Security Operations: An Introduction to Planning and Conducting Private Security Details for High-Risk Areas

Book Preface

With many companies from around the world now working in hostile, non-permissive work environments and war zones, it has become neces-sary for them to be able to protect their people, equipment, and locations so that they can perform the work they are trying to do. Most companies contract out their security since it lowers the cost to them and allows them to set specific needs that a security company will have to meet so they, the client, can function. There are all types of security that a security company can provide but the three most common are protecting facilities, protecting people, and providing a secure means of transportation. Most of these areas are direct offshoots of the Executive Protection or VIP security industry and many of the tactics and techniques will be similar.

This book will talk about private security details, personal secu-rity details, and/or private security companies, whatever you want to call them. It will discuss the type of training, experience and Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) they should have and the type of tactics and techniques that are used for different types of protection operations. While the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures will not be the exact same for every company, the basic concepts of personal security operations or very important person (VIP) details will always be the same regardless of experience, training, nationality, or background.

Remember that the Personal Security Companies and the PSDs they hire are for high threat areas, and war zones which are a fairly new phe-nomenon around the world. Security has taken a much higher place in the daily operations in those areas in which many government agencies, civil-ian service, and construction companies now find themselves working.
PSDs and static security forces are the major part of the services offered by many of the new Private Security Companies that have sprung up to take on security jobs in high threat areas that the US military and other government organizations and companies simply cannot do, either because of manpower shortages or lack of experience and training.

Personal Security Details (PSDs) will do various things for the client, but they are always supposed to have their primary objectives in mind: protect the client and keep him safe from harm, and protect the client’s equipment so that the client can do his job. This means that all PSD per-sonnel will be in harm’s way quite often, but that is what they wanted to do when they took that job and why they were hired. For a client with the need to work in high threat areas, security allows them to do their job. If for some reason the client that hired a security company cannot do his job, then he will not be able to finish his contract, which means that you as a security provider did not do your job.

A good security provider needs to remember that the people they are hired to protect have jobs to do also; they must have the necessary mate-rials to accomplish their job tasks and have to be able to travel to and from their work sites to accomplish their mission. A security company that cannot protect the client’s personnel, equipment, and sites or cannot get the client to the areas he needs to travel to in order to complete his work is useless.

Risk should be an accepted part of the work in high threat areas for anyone who decides to work in a high risk area or war zone. For the PSC supplying PSD teams or static security services, risk is multiplied because they not only have the risk to themselves but also they assume the risk for their clients. That is their job, which means they will need to work in the threat environment with their client’s job needs in mind and be able to perform their task, which is to protect the client, so that the client can do his job. As a security service provider, PSCs need to learn what is an acceptable level of risk in order for everyone to accomplish their mission