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Updated October 2026
Executive protection, also called close protection, is the practice of keeping a company's senior leaders and their families safe as they live, travel, and work. For a long time, many organizations treated it as a niche service reserved for celebrities, heads of state, and a handful of very visible CEOs. That view shifted in December 2024, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel where his company was holding its annual investor conference. Thompson had no security with him that morning, and within days boards across the country were asking their security teams whether their own executives were covered.
Nearly two years later, the answer is showing up in the data. More companies now fund protection for their leaders, those programs extend to more people, and the work leans far more heavily on intelligence than it did when we first published this guide. This updated version walks through what executive protection includes today, why demand keeps climbing, and where a security team can start if it is building or expanding a program.
What Executive Protection Covers Today
Executive protection is a tailored security program built around one person, known in industry shorthand as the 'principal', and the life that person actually leads. A good program accounts for where the principal lives, how they travel, which events they attend, who is in their family, and how visible they are online. From there, the security team designs measures that reduce the chance of physical harm, harassment, extortion, and reputational damage.
The scope of that work has grown considerably over the last few years. Programs used to center on drivers, advance agents, and residential security, and those pieces still matter a great deal. Today they also include protective intelligence, which means watching social media, the open web, and the deep and dark web for anything that names, threatens, or locates the principal. Many programs now work to shrink the executive's digital footprint as well, because home addresses, family details, and travel plans tend to surface online before anyone shows up in person. When an executive does get named in a hostile post, the team needs a clear response plan ready to go.
This growth has also changed who does the work. In many organizations, the GSOC now carries a large share of executive protection, monitoring for threats around the clock and passing what it finds to the protective detail or the CSO. Smaller teams without a dedicated detail still run programs of their own, relying more on intelligence, assessments, and vetted partners for physical coverage.
Why Demand For Executive Protection Keeps Growing
Some of the clearest evidence comes from proxy filings. Public companies must disclose executive perks worth more than $10,000, and security costs fall into that category. Equilar's review of S&P 500 proxy statements filed through early April 2026 found that 37.8% of companies provided security perks to at least some executives in 2025, up from 23.6% in 2021. Among those companies, the median value reached $130,468, a 20% increase over the prior year and more than double the 2021 figure.
~60% increase since 2021
Source: Equilar, 2026. Approximately 60% relative growth, from 23.6% to 37.8%.
Security leaders are feeling the same pressure from the inside. In Allied Universal's 2025 World Security Report, 46% of U.S. chief security officers said the threat of violence toward executives had increased over the previous two years, and that figure rose to 66% at technology companies. Investors have taken notice as well, with 97% of the institutional investors surveyed saying it is important for companies to invest in security for their executives.
Several forces sit behind those numbers. Grievances that once stayed private now play out in public, where one post about a company's pricing, layoffs, or product decisions can draw thousands of angry replies. Misinformation adds fuel to that anger, and 75% of U.S. CSOs in the same Allied Universal report said their company had been targeted by a mis- or disinformation campaign in the prior year. The July 2025 shooting at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan showed how far that anger can travel. The gunman was reportedly targeting the NFL's headquarters, yet the four people killed included Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner and building security officer Aland Etienne.
Companies have responded in visible ways. After the Thompson killing, Equilar noted that CVS and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield removed executive photos and biographies from their websites, and some companies tightened travel rules for their CEOs. Decisions like these show executive protection becoming a standard part of corporate security planning at a much wider range of companies.
The Key Elements Of An Executive Protection Program
Every program looks a little different, though most mature ones share the same building blocks. Each element feeds the others, so a change in one area usually shows up in the rest.
Risk Assessment
The risk assessment is the foundation of the program. It identifies who the principal is, what makes them a target, and which threats are most likely given their industry, public profile, and travel. Teams should refresh it on a set schedule and any time something significant changes, such as a layoff announcement, a contentious earnings call, or a new public role.
Protective Intelligence
Protective intelligence keeps that assessment current between reviews. Analysts track mentions of the principal, the company, and key locations across social platforms, forums, and the deep and dark web, then judge which signals point toward real-world action. The aim is to catch escalation early, for example a user who moves from general complaints about a company to posting an executive's neighborhood or travel dates.
Digital Footprint Reduction
Much of what an attacker needs is already sitting online. Data broker listings, property records, old interviews, and family members' social accounts can reveal where an executive lives and how they spend their weekends. Removing or limiting that information takes time, so many teams begin this work well before a threat appears.
Advance Work
Before the principal arrives somewhere new, the team reviews venues, routes, hotels, and the surrounding area. Intelligence tools with geographic monitoring support this step by surfacing protests, crime, or online chatter tied to a specific location in the days leading up to a visit.
Close Protection
Close protection is the physical layer of the program, with trained personnel accompanying the principal and ready to respond. Real-time updates from analysts often shape their decisions on the ground, such as changing a route, moving a meeting, or adjusting an arrival time.
Family And Residential Coverage
Someone who cannot reach an executive directly may turn to their home or family instead. Allied Universal found that 24% of U.S. companies now extend protection to executives' families, with technology and pharmaceutical companies leading at 31% and 30% respectively.
Crisis Management
A written plan for emergencies covers evacuation, medical response, and communications, so everyone involved knows their role when something goes wrong. Tabletop exercises give the team a chance to practice that plan before they ever need it.
Where Executive Protection Applies
Executive protection comes into play anywhere a leader's visibility creates risk, and that covers a lot of ground.
Travel is one of the most common triggers. Executives heading to regions with high crime, political instability, or active conflict need advance assessments, vetted transportation, and a plan for leaving quickly. Domestic trips deserve the same attention, since conference agendas and investor event announcements often publish a leader's location weeks ahead of time.
Public events carry similar exposure. Shareholder meetings, keynotes, product launches, and industry conferences put an executive in a known place at a known time, often in front of crowds the company does not control. Advance work, access control, and live monitoring of event hashtags and protest groups help teams stay ahead of disruptions.
Industry-wide anger is a growing concern as well. When a whole sector becomes the focus of public frustration, its executives can become targets regardless of their personal profile. Allied Universal found that, after technology, the sectors expecting the largest increase in threats of violence toward executives were consumer staples and energy at 47% each, followed by pharmaceuticals at 46%.
Executive protection also supports business continuity. Nearly seven in ten institutional investors in the Allied Universal study (68%) said senior executives account for 30% or more of the value of the companies they invest in. A serious incident involving a CEO can stall decisions, unsettle employees, and move the share price, which helps explain why boards now treat executive safety as a governance issue.
Where To Start When Building A Program
A strong executive protection program can begin without a full-time detail. Most teams make real progress with a handful of focused steps.