Protecting the Principal | Part 1

“To be a bodyguard is to be a kamikaze pilot. Dedicated. – Mr. T

“I don’t need a bodyguard.” – Jimmy Hoffa

“It’s important to remember that Mark David Chapman really set a lot of trends: such as the trend of celebrities having bodyguards.” – Julie Klausner

[Author’s note: I started writing this piece a little over a year ago but set it aside for other projects because it did not seem relevant then. I felt the need to rekindle this piece and update it to reflect current events. This article quickly became a monster growing out of my control, so I have broken it into two pieces: discussing the industry and my humble analysis of the assassination attempt.]

The protective security (bodyguard) industry is full of challenges, and it is often a thankless profession. Protectees are often arrogant elitists who make the job harder by wanting a low-security footprint in the interest of their public image, or they view you as just another one of the hired help, as another HJ author recently wrote about. PSDs (Protective Security Detail) are flies on the wall to all manner of interactions and debaucherous activities of their clients, yet they still have to set their personal feelings aside to protect the life and also the reputation of the protectee. Finally, there are legitimate threats and dangerous environments where even the best team of seasoned professionals do not have the resources or personnel to effectively mitigate the risk of serious bodily injury or death to their principal.

The assassination attempt on President Trump reinforced what it takes to be a willing “bullet sponge” for another person. It is easy to “Monday-morning quarterback” what happened whether one has experience in the field or not, but unlike a sports play, there are literal life-and-death consequences for failure. I will try to maintain my objectivity, avoid too many assumptions about this incident before more information is released, and instead provide some background information about being on a PSD.

The Biggest Threat to the Principal is… the Principal!

The average principal/protectee has a relatively low threat profile, and most have security to keep press/paparazzi, overzealous fans, and the occasional stalker at arm’s length. That is not to deny that there are legitimate kidnapping dangers or other physical threats to these individuals, but they usually fall under “high-impact/low probability.” More often than not, however, the biggest threat to a principal is themselves. A PSD’s primary task often becomes protecting the reputation of their principal and less the external physical dangers, and let’s face it… most protectees do some really dumb stuff (like reexposing your head to potential sniper fire), making it a monumental task.

Most frequently, it is not extreme, with one success and one failure to consider. During a September 11^th event in New York in 2016, then-candidate Hillary Clinton had a medical issue, and while her staff and close protection team moved her into the awaiting armored van, others on her PSD maneuvered themselves to shield her from any potentially unflattering pictures or videos by the nearby press pool. It was quick; if you didn’t know what you were looking at, you would have had no idea what happened or why.

The abject failure example was Microsoft founder Bill Gates taking a pie to the face in 1998. Where was his security bubble? Why did it not flex to cover the dead space behind the pillar he was about to walk past? As with many celebrity principals, they want to keep their security at a lower profile, public image and all, but at what expense? This incident was undeniably embarrassing, but it could have been much worse.

I initially didn’t want to include this part of the article, but it segways into the next subject. In July of 2023, a small baggy of cocaine was found in the secure wing of the White House. Occam’s Razor would suggest who the most likely suspect was who brought it in or was brought in for. Strangely, two of the best investigative agencies with the most advanced forensic technologies and resources somehow cannot figure out who was able to get a Schedule II narcotic into the most secure building on the planet. It sounds like protecting the principal’s image and reputation, even by proxy.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

One of the darker sides of the protective security industry is what we become silent witnesses to and have to overlook, no matter how much our ethical and moral integrity screams otherwise. PSD members stand invisibly listening to buffoonish national security and domestic social policies get crafted by corrupt, stupid smart people. They stand outside the doors, pretending not to know whatever debaucherous or even horrific activities their client is engaged in on the other side. It often becomes too much, and the best in the industry often get out, exhausted from protecting the world from the idiocy or insidiousness of their clients and the toll it takes on their souls putting their lives on the line for those people.

I won’t dwell on this particular topic long because it isn’t necessarily the norm in the industry that one’s clients are depraved degenerates. Still, it sets an extreme example of the need for resilient, silent professionals to do this job. Mostly, it reinforces that clients trust their security to protect them even when they despise their clients and their actions, not just because of an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).

Dog and Pony Shows and Political Malfeasance

This topic is another one I do not want to dwell on too much because security is supposed to be apolitical and removed from partisan strife. However, over the last few years, I have witnessed some concerning developments in the government protective service sector warranting some discussion. All of the examples in this section should highlight the undermining of this profession in the public sector and the now obvious danger to the protectees in their charge.

The first is the dog and pony show during Biden’s visit to Kyiv last February [2023]. There was a staged photo op where Presidents Biden and Zelenskiy walked through an open-air courtyard while air-raid sirens were going off. Having worked in a high-threat environment as a protective security specialist and designated defensive marksman (counter-sniper), this posture is extremely aberrant and obviously a public relations stunt. There is no way I or one of my colleagues would have let our principal walk out from under hard cover while a C-RAM (counter rocket, artillery, and mortar) alarm was sounding. To the layperson, it was an impressive spectacle; to the knowledgeable professional, it was a shake-my-head moment.

Second and more troubling was the current administration’s USSS (Secret Service) denial of protective assets to two primary candidates, one of whom is now running as an independent. Trump’s main primary challenger, Nikki Haley, was forced to hire private security throughout her campaign at great expense. The excuse given was that she had not garnered enough percentage of the primary votes to qualify for USSS protection. She was enough of a contender, and there were enough active threats, such as from pro-Hamas protesters at her rallies, to warrant more than a few local PSDs and law enforcement officers.

The irony of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being denied USSS protection is that the assassination of his father in 1968 was the event that prompted the USSS to start protecting presidential candidates. Some have speculated, likely correctly, that this was meant to help bankrupt RFK Jr.’s campaign and make it more difficult to travel across the country to hold rallies and events. However, thankfully, in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump, as of July 16, 2024, RFK Jr. has now been allocated a Secret Service protective detail. Better people should have stood up sooner for both him and Haley without the catalyst of a violent attack to do the right thing.

Finally, there was the absolutely malicious intent behind Representative Bennie Thompson’s (D-MS) failed legislation to strip Trump of his USSS protection, specifically if he was incarcerated. The fact that he and his cosponsors would even consider putting this forth to the legislative body is a testament to how protection is becoming driven by politics for what can only be described as evil ends. Trump is easily the most targeted individual on the planet, and prison is not a safe place for anyone, especially for a controversial former and potentially future president.

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Ben Varlese is a former U.S. Army Mountain Infantry Platoon Sergeant and served in domestic and overseas roles from 2001-2018, including, from 2003-2005, as a sniper section leader. Besides his military service, Ben worked on the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq’s protective security detail in various roles, and since 2018, he has also provided security consulting services for public and private sectors, including tactical training, physical and information security, executive protection, protective intelligence, risk management, insider threat mitigation, and anti-terrorism. He earned a B.A. and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies from American Military University, a graduate certificate in Cyber Security from Colorado State University and is currently in his second year of AMU’s Doctorate of Global Security program.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.