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For over 40 years, GDBA has developed pioneering strategies and resources to provide seamless security and logistical services to protect the world’s most influential people and enterprises.

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Recent Posts

Covid19 and the EP Professional

— As we all adapt to Covid19 and the new normal, I wanted to quickly highlight some of the positives of Covid19 for the EP professional. I am not an Epidemiologist, nor do I pretend to know everything about Covid19, I am an EP practitioner who mitigates risk for a living – period. Like many of ...

10 Questions Deep: How to Assess your Corporate Security and Executive Protection Teams

— How can Chief Security Officer’s asses their security teams? James Hamilton, GDBA's VP of Protection Strategies, offers a great solution -- go "10 Questions Deep."

Government Shutdown

40 Years of GDBA - Bypassing Government Shutdowns and Economic Downturns

— Never in GDBA’s 40-year history have we laid off a single employee due to our country’s hard economic realities or government shutdowns.

Close Protection Tips

20 Tips for Close Protection Specialists | GDBA

— Creator of the FBI’s Close Protection School, James Hamilton, shares 20 Quick Tips for Executive Protection –forged by GDBA’s 40 years of protection experience.

Gavin de Becker Training Instructors

Preparation: How GDBA Protectors Save Lives

— Through training and constant evaluation, GDBA protectors are prepared to save lives. Here are two recent examples where they did just that.

How Public Figures use Media to Protect Themselves and their Property

— After a rash of burglaries targeting the homes of celebrated athletes and entertainers in Los Angeles, public figures like LeBron James are using the media to project themselves as a Hard Target

Protectors Saving Lives: The Importance of Medical Training

— The most common emergency protectors respond to are medical. Here's why exceptional protectors must be proficient in emergency First Aid and CPR.

Holiday Travel: 3 Tips For a Safer Trip

— GDBA Senior Director for Global Protective Services, Chris Pimentel, offers his advice on how to stay safe when traveling this holiday season.

Establishing Standards for Physical Fitness in Executive Protection

— To respond effectively to an attack and deter a would-be attacker, protectors must be physically fit. To learn more about why physical fitness is so important in close protection, we asked our Director of Recruitment, Nick Duchene, who finds and hires our newest protectors.

Practice vs. Theory in Executive Protection

— With such a diverse range of subjects to study in Executive Protection, there is little time to waste on methodologies that aren’t effective.

School Resource Officer

Active Shooter Prevention: Let’s Match Student Courage with Real Change

— By focusing as much on prevention as we do on response, students, teachers, and parents can better recognize active shooters before they attack.

Global Terrorism Intelligence Briefing

— This edition of the Global Terrorism Intelligence Briefing reviews the potential implications of U.S. citizen and former Taliban militant John Walker Lindh’s release from prison. We also assess the continued use of Pro-ISIS violent graphics that threaten the U.S. general population.

Terrorism Updates and Analysis

— This update informs readers about important recent events affecting the global terror landscape and compliments GDBA’s Global Terrorism Intelligence Briefing posted earlier in the month.

Global Terrorism Intelligence Briefing

— This edition of the Global Terrorism Intelligence Briefing features an overview of how individuals associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) are utilizing graphics to threaten the United States. 

Four Tips for a Safer Super Bowl

— Though security and law enforcement will oversee downtown Atlanta and Mercedes-Benz Stadium throughout Super Bowl weekend, attendees can improve their own personal safety by following these tips.

Role of Firearms in Executive Protection Part 2

Role of Firearms in Executive Protection (Part 2)

— By Overcoming Our Reliance on Firearms, We Can Improve our Executive Protection Strategies

Time And Distance Drill

Role of Firearms in Executive Protection (Part 1)

— In Part-One of this Two-Part series on the role of firearms in executive protection, GDBA Senior Vice President, James Hamilton, discusses his personal journey as a Protector and how as a younger FBI Special Agent he incorrectly prioritized firearms in his protection planning.

Stadium Safety & Security Tips: How to Protect Yourself and Others During the Big Game

— Former NFL security specialist and current GDBA Protector, Michael Burk, offers some precautionary safety and security tips for anyone attending a packed football stadium this fall.

Effective Ways to Protect Children from Online Predators

— Through open-minded, casual, and consistent conversations about the internet and social media, GDBA’s online security expert, Brian Creter, offers parents realistic and effective methods for protecting their children from online predators.

Preliminary Assessment: Suspicious Packages Sent to Prominent Americans

— As has already been widely reported, a series of packages containing what are reported to be “pipe bombs” have been sent to multiple individuals and organizations. Though the situation continues to evolve, we are providing our preliminary assessment for situational awareness.

Domestic Violence: When Domestic Violence Cases Intersect with the Workplace

— Many victims of domestic violence attempt to escape their abusers by residing at unknown locations. Consequently, the victims’ workplace often becomes the one reliable place abusers can find them. Here are some ways employers can better protect their employees from domestic violence.

Is your Security Provider Licensed and Certified?

— By asking these five questions, you can reduce liability for your client and inspire their confidence in you as their trusted security adviser.

Global Intelligence Analysts: Preparing Corporate Employees for International Travel

— How corporate security programs are relying upon Global Intelligence Analysts to prepare their employees, logistically and culturally, for international travel and provide a 24-hour security resource for employees before, during, and after their travel.

Public Figure Pursuit: “Stopping the Communications” Is a Common Goal

— Gabrielle Thompson, Vice President of Threat Assessment and Senior Instructor at GDBA’s Advanced Threat Assessment Academy, discusses persistent public figure pursuers, the common goal of wanting pursuers to stop communicating, and proven strategies for managing the pursuit.

Travel Safety Tips

10 Safety Tips for the International Traveler

— International travel to unfamiliar, unstable, or even hostile regions of the world is a reality for many business executives and other influential people and enterprises. Here are 10 Travel Safety Tips for that next overseas trip.

3 Ways Private Security Can Combat the Emerging Drone Threat

— Though many counter-drone technologies are illegal, Executive Protection firms can still protect their clients against a Drone Attack and stay one-step ahead of this cheap and available method of assassination. Here’s how.

Matching Corporate Security with Startup Culture

— How a friendly demeanor and a de-escalation mindset helps Corporate Security teams assimilate with startup culture and earn the trust of millennial employees

World-Class Executive Protection Training Begins with Fundamentals

— Do you want your executive protection training to be cool or effective? Bill Duchene, one of the world’s most sought after protection experts, reveals his Template for fundamental-based executive protection training.

Film Set Security

Grips, Gaffers, and Guards: 4 Bodyguard Tips for Protecting Talent on a Film Set

— For security professionals, film sets can be a confusing environment of strange lingo and constant distraction. GDBA’s Vice President, Ben Zeifman, offers 4 tips for protecting talent on a film set.

Government Agency Approves GDBA Training Program for Veterans

— Through GDBA’s On-The-Job training program, eligible Military Veterans and Dependents can utilize their GI Bill® for additional income during the first 2 years of their employment.

What Are We Doing? A New Look at Active Shooter Training

— Hiding under a desk is not a tactical plan that helps anyone, except the shooter.

Public Figures on Stage: How to Protect Them

— Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent and creator of the Bureau’s Close Protection course, James Hamilton, offers some helpful strategies for protecting public figures during Known Public Appearances.

Why a “Hands-Off” Security Policy Increases a Company’s Liability

— To improve security and reduce liability, I encourage corporate and enterprise clients to create policies that support -- and don’t contradict -- their expectations for safety.

Introducing the World's Greatest Bodyguard

— For nearly 5 decades, Tom Taylor has protected human life. From patrolling Missouri's madcap rural highways to protecting heads of state in the world's most historic cities, Tom Taylor has lived one hell of a life.

Training for Protectors - Gavin de Becker & Associates

— Gavin de Becker & Associates trains professionals to protect the world's most influential people and enterprises. Watch this short video to meet their instructors, see their facilities, and watch their trainees in action! Visit the website at https://gdba.com

Then and Now: Comparing FBI Active Shooter Stats

— From 2011 to 2014, the rate of mass shootings in America tripled. By the end of 2017, things are even worse -- much worse.

Three Questions to Ask before Hiring Estate Security

— How do you hire the best private security for your enterprise or residence? Ask these three questions first.

Prevent an Assassination

Four Ways to Prevent an Assassination

— When a politician stepped out of a Kiev television studio last fall, a bomb detonated – wounding him and killing his bodyguard. Ed Hinman discusses four ways a protector could have prevented this attack.

Prevent School Shootings through Realistic Solutions

— How to prevent school shootings? GDBA’s Vice President for Protection Strategies, James Hamilton, offers real, practical and specific solutions.

Close Protection Tips

Gavin de Becker | The Gift of Fear

— Gavin de Becker (@gavindebecker) is the the author of The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence and the security pioneer who designed the MOSAIC Threat Assessment Systems used at the top levels of government. This is the second part of a two-part series.