PROTECTING LEADERS

PROTECTING LEADERS

Throughout history, the personal security of statesmen, government officials, politicians, and key businessmen has been viewed as a general surveillance task, lacking precision in scope, objectives, and methodologies. It was often entrusted to individuals with substantial physical abilities, who posses practical skills in hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, etc. For about a century, expertise in firearms and shooting techniques became crucial. The reliability of those engaged in this activity, along with the acquisition of appropriate theoretical and practical knowledge, now surpasses other physical abilities or natural skills. Presently, democratic and developed nations recognize the crucial importance of safeguarding their leaders. They enact laws governing the competence of government agencies assigned to this task and entrust professionals with the implementation of state policies aimed at efficiently protecting members of the executive, legislative, judicial, and diplomatic bodies. It's worth noting differences among countries regarding the dependence of security agencies, their organization, and the implementation of specific action methodologies. For instance, the United States relies on the Secret Service for securing statesmen, while in the UK, Scotland Yard's Special Branch handles this, and in Israel, the General Security Service (Shabak in Hebrew) is responsible. An illustrative example of methodological differences is the British practice of armoring custody vehicles, based on the notion that neutralizing custodial personnel is necessary to attack the protected person. While seemingly commonsensical, this philosophy is deemed impractical from a professional standpoint, as armoring the vehicle significantly hampers custodians' ability to interpret and respond to external events. Despite national variations, security agencies in all cases operate under the direct orders of the Head of State, who, while delegating agency leadership to a high-level professional, actively participates in crucial decisions and asserts authority over all matters.

Now, according to various theoretical concepts regarding the personal security of leaders and state officials, we can identify four action methodologies, briefly outlined below:

THE TOTALITARIAN METHOD

In totalitarian regimes, security is grounded in an all-encompassing principle, acting by sweeping through the area without giving importance to civilian populations. While highly secure, this is not applicable in democratic countries as it negates individual freedoms.

THE MILITARY METHOD

When the military intervenes, the end of military victory justifies the means. For instance, entire areas may be closed, all vehicles detained, and comprehensive checks conducted on people and objects. Soldiers on the ground strictly follow orders, lacking the capacity to adapt their knowledge to extraordinary situations. Consequently, their responsibility for events is confined to executing these orders. This methodology is also inapplicable in republican systems as citizens' rights are immediately subordinated to achieving the military objective.

THE POLICE METHOD

The primary objective of police forces is the protection and safety of their community, operating on the assumption that every person is innocent until proven otherwise. This responsibility involves preventing all crimes and violations of the law. In case of needing to confront a criminal attacking the protected person, police personnel tasked with repelling such aggression face legal, theoretical, and operational limitations significantly constraining their role in providing security to Heads of State and government officials.

THE PROTECTIVE SECURITY METHOD

This principle is based on preventive work, extreme protection of the objective, rescue from danger zones, and combat against the aggressor only when all operational conditions are met. According to this approach, all methodologies for preventing attacks (prevention, not repression) must be implemented. This involves intelligence tasks to comprehend all aspects of potential enemies, gathering information about them, and the precise analysis of their intentions and capabilities. Based on intelligence analysis conclusions about potential aggressors, various means of prevention and neutralization are designed through the planning of action plans to anticipate potential threats, rescue personalities in danger zones, and ultimately, as a last resort, direct confrontation with the enemy. Not the other way around. In this methodology, analysis is focused on intelligence tasks and concentrating efforts to locate critical points in each protection situation based on multiple factors such as potential adversaries, terrain conditions, operational capacity, prevailing laws, etc. As observed, in this method, intelligence tasks and subsequent planning based on intelligence evaluation play a central role in neutralizing any attacks.

FINAL CONCLUSION

If we base the premise that the personal security of statesmen, diplomats, and businessmen is the sum of efforts and means aimed at preventing and neutralizing aggression against them, even in the absence of real-time alerts, the implementation of the protective security methodology constitutes the best strategy for preventing attacks on statesmen, government officials, politicians, and businessmen.

WALTER JUAN RAMOS

Vice President, LATAM Operations

CMF Global Risk LLC

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