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Executive Protection Security Case Study - Why Use Executive Protection?


Protecting high-level managers and executives from threats


Case Study - Executive Protection

Executives are symbols of the strength, power, and wealth of modern corporations. Friend and foe alike identify them with the organizations they represent, making them convenient targets for all who stand to gain from their exploitation. Executives and high net-work individuals face risks on a daily basis.

The Risk

Kidnappings
What if one of your top-level managers was kidnapped tomorrow and never seen again? What would happen to your organization? Do you have a preventative program in place? Is your CEO or other key players in your organization secure?

Threats
Threats against "Wall Street/financial executives", public animosity from the '99%', perceived 'wrong' from the 'average' person being 'ripped off' by the 'Fat Cat' wealthy. Witness the recent demonstrations and sit-ins throughout principle cities in the U.S. and Europe.

Attacks
Attacks on executive residences: Sir Fred Goodwin, Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Executive, had his Edinburgh, Scotland, home and Mercedes car vandalized. He moved his children from their school due to fears for their safety.

It's not just Mexico City, the Middle East, and other high-profile areas where executives and high net-worth individuals are at risk. It's wherever you are!

The Threats

Today's corporate executives face four separate threats:

1). Terrorism: as the corporate world continues to shrink and the executive role continues to expand, terrorists view executives as a means to economic or political gain.

2). Criminal or Random Attack: generally economically motivated. The types of crimes committed are usually kidnapping, extortion, or robbery.

3). Random injury: executives have a greater chance of being hurt or killed in an accident than by any criminal act. An executive injured or killed in an automobile or industrial accident is no less a loss to his or her corporation than one killed by terrorists or kidnappers. Therefore, general executive safety must be a priority for the organization.

4). Media: increased public exposure makes executives and their families much more visible targets. The wealth of available information makes building a "target portfolio" much easier for the potential attacker.

CASE 1
Sidney Reso

In the early morning hours of April 19, 1992, Sidney Reso, a 57-year old president of Exxon International and husband and father of five, was kidnapped from his New Jersey home as he walked to the end of the driveway to get his newspaper. The husband and wife captors blindfolded, handcuffed, gagged, and tied Reso down before demanding $18.5 million in ransom. Reso was shot in the arm during a struggle and died days later while hidden in a box. The captors buried his remains in a state park.

Of note: the captors monitored Reso's routine and "selected" him over other executives because of his predictable routine.

CASE 2
Edward Lampert

Lampert, the current chairman of Sears Roebuck, was kidnapped in 2003 and set free after two days in captivity. The billionaire executive was snatched from his office's underground parking garage by four armed men, who pulled a thick hood over his head, shoved him into an SUV, and sped off. An hour later Lampert was sitting on a toilet in a motel bathroom, blindfolded, his hands and feet bound by handcuffs. His abductors told him that they had been hired to kill him. "One thing I was sure of was that I had to tell the truth because they knew everything about me," Lampert recalled. "They knew where I lived, how much I had paid for my house, who worked at my office, how much I was worth. If I bullshitted them, they'd know it." He sat in that bathroom for 39 hours, waiting. They gave him water and one meal.

When they removed his blindfold so that he could eat, he kept his eyes down, even though they had masks on. "I was respectful," he says. They'd taken his wallet away, but allowed him to hold a passport photo of his 5-month-old son that he'd wedged into his billfold. When they demanded that he record a message to his wife, he complied. "I was in God's hands," he says. It was later reported that Lampert talked his kidnappers into believing that he would deliver $5 million to them if they let him go.

CASE 3
Companies do not have to be the direct target of an extremist group. "Guilt by association" is the mantra for some of these groups. Witness the animal rights group SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty). (Huntingdon Life Sciences is a UK-based laboratory that tests products on animals. SHAC targeted the following:
  • The owners of the facility
  • The employees
  • The owners and employees' children at school
  • Their homes
  • The insurance company, Marsh Inc., that insured the facility
  • The insurance company's management team, their homes and their children
Several other companies, including Citibank, Merrill Lynch, HSBC and Deloitte & Touche, stopped doing business with HLS after enduring sustained pressure by SHAC activists. The group's success seems to have emboldened its members, leading to an increasing level of violence and threats.

CASE 4
Alan Butts, a bank manager living in the San Fernando Valley, was confronted by a kidnapper while on his way to work. The kidnapper forced his way into Butts' home, where he foisted ominous-looking packages upon the victim, his wife and children. He then told Butts to go to the bank and bring back a briefcase full of cash, or he and his family would be blown up by the bombs that he claimed were stored inside the boxes. The kidnapper subsequently panicked and fled the house. The incident ended eight hours later, and the family escaped serious personal injury. However, the mental trauma will live on.

How SSG Security Group will keep you, your family and your business safe
  • Carry out a risk assessment of your organization's key (at-risk) personnel
  • Deliver a written report with recommendations for enhancing security measures for those personnel
  • Provide Executive Protection teams or individuals from among the most experienced and highly-qualified EP Agents in the business
  • Secure residences and offices, both physically (agents and alarm systems) as well as electronically (electronic sweeps to prevent eavesdropping, intelligence-gathering)
  • React 24/7 to crises using our Operations Room
  • Accompany your staff on travel to unfamiliar areas and hostile environments
Call 1-888-997-3434 to get help with your Executive Protection Security needs today.


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