Executive's Guide to Personal Security »

David S. Katz is a former senior special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He is an expert in conducting complex international criminal investigations, high-risk arrests, undercover operations, physical and technical surveillance, and intelligence analysis. He also spent four years as a primary firearms instructor at the FBI/DEA Academy, where he taught firearms and tactics. In addition, he is an expert in physical site security and the tactical use and deployment of bullet and explosive-resistant armor and glass.

Ilan Caspi is a former senior Israeli Secret Service officer who has served in the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel and at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. During his assignment in Washington, he conducted a review of existing embassy security protocols and implemented improvements. He is a practiced expert in conducting threat assessments and analyzing security intelligence data. He has managed security operations at key facilities and public events and is a dignitary protection specialist.

In this day and age, terrorist threats and ordinary criminal activity have become a growing concern for those at home as well as individuals traveling abroad. This year alone, hundreds of executives, tourists, and exchange students will be robbed, assaulted, kidnapped, and murdered. Most of these incidents could be prevented by adherence to the basic rules of personal safety. But many people are unaware of these rules or choose to ignore them. This must change.

The only way to lessen your chances of becoming a victim is to learn how to make yourself less vulnerable. Written by two seasoned security experts, Executive’s Guide to Personal Security will allow you to make the right decisions in regard to your personal safety, the safety of your employees, and corporate assets. But these lessons are not confined to those in the business world. Anyone who would like to feel more secure–from individuals traveling to foreign countries to those studying abroad–can also benefit from these lessons.

Executive’s Guide to Personal Security will teach you how to recognize and prepare for the real threats faced by executives and ordinary individuals in today’s world. It will provide you with the type of knowledge necessary to empower you to face these threats and overcome them. By introducing you to information formerly reserved for security professionals and government employees, it will teach you about situational awareness, risk analysis, and countersurveillance. You will also learn how to travel safely by selecting the right airline, the right hotels, and the appropriate rental cars for your security needs.

If you plan to reside abroad, this comprehensive guide will show how to select a safe neighborhood and how to secure your home against intruders. If you are an executive responsible for the safety of your employees and corporate assets, you will learn how to secure your facility and information, how to formulate emergency protocols, and how to handle a crisis. In short, Executive’s Guide to Personal Security will arm you with the necessary knowledge to take actions that will enhance the physical safety and security of your property, your family, and yourself.

As a company or an individual, you cannot control the desire and the ability of criminals and terrorists. However, you have full control over effectively lowering your risk of being attacked by increasing security measures–physical, technical, and procedural. The less vulnerable we are, the less attractive we are to any criminal or terrorist planning an attack. Let Executive’s Guide to Personal Security show you how to ensure safety both at home and abroad.

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Addressing a Growing Business Concern
In an era when everyone feels a little more at risk and terrorist threats have become a common occurrence, personal safety is now a focus for many executives who have never felt vulnerable before. Although there are many basic rules that can be followed to help people arrive safely to their destinations without being robbed, kidnapped, assaulted or even murdered, many people continue to choose to ignore them. To remind businesspeople about their vulnerabilities and help them stay safe in a world where numerous threats loom, former DEA special agent David Katz and former Israeli Secret Service officer Ilan Caspi offer expert guidance on a variety of security matters.

Kats and Caspi show executives and ordinary people how they can prepare for hidden threats that lurk at work, while traveling, and at home. The authors also introduce a plethora of lessons that they learned while working on international criminal investigations and protecting dignitaries at public events. In Executive's Guide to Personal Security, they break down their professional training and experiences to cover more common occurrences that can affect ordinary people as they perform common activities, such as buying a new home, traveling abroad, and even renting a car. The experts apply their wealth of knowledge to these pursuits and offer an abundance of advice about protecting yourself as well as your employees, your facility, and your company's information.

Creating Emergency Protocols
While delivering the tools and techniques of personal and corporate safety, the authors present the best ways to create emergency protocols and handle crises that affect individual, family and property safety concerns. Their tips and strategies offer readers a sense of control over their environment and ways to decrease risk by increasing security measures that can prevent criminals and terrorists from inflicting harm.

Along with many general recommendations about creating a neighborhood watch, avoiding predictable routines while abroad, and taking simple precautions when staying in a hotel room, the authors offer comprehensive chapters on vehicle safety, protective equipment, countersurveillance, technology security, bomb threats, emergency response and other major personal safety issues. Although they also address hostage survival, commercial espionage and surviving a hijacking, the majority of information they divulge can be put to use immediately to make anyone's life more secure.

Addressing Workplace Violence
For example, when the authors describe violence in the workplace and the ways executives can make their workplaces more secure, their advice includes the following:

• There must be a clearly defined procedure for employees to follow when they notice unusual behavior in a co-worker.
• Employers should implement a complaint process that transcends the usual chain of command in instances when the person who is complaining does not have to go through the person who is being complained about to lodge a complaint.
• Human resources departments can employ the services of a mental health professional familiar with employee-related crises.

Baby Gas Masks and Guns
The authors present numerous strategies people can use to protect themselves from disease, fire, theft, and chemical attack. Along with prescribing the many defensive actions people can take, the authors also offer recommendations about protective equipment for the family, including baby gas masks; an introduction to firearms for personal protection; and advice about hiring private security personnel.

Why We Like This Book
Although it is rife with an alarming sense of paranoia, all of the suggestions and ideas presented in Executive's Guide to Personal Security are relevant and very interesting to delve into on the level of the professional security officers who present them. Although most readers might not be ready to don the full-body protective armor that the authors describe, or purchase bulletproof cars, their insights are thought-provoking and comprehensive. Their insights into the minds of terrorists and the tactics that have been used by criminals to rob, kidnap, extort and murder also create a foundation on which executives and travelers alike can stand to become more watchful and careful while they go about their business. Copyright © 2003 Soundview Executive Book Summaries