
came in about the attack, the principal called us to thank us for the excellent
suggestion of having a secure driver. His family had a great vacation and felt
safe the entire time. They were now aware of how close they could have been to
real danger. The principal stated that he will never again make travel plans
without advanced security intelligence.
3. Securing Your Big
Meeting
Security screening is a
fact of life – not only in airports, but in all sorts of venues open to the
public including government and corporate buildings as well as major sporting
and cultural events.
Professional security provides
tailor-made screening services for a number of clients both as standalone
services and as integrated components of other protective services. These are
usually planned far in advance. In this case, we had only four hours.
The challenge:
International hotel and
hospitality group requires rapid scalability of security screening.
Our client was an
international group that manages hotels, conference centers and hospitality
services worldwide.
The head of international
group security had issued a new directive. Given that hotels have been targeted
in several high-profile, violent attacks the world over, the group would now
implement stringent risk mitigation methods in case of heightened alerts. Among
other things the new guidelines required that all staff, visitors, vendors and
guests would have to pass through metal detectors. All hotel deliveries would
also have to pass through x-ray screening. Because of the urgent nature of such
sudden changes in perceived threat, all screening equipment and personnel had
to be onsite and operating within four hours upon notice of escalation.
The solution:
A partnership that
guarantees deployment of equipment and staff in four hours.
While AS Solution had
the personnel and most of the necessary equipment available in the Northern
European capital where the hotels and conference center were located, such
rapid deployment was anything but business as usual. Plans for such activities
are usually made weeks if not months in advance.
way, We partnered with
the group and other stakeholders to ensure that the necessary resources could
be deployed on time and implemented per agreed protocols. Additional equipment
was purchased. SOPs were developed. Agreements were made with staff to be on
call.
Short-notice
transportation of the x-ray scanners was also arranged. Few logistics companies
have the expertise necessary to move these sensitive apparatuses without
disturbing them. Unless properly transported, they cannot be used immediately
upon arrival and must settle for up to 24 hours. Even fewer logistics operators
have the insurance to cover this costly equipment.
The results:
Seamless screening of
all guests, luggage and hotel deliveries.
The first heightened
security alert came within three months of the partnership agreement.
One evening at 8pm the
group’s international security management directed local managers to begin
screening at all three of its hotels in the Northern European capital. In this
case we were given until the following morning to have everything up and
running. After a busy night we were in place at all locations, screening all
persons and deliveries entering the hotels as agreed.
Maintaining optimal
guest experience despite such an obvious disruption in the normal flow is
paramount in such situations. We were happy to learn that after thousands of
personal screenings 24/7 for one week, the number of guest complaints to hotel
management could be counted on less than five fingers. And these grumbles were
about the screenings themselves – not about how
they had been performed.
Behind the scenes there
were other challenges. Chefs were less than happy that their precious
ingredients had to pass through screening; service vendors were not satisfied
that toolboxes went through the same machines. But all in all, hotel management
was very satisfied with results of the rapid deployment, which fortunately
ended without incident after one week.
4. Dangerous Trips
We protect our
principals wherever their business or personal interests take them. Regardless
of the destination, we rely on our well-trained agents and extensive local
networks to keep our principals safe, happy and productive.
This is especially
helpful in high-risk areas such as San Pedro Sula, Honduras – home to our Latin
American office and widely considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in
the world.
The challenge:
Protect our principals
during a sudden outbreak of street violence nearby.
Our group of clients was
staying in San Pedro Sula for business. Shortly after leaving their hotel to
attend a business-related function, gunfire erupted on a nearby street
resulting in mass chaos and severe traffic delays.
Due to the urgency of
the incident our team needed to respond quickly to understand the threat,
assess the risk to our principals and ensure that they were protected at all
times.
The solution:
Secure the area where
our principals were visiting and tap our local intelligence sources.
Whenever we learn of an
attack or ongoing threat in the vicinity of our client’s whereabouts, their
safety is our number one concern. Once we were confident that they were safe and
their location was secure, we worked quickly to understand the nature of the
threat.
Our local intel sources
soon learned what had taken place, and were able to determine the profession
and rank of the victim as well as provide some insight concerning the
perpetrators. We discovered that the victim had stayed at the same hotel as our
clients, and that after the targeted attack that the shooters had fled to a
remote area of the city.
The results:
Our clients remained
safe and their schedule was not disrupted. Protected throughout the incident,
our clients were not harmed in any way when the nearby shooting left multiple
people dead along with additional victims that were seriously injured.
Our initial findings
were later confirmed by local law enforcement and military officials: The
attackers had indeed entered the area of the city where our clients were
staying, then had waited to ambush their victim, who happened to be staying at
the same hotel as our principals before fleeing across the city. The violence
was specifically targeted.
By leveraging our
extensive local network, we could discover this vital information well before
it was made known to the public. This enabled us to conclude that our
principals could safely continue with their activities as planned.
Five years of
operational experience in San Pedro Sula have taught us that trained and vetted
people, reliable technology and effective procedures are all critical to
providing security in such high-risk areas.
These all came together
that night in San Pedro Sula. Using armored vehicles, expert staff and secure
driving protocols as standard operating procedures, our team’s preventative
measures safeguarded our principals from harm in a high-risk context. When the
shootings began and the threats escalated, our team tapped local intelligence
sources to quickly assess the severity of a seemingly chaotic situation and
allow our principals to carry on with their busy schedules.
5. When a natural
disaster strikes suddenly
Executive protection is
often believed to be a service for C-suite executives, but a quality program
can be scaled in a moment’s notice to mitigate risks for a principal’s family
and close associates as well.
The challenge:
Devastating wildfire,
hurricane-level winds, and a stranded family member
The wife of our client,
the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, was staying at a hotel that suddenly came
under siege by one of the most destructive wildfires in California’s history.
The blaze eventually burned 36,810 acres, 2,843 structures, 2,800 homes, and
claimed at least 22 lives in California’s beautiful wine country.
The Tubbs Fire started
around 9:45 pm on Oct. 8, 2017 in Calistoga, California. By 1 am on Oct. 9, the
fire had spread to Santa Rosa, where our client’s wife was staying at a
high-end hotel. Sonoma County officials called for an evacuation of Santa
Rosa at 1:30 am.
At 2 am, our Operations
Center received a call from our client’s security team requesting the
evacuation of the CEO’s wife. She had left the hotel, leaving her personal
belongings behind, and was safe, for the moment, at a friend’s house. At the
same time, whipped by near hurricane-level winds, flames were now
crossing Highway 101, the main roadway in the area.
The solution:
24/7 availability and
teamwork
When our operations
specialist received the call at 2 am, he alerted his duty manager who
relied on his five years of experience and our network to execute the
evacuation quickly.
The wildfire’s rapid and
unpredictable spread required careful coordination between the duty manager,
our local partner in the Sonoma County area, and the Fortune 500 company’s
security team.
The results:
A
successful ending to a long and frightening night
Our security driver
navigated through smoke-choked roads and rerouted through several detours to
arrive at the wife’s friend’s home by 4 am. She was delivered safely an hour
and a half later to the Oakland airport, 70 miles south, where the company jet
was waiting to fly her safely home.
By 4:30 am, the winds in
the Santa Rosa area reached their peak speed of more than 60 miles per hour.
The high-end hotel burned down. The Tubbs Fire was not 100% contained until
Oct. 31, 2017.
6. Reaching Loved Ones After A Natural
Disaster
When Hurricane Maria
struck Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands, it was not just another storm.
The category five event was one of most intense hurricanes of all time and came
right on the heels of another deadly storm, Hurricane Irma.
Right after the storm,
some of our clients with families and homes in Puerto Rico asked us for help in
determining their loved ones’ wellbeing.
The challenge:
Use our local sources to
contact stranded family members throughout the island
In the aftermath of the
storm, there was no way to get on or off the island, and communication was next
to impossible. Once we provided our local partners with the names and addresses
of the missing family members, they had the unenviable task of making their way
to several cities scattered across the island.
The solution:
Record messages of
family members so their loved ones know they are safe
After traveling through
a badly bruised Puerto Rico, our local sources were able to communicate the
condition of our clients’ family members via satellite phones. Once some
communication lines on the island came back online, our partners sent videos
that contained personal messages to our clients from their loved ones. This was
crucial as many of the family members lived in remote areas that were offline
for considerably longer than the larger cities.
These messages were key
because they let our clients assess what was needed for the families. Armed
with this knowledge, they were able to create a plan for how to help once
resources started flowing to the island. For example, we made sure that some
families received power generators and other key supplies as soon as these
could be sent.
The results:
Fast contact helped make
the best of a bad situation
Within 24 hours, we had
already contacted many family members. Within a week, we had sent personal
video messages from all the Puerto Rican families to their loved ones in the
continental United States and around the world.
Our clients were
relieved to know that their families were safe and had made it through the
storm relatively unscathed.