Executive's Guide to Personal Security

David S. Katz, Ilan Caspi

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781119574378
• eBook ISBN: 9781119574385
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

The proven safety tips and techniques for corporate executives, revised and updated

The revised and updated second edition of Executive's Guide to Personal Security, 2 nd Edition offers a strategic handbook for ensuring safety for executives, their employees, and their corporate assets. The book's lessons outline the basic rules of personal security; it shows how to recognize and prepare for the real threats faced by executives and ordinary individuals in today's often hostile world. It is filled with the necessary knowledge that can empower executives to face these threats and deal with them successfully. The methods outlined herein, formerly reserved for security professionals and government employees, are made available to the reader. Executive's Guide to Personal Security will teach you situational awareness which allows you to identify potential dangers before they become serious threats. You will learn how to analyze risks, prepare for emergencies, travel safely, and utilize counter-surveillance techniques to enable you to recognize if you are being followed or targeted. You will gain an understanding of the threats to both personal safety and corporate assets and understand how to implement the appropriate counter-measures to deal with those perceived threats.

With Executive's Guide to Personal Security, you can learn to take necessary actions to reduce your chances of becoming a target and discover how to make yourself less vulnerable. Written by two seasoned security experts, the lessons presented can be used by those in the business world as well as anyone who would like to feel more secure, including those traveling to foreign countries and individuals studying abroad. New to the second edition is:

• Information for responding to an active shooter incident
• Enhanced details for protecting IP and computers and smart phones
• Strategies for planning for emergencies at home and the office
• Approaches to safety that meet the challenges of today's world

Executive's Guide to Personal Security, 2 nd Edition is the comprehensive book that contains information on physical security, principles of route selection, technical security systems, hostage situations, emergency planning, hotel and room selection, armored products, communications, bomb threats, evacuations, and local criminal hazards.

CHAPTER 1
Developing a Security Mind‐set

WE LIVE IN A DANGEROUS WORLD. You don't need anyone to tell you that. The goal of keeping yourself safe and free from harm seems to be almost impossible to achieve, and even the most cautious and security‐conscious individuals sometimes get injured or killed. However, while safety cannot be guaranteed, it can be dramatically enhanced. The first and most important step in achieving this goal is to develop what is known as a security mind‐set. Doing this requires little more than looking at the world in a slightly different way. You simply need to develop a sense of vigilance that becomes almost subconscious, and that is what this chapter focuses on. The good news is that it is not as difficult as you might think.

The initial task is to learn to be more aware of your surroundings. Learning to be more observant and how to draw the correct conclusions from your observations is without question the most important element in this discussion; paying attention to what is going on around you is your best defense against unforeseen danger. None of the other recommendations in this book will help unless you first learn to become more observant and, more important, to appreciate the significance of things you see.

To give you an idea of the importance of this concept, consider that virtually all police officers, federal agents, professional security officers, and others in similar professions are taught observational skills as the building block in the development of their survival mind‐set. Without exception, every law enforcement academy teaches its students how to be observant and what things to look for. Well‐trained law enforcement personnel scrutinize their environment. Their eyes are always moving and taking stock of their immediate environment. After only a short while it becomes a natural and unconscious habit; they are always aware of what's going on around them and are able to draw appropriate conclusions from the things they observe. Experienced police officers notice the unusual: things that look out of place, such as an unfamiliar car parked in a particular neighborhood or someone wearing an overcoat in warm weather. This skill is an absolute necessity for anyone in police work. It is also an indispensable skill for those seeking to reduce their chances of becoming victims. This skill isn't very difficult to learn. Look for things that appear to be out of place and assess them with respect to whether or not they may have some adverse effect on your personal safety.

Awareness training is generally the first thing taught in the survival and security courses given to government agents, military personnel, and police officers. In the Office of Training of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Quantico, Virginia, new DEA agents receive a special block of training called Agent Survival before graduating and embarking on their rewarding albeit dangerous careers. This particular course deals with how to survive the violent encounters that they will all face. Much of it is psychological preparation intended to train agents to be prepared to use all necessary means to survive a violent encounter by developing a combat mind‐set. The course is very intense, and more than one individual has decided to resign after sitting through it. But before the psychological training begins, the first thing the agents are taught is the overwhelming importance of being aware of their environment. Because threats must be identified before they can be addressed, awareness is the first lesson in learning how to survive.

The same is true for Israeli security agents, and their training in this skill is taken to an even higher level than that of DEA agents. An Israeli agent is taught how to spot a well‐disguised suicide bomber or other attacker by reading the most subtle body language indicators. Nonverbal communication is actually more reliable an indicator of intent than the spoken word, and it is this “human element” that is the most important factor in identifying a potential threat. Technology is a great help and a wonderful tool, but it still cannot match human intuition.

This level of awareness is common in some civilian populations that are, tragically, the targets of terrorism. Ilan was born in Israel, where he learned to be observant at an early age, long before he undertook the extensive security training provided to Israeli security agents and before he gained experience protecting Israeli diplomatic personnel. Israelis have, by necessity, learned these lessons from seeing their friends and neighbors murdered before their eyes. If someone leaves a bag unattended on an Israeli city street for even a second, citizens either call for the owner to identify him‐ or herself or alert those around them. As a rule, Americans don't do that. For a brief period in post–September 11 New York City, people were cognizant of packages that were left unattended. However, people have short memories. The farther we are from an event like September 11, the more complacent we become. The same dynamic is true with respect to the anthrax attacks that occurred shortly thereafter and the bombing that occurred at the Boston Marathon on April 13, 2013.

As we have stated, effective observational skills are critical as the first step to take if you wish to reduce your risk of harm. You need to become more aware of your immediate surroundings and know how to identify a potential threat to your safety. Doing this will allow you to see danger before it materializes and act appropriately to forestall it. In addition, there is an added benefit to developing a sense of vigilance. Anyone looking at you with the intent to do you harm will notice that you are paying attention to what is going on around you, and that immediately makes you a less desirable target.

LEARNING AWARENESS—THE COLOR CODE SYSTEM

How do you learn to become aware of your surroundings? DEA instructors teach a color code awareness system borrowed directly from Colonel Jeff Cooper's excellent book Principles of Personal Defense.¹ This system breaks down levels of awareness and readiness into four colors: white, yellow, orange, and red. It is a simple and effective system for teaching awareness and is worth repeating here.

Condition White

The white stage is the sleep state, the dream state, the state in which you are completely unaware of your surroundings. It is mentioned first because the most important point to take away from this chapter is that you must never allow yourself to be out in public in condition white. We can all relate to the experience of driving a car while lost in thought. When we arrive at our destination, we are somewhat surprised as we really have little or no conscious recollection of making the trip. Despite this fact, we were able to keep the car on the road, brake when necessary, and avoid other vehicles. While we were driving, we were on autopilot. Driving becomes an almost unconscious, reflex activity. We become so used to driving that we allow our ordinary sense of awareness to slacken. This almost robotic state is common to many of the routine tasks that we perform each day. Routine actions tend to lull us into condition white. Understand that if you allow yourself to be in condition white and you are attacked, you have given all the advantage to your assailant. The only thing that might save you is the attacker's own ineptitude. Condition white is not an acceptable state to allow yourself to be in outside the home.

Condition Yellow

When in public, your level of awareness always must be condition yellow and you must adopt this condition each time you leave the house. What is condition yellow? It is the state of relaxed alertness. You are aware of your surroundings, but there is nothing you see that warrants closer attention or an elevation in your condition of readiness. Basically, you are just paying attention to the world around you. You are relaxed and you are able to notice the unusual. When you leave the house in condition yellow, you naturally observe the street or parking area. You know what is usual for your neighborhood and what is not. You would immediately notice an unfamiliar vehicle parked nearby. Most likely it is nothing to concern you at all, but you notice it anyway. This is the appropriate condition to be in when you are out and about.

Condition Orange

Something that you have noticed in condition yellow has gotten your attention. Your focus is now on a particular potential threat, and you begin to quickly assess your options. This is where you need to establish what is known as a mental trigger. You say to yourself “If he does X, then I will do Y.” If the potential threat turns out to be nothing, you simply shift back into condition yellow.

Condition Red

Condition red is either “fight” or “flight.” Those are the only options that are appropriate once danger has materialized. However, there is a third “f”: “freeze.” That is the one thing you must not do, but it is the likely reaction of someone unaware and unprepared. If you have identified your threat in condition orange and have established your mental trigger, you will not freeze: You will act.

In order to illustrate these concepts, we are going to use an example frequently provided by our good friend and colleague, John Friedlander. John is a well‐respected security consultant for Kroll Inc., a division of Duff & Phelps, a consultancy firm, and is also an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Imagine you are shopping at the supermarket late one night. The parking lot is relatively empty, and you are parked in a somewhat isolated part of the lot. Always in condition yellow, as you exit the store you observe your surroundings. As you wheel your cart toward your vehicle, you notice a lone male walking across the parking lot. At this time there is no reason for you to believe that this person poses any sort of threat to you. You simply are aware of his presence and you keep him on your radar. You reach your car and as you begin loading your groceries into the car, you observe that the individual has changed direction and is walking directly toward you. You now shift to condition orange and begin setting up your mental trigger. You do not “lower your six”; you are still aware of your surroundings, particularly to your rear, as there may be other threats in the area. The person walking toward you may have a partner, or as you evaluate a possible means of escape, you are aware of traffic that might pose a hazard to you if you were forced to flee. Your trigger is a simple one. You think, “If he gets another fifty feet closer to me, I will…” You may decide to turn around and move quickly back into the store. Or stop loading your groceries, get into your vehicle, lock the door, and drive away. If you are armed, you consider what action would lead you to draw your weapon and engage this person. Or you might simply decide to turn toward the person and make sure he sees that you are aware of his presence. You might not necessarily assume a defensive posture, but at least you are prepared to do so if necessary. If the individual crosses the line you set, you act immediately. You are now in condition red, fight or flight. It is the mental trigger that you established in condition orange that allows you to act quickly and decisively and not freeze when doing so would place you in jeopardy. Remember, there are only two alternatives: fight or flight. If you must fight, your counterattack must be swift and violent. If you flee, you must literally run for your life. In this situation, you will also likely experience the physical and psychological responses to fear that we discuss later in the chapter.

The bottom line for purposes of this discussion is for each of you right now as you read this book to make up your mind to pay attention to your surroundings and respect the little warning bell you have in your head. Everyone is observant under certain situations. Put an upper‐middle‐class guy in an inner‐city neighborhood, and he will become quite cognizant of his surroundings. The trick is to do it all the time, not just in places that you find unsettling. Don't get lulled into condition white under any circumstances. Remember, you are often most vulnerable in familiar surroundings. Generally, as you get closer to home, you tend to become more relaxed. That is the time you may be most at risk. Bad guys and terrorists know this and may very well decide to hit you in your comfort zone. Complacency on your part makes their job easier. Remember, becoming familiar with your surroundings gives you a huge advantage over potential attackers. Becoming complacent shifts the advantage to them. Do not cede the advantage to the bad guys.

As our economy becomes more and more global, executives may find themselves living in places where they face the added danger of terrorism. You may be an attractive target to terrorists because of your national origin or because of the company you work for. In such high‐risk locations, your biggest enemy is your daily routine. Terrorists always conduct surveillance on their intended targets, and predictable routines make it easier to plan a violent act against you. By becoming as familiar as possible with your surroundings and by changing your daily routine, you can prevent an attack while it's still in the preplanning stage. Ilan has had the occasion to interrogate terrorists subsequent to their capture. The ones who talk—and generally that is most of them—always mention how scared and uncomfortable they were while they collected intelligence information on the target before the attack. They all felt that someone was always watching them, and many times it caused them to choose a different target. Use this fact to your advantage. Stay alert and pay closer attention to your surroundings. Soon you will be able to pick out the unusual, including the presence of a terrorist or criminal who is targeting you. In addition, your alert demeanor will not be lost on anyone evaluating you as a potential target. By becoming more conscious of your environment and alert to things out of the ordinary, likely you will cause a potential assailant to move on to an easier target.

When David attended the security overseas seminar put on by the U.S. Department of State, he heard an interesting story. A U.S. Army sergeant had been marked for kidnapping by terrorists while serving overseas. The security personnel at the U.S. embassy knew that he had been selected because a raid on a terrorist safe house turned up a list of individuals targeted by this group, and the sergeant's name was on that list. The sergeant's name, however, had been scratched off and the reason for his deselection had been documented. Next to the name there was a notation indicating that this particular individual was security‐conscious and had a habit of looking up and down the street every morning before he left the house. Embassy security agents talked to the sergeant because they wanted to learn what extraordinary steps he was taking that had actually dissuaded a dangerous group of terrorists from carrying out their plot. The sergeant was perplexed. He told the agents that he hadn't been doing anything unusual that he could recall. He did explain, however, that he had been having some problems with the kid who delivered his early morning newspaper, who apparently threw it and couldn't get it to land in the same place. He said, as a result, that each morning he had to go outside and search for it. An amusing story. But think about it. The simple action taken by this man to look around outside every morning, despite the fact that it had nothing to do with antiterrorism, was enough to deter potential attackers. They perceived him to be security conscious and alert and decided to move on to the next guy, who wasn't paying attention to security. Unfortunately, they did so with tragic results; the other guy wasn't so lucky. The basic lesson that must not be overlooked is that even the mere appearance of taking security preca...

Table of contents

• COVER
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS
• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1: Developing a Security Mind‐set
• CHAPTER 2: Planning for Emergencies in the Office
• CHAPTER 3: Receipt of Suspicious Mail and Packages and Bomb Threats
• CHAPTER 4: Violence in the Workplace
• CHAPTER 5: Surviving an Active Shooter Incident
• CHAPTER 6: Personal and Business Travel Security
• CHAPTER 7: Travel to High‐Risk Areas
• CHAPTER 8: Hijacking and Hostage Survival
• CHAPTER 9: Espionage and Fraud Protection: The Executive Perspective
• CHAPTER 10: Executive Protection
• CHAPTER 11: Running a Successful Security Business Function
• CHAPTER 12: Breaking into a Security Career in the Private Sector
• CHAPTER 13: Carrying a Firearm for Personal Protection
• INDEX
• END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT