OK, let’s take a fun little look at Hollywood depictions of surveillance, surveillance detection and general covert operations. First, understand that I’m a huge movie buff, so I’m not about to pour any scorn on the film industry for what it gets wrong. Movies and TV shows are for fun, and so is this article,… Read More Hollywood, Surveillance and Covert Operations

What’s the difference between risk and threat? It’s a simple question about two very common terms we use in the security industry, but one that more people need to ask themselves. And as a result of not doing so, too many security professionals end up using risk and threat (and occasionally, vulnerability too) interchangeably. This… Read More Threats & Risks

On the brighter side, one thing that the Trump inauguration has demonstrated is that anyone can become president. After the 2008 election, many people were elated to discover that even a young, half black, internationally raised, community organizing, first term senator from Illinois can become president. But in the last eight years, the envelope has… Read More Anyone Can Do It!

Surveillance Detection (SD) is thankfully receiving increasing amounts of attention in recent years, as more and more industry professionals (and even some non-industry professionals) are waking up to its potential benefits. As positive as this development is, it does create the need to abolish some misconceptions regarding SD, and to better explain how it can… Read More SD Enabled Security

As the shocking footage of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, being assassinated in Ankara makes the rounds, I find it important to remind people why case studies of this sort are so important. No, we don’t yet have all the details about this case, but when (or if) they’ll be made available, I… Read More Learning From Case Studies

Between December 1st and 3rd, I attended the fantastic Close Protection Conference 2016 in Las Vegas, which was organized by the International Protective Security Board (IPSB). In the conference, I was hugely honored to do a ‘Tac-Talk’ (think TED Talk, just for security professionals) about surveillance detection, and I thought it might be a good… Read More Let’s Talk About Surveillance Detection

The private security sector is often referred to as a solution-based industry. Clients with security concerns hire security professionals who provide them with security solutions. But a strange issue I often find is that many people (both in and out of the industry) don’t give enough thought to what the solutions are for. In other… Read More Solving The Security Equation

One of the most important yet often overlooked factors in high-end, private sector protective operations is the sale. By this, I’m not just talking about the acquisition of new clients, but the general idea of getting the right decision-makers to sign onto your program – and to be willing to pay for it.

I recently got a chance to talk with Alex Fox on The Capable Civilian podcast. Our conversation covered a whole range of topics, including (at the very end) an unofficial announcement about the book I’ve been working on, which I hope will be out in early 2017.

September, 2012. A cafe in Palo Alto, California*.  Two men were sitting at a table and talking. One of the men was a former sales executive who had very recently been let go by a global IT corporation. The other man was the CEO and founder of that corporation, who had agreed to meet with… Read More Covert Operations – Lessons And Applications