The article, “Mark Zuckerberg’s SF security detail under siege,” from the San Francisco Chronicle (click here to read it) was widely circulated throughout Social Media. The article elicited lots of response from the close protection community.
ISDA member Mike Spearman’s shares his thoughts:
The point of having an effective Executive Protection team is being able to properly protect the client from unforeseen problems. However, the team itself shouldn’t be the problem. If your team isn’t properly vetted and held to a higher standard the team is basically ineffective. Sure the individual may be a “high speed” individual. But if their baggage comes with a heavy price what’s the point. In this instance, the members can’t do anything that won’t cause scrutiny based on their past. I believe in second chances however you don’t have that with public perception in today’s media. If there were a critical incident, all good things would fall to the floor and the allegations of their past life in law enforcement would raise to sky. In this case it’s a matter of leadership and wanting to fill empty spaces by just putting people in positions because it looks good. Hopefully, this is a cautionary tale to those in management. Vet your team members properly or wind up in the news explaining why you didn’t. In closing, I always use this phrase when things go wrong. “An excuse is nothing more than the skin of a lie wrapped around a reason.”
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