00:01:05.000Our job is to get that principal out there, not stay and have a firefight.
00:01:09.000So my guest today is a bodyguard, and I'm not talking about Kevin Costner from the movie Bodyguard with Whitney Houston.
00:01:21.000I'm talking about real life bodyguard, a certified bodyguard.
00:01:25.000He runs a company. He's a CEO of Global Threat Solution, a retired army intelligence officer, United States Army Captain.
00:01:33.000And he's a bodyguard to celebrities, presidents, politicians, all walks of life.
00:01:37.000With that being said, Kenneth Bombas, thank you so much for being a guest on Valuetainment.
00:01:41.000Thank you. Thank you for having me on your show. I'm really looking forward to this.
00:01:46.000So, so I'm curious. So, you know, kids grow up, we say, oh, I want to be a baseball. I want to be the next Mickey man.
00:01:52.000I want to be the next Jeter. I want to be the next this. I want to be LeBron, Kobe, Jordan, who wakes up and says, you know, Dad, Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a bodyguard.
00:02:01.000Well, to answer that question, I didn't wake up and say that I, you know, since I was five years old, I consider myself very lucky that I knew what I wanted to do.
00:02:11.000I wanted to go in the military, wanted to go into law enforcement, want to be a police officer. And I've done both of those.
00:02:17.000So it was during those careers that led me to creating my own company and and operating as a protection firm.
00:02:26.000You know, primarily at the end of my law enforcement career last six years, I led protection operations for one of the largest police departments in America.
00:02:36.000And that's what kind of led me to think that I really enjoyed the work. It was challenging.
00:02:41.000It's a lot of it's definitely a thinking man's game. And I enjoyed the work, got a great deal of experience.
00:02:48.000They sent me to a ton of great training. I've been trained by some of the by Blackwater.
00:02:53.000I've been trained by federal law enforcement training center.
00:02:56.000I've created a program to train people through the police department.
00:03:00.000And I enjoyed the work. And then I also when I retired, I was 45 years old and I saw the opportunity of starting my own firm to do this type of work.
00:03:12.000So in the in the position of being a bodyguard, going back to yourself saying you always knew you were going to be a cop or you were going to go into military law enforcement.
00:03:21.000Did you have a were your parents in it? Was an uncle was a grandfather?
00:03:26.000Was it like you looked up to your father so much were like, one day I want to be a cop?
00:03:30.000So partially my father was in the Air Force. He wasn't in law enforcement.
00:03:35.000He was an air traffic controller his whole career and did that for many years, went into leadership.
00:03:40.000But ever since I was young, I was I was taught, I guess, mostly by observation.
00:03:47.000My parents, I'll tell you, probably more so than my father, who was a great patriot was my mother, who is an incredible patriot.
00:03:54.000And she's me and her see eye to eye to this day. And she's in her 80s.
00:03:59.000And I knew that I wanted to go in the military since I was five.
00:04:04.000And I knew that I wanted to go become a police officer.
00:04:07.000And I'll just say that the two go sort of hand in hand.
00:04:10.000A lot of people who go into the military end up transitioning into law enforcement.
00:04:15.000And if you look at any police department, a large one, I know one in our department at the time, we had over twenty six hundred officers.
00:04:22.000Over six hundred of them were veterans. So it's the two careers.
00:04:26.000It lent itself to a career in law enforcement, the camaraderie, the type of work, you know.
00:04:31.000So I knew both, though, that I wanted to do both of those since I was very young.
00:04:36.000Five years old. Are you an older brother?
00:04:39.000No, I'm actually the youngest of five children.
00:04:54.000I love the idea of it since as long as I can remember, I think that's what probably the attraction to the military, you know, was was defending people, protecting people that couldn't protect themselves.
00:05:07.000The same thing with law enforcement ever since I was young.
00:05:09.000I guess, you know, I grew up in the 70s.
00:05:14.000I'd watch Dirty Harry was my favorite movie, probably still is all of them.
00:05:18.000And I'm just turned 50 years old this year.
00:05:21.000So, you know, it was a culmination of things.
00:05:25.000But I would say that that I knew I wanted to be in the military.
00:05:29.000Law enforcement was just it goes hand in hand, the two work together.
00:05:33.000And it's great that I've been able to do both in a parallel career.
00:05:36.000I initially, of course, at 18, the day after high school, I went in the military.
00:05:41.000I joined when I was 17, as soon as I was allowed to join.
00:05:45.000And, you know, I served in the military, military, and then that transitioned into eventually a law enforcement career with a parallel reserve forces military career.
00:07:45.000What are you noticing on who's giving you a call, meaning your ideal customer that calls you?
00:07:48.000So, right. I'll tell you what you always have celebrities.
00:07:51.000They always have protection, mostly, especially, you know, your A-list celebrities will have bodyguards.
00:07:57.000By the way, we call it executive protection, close protection.
00:08:01.000Bodyguard in our industry is almost kind of looked down upon the term because it's it gives an image of maybe like almost like a bouncer.
00:08:08.000You know what I mean? You have someone who's like 300 pounds and stands at the door.
00:08:12.000And like I mentioned before, protection operations, it's so much more than that.
00:08:17.000So much logistics and so much training and planning to go into it.
00:08:22.000But to get back to your question, I'll tell you that it's celebrities, definitely corporate.
00:08:27.000Corporate. That's big. So the way this works nowadays is a lot of corporations, once they go public, a lot of times right in the bylaws for those companies, they put in there that these certain positions will have protection.
00:08:42.000And it's it's sort of works well for the executives because it takes the responsibility.
00:08:48.000You know, having a big, expensive security detail can be a liability as a business person, politicians, too.
00:08:57.000So what this does is these companies are saying, listen, you're safe for a C-suite member.
00:09:03.000You're the CEO of a big company. They'll say you're an asset. You don't have a choice.
00:09:08.000You're getting this protection services where anyone in that position gets it.
00:09:13.000Got it. So once you take that position, you have an executive protection driver.
00:09:17.000You have residential security. Many of them. When I say executive protection, it's not just taking them out from morning to their home for the evening of 24 hour residential protection, too.
00:09:27.000So you look at a lot of big companies, tech firms that I'm not going to give names, but people would be so surprised because it really is a niche industry.
00:09:36.000Who has these? Like, well, who gets these services?
00:09:39.000Well, any big company you look at who has a C-suite and I'll say large company, you know, companies definitely.
00:09:48.000Five hundred million and higher, probably if I were to throw a number on it, they're going to have some type of protection for their C-suite or senior executives.
00:09:58.000And, you know, it's not doesn't necessarily relate to a direct threat level.
00:10:05.000You know, like obviously a high profile person is going to have executive protection.
00:10:10.000Some of the famous tech firm CEOs, everybody knows. Right.
00:10:13.000Right. But also companies that you wouldn't even know who the CEO is still large companies, but they're just not that high profile.
00:10:22.000They have it as well. And so corporate accounts are big in this industry.
00:10:26.000In this industry, they will hire they will often subcontract companies to provide services for them.
00:10:33.000And then celebrities is another one. And people of high net worth family offices.
00:10:40.000They will also hire companies like mine to provide those services.
00:10:45.000Very interesting. And it does make sense. So it's not really by choice.
00:10:49.000Sometimes if it's in if you're a CEO or high C-suite executive of a 40 billion dollar company, they're going to say, look, John, you know, this is you don't have a choice.
00:10:58.000You got to have somebody. We're hiring somebody that's going to protect you because now you're an asset to the company.
00:11:02.000The board wants you to be protected. OK, check. So that's one.
00:11:05.000Celebrities will typically call and say, hey, we're going here.
00:11:08.000Their team's going to call and say they're going to need somebody. Fine. Check.
00:11:11.000That makes sense. Residential. You mean there are instances where you are pretty much with the client 24 seven.
00:11:17.000There are those instances as well. That's right.
00:11:20.00024 hours a day. You know, that's a big vulnerability, especially when you have someone who is very high profile.
00:11:25.000We've all heard the stories, especially with celebrities.
00:11:27.000Somebody could come on your property. You can find out where anybody lives these days. Right.
00:11:31.000No matter who you are. And they'll have 24 hour residential protection.
00:11:36.000I'll be honest for someone who has a full executive protection detail or protection detail.
00:11:41.000More than not, they're going to have residential protection, too.
00:11:44.000They're going to have someone there 24 hours a day.
00:11:49.000Kenneth, what's a what's a full time 24 seven 30 365.
00:11:56.000What is that cost a client if they want 24 seven residential protection all year long?
00:12:05.000Per year. I'd have to break that down. It depends.
00:12:07.000There's so many variables. How many agents do you have in a detail?
00:12:10.000What is it typically? So if you want to say ideally, typically it's two or three and what you break it out.
00:12:15.000Remember, then you might have 24 hour coverage. Not one agent works seven days a week.
00:12:20.000And, you know, you're talking 24 hour billing millions, you know, definitely a few million dollars.
00:12:26.000You're going to have for someone to have year long coverage.
00:12:28.000It would start at that level, maybe two, three million dollars.
00:12:31.000Someone's going to have 24 hour residential protection and a protection detail where they'd have a driver and an agent.
00:12:37.000You know, all are different. Some people might just have one person, but you really, you know, let's talk.
00:12:44.000Let's talk about moving your we call it a principle. You're driving them around. Right.
00:12:48.000If you're the driver, sometimes I said, no, no, we just need one.
00:12:51.000If you're the EP driver, we call it executive protection driver and you're armed, you can't just jump out of that car and go in places with them.
00:12:59.000You can't escort them in places. So it's a big vulnerability.
00:13:02.000So oftentimes you'll have a driver and then you'll also have your your lead agent.
00:13:07.000That'll be a person sitting maybe in the passenger seat who's going to exit a vehicle and they're going to accompany that principle wherever they go.
00:13:14.000But by the way, it's always dictated by the principle.
00:13:17.000People like to, you know, you watch a lot of TV, a lot of movies, and people have this idea where they a agent will say, no, sorry, sir.
00:13:27.000We're not doing that because there's a risk. You could got you could advise them any way you want.
00:13:32.000But ultimately, the principle is going to make that decision. And I'll be honest with you, that's all the way up to the president.
00:13:37.000You know, yes, does it did the Secret Service not want President Obama to suddenly say, hey, pull over.
00:13:44.000I want to go into this hamburger place in Washington, D.C.
00:13:47.000Of course, they said they'd rather him not do that. Did he do it? Yes.
00:13:51.000So, you know, ultimately, the principles will make those decisions.
00:13:55.000All you can do is advise them the best you can and then you mitigate.
00:13:59.000OK, he's going to do it. Let's take steps to mitigate any threats that might be there.
00:14:04.000That's how it works. They ultimately do call the shots.
00:14:07.000So full time, 24-7, residential protection, if these guys got to get their sleep.
00:14:16.000So if you're doing 24-7, eight hours, it's like a rotation is a rotation of three different.
00:14:21.000Well, that depends, too. So there's a couple of ways we bill in this industry.
00:14:26.000Sometimes we do a daily flat rate, which we will put a limit on that.
00:14:30.000That would be an agent from morning to when they're in for the evening.
00:14:33.000And we bill them a daily flat rate because you have to make sure that that agent's being paid according to the laws of the state they're in.
00:14:40.000California, as I'm sure you're aware, I've run details out that could be expensive because, you know, you have agents anything over eight hours and then 12 hours they're going to make overtime and you have to accommodate for that.
00:14:52.000So we like to when possible. You don't want a lot of turnover. Eight hour shifts are too short for two reasons.
00:15:00.000First of all, it's easier for staffing and scheduling to have an agent do 12 hour shifts.
00:15:07.000Also, your principal, they don't like a lot of turnover. I haven't run a detail yet where they don't say, listen, every time I go outside, I see a new face.
00:15:15.000They want to they want to get comfortable with the people protecting them.
00:15:19.000So you're never going to be able to do it with one, but you're going to try and limit that number of agents you use for detail.
00:15:25.000So it's a balancing act. You know, you want it to be efficient, economical, but also don't want to have every time they walk outside, there's somebody new.
00:15:33.000You know, it's interesting. Last year, not last year, 2019, when it was still open, we had our event at the Mirage and I invited the late Kobe Bryant and President Bush.
00:15:43.000President Bush. So when President Bush came, you know, they have to call and say, hey, he's coming. He's speaking.
00:15:48.000Secret Service showed up. Everybody gets that yellow. You know what I'm talking about, that little.
00:15:52.000Yeah, you do it. And so that there was a first time where the board said we need somebody around you full time. Right.
00:15:58.000So they had somebody. I'm the CEO of the company. So we had seven thousand people there convention.
00:16:03.000You never know. People are walking competitors, et cetera.
00:16:06.000So it was amazing that when the executive protection firm, obviously you mentioned Blackwater earlier, that's Prince and he runs a, I don't know, multi-billion dollar company.
00:16:16.000It's a very big operation. I think one of my associates, Chris Paranto, I did some projects for him, but that was overseas.
00:16:22.000And also some people that just use that company for different kinds of services.
00:16:29.000When the executive protection guy came in and he was with me, when they changed it the first day, I said, no, I want the same guy.
00:16:37.000So they brought the same guy. Well, the fee is going to be a little bit hard if you want that.
00:16:40.000I don't know. I want that guy. There was a level of comfort with them that we brought him in and we brought him in.
00:16:46.000I said, listen, my wife and I having breakfast. He was standing at the best. Do you mind just joining us?
00:16:49.000He says, I can't. I said, just, can you like, he says, well, I got to do my job.
00:16:52.000I said, if you want to eat something, he says, so it was, it was good talking, making some kind of a connection to know what his background was, but it wasn't cheap on what we paid.
00:17:02.000And I remember that. What is the daily rate right now? If you were to say ball, you know, ballpark high low, give me the high low numbers.
00:17:09.000I know you said California was a varies by state. Give me high low.
00:17:12.000So I've built, I like to consider myself a, a, a, a company with fair rates.
00:17:19.000So I build as low as we'll do a thousand dollar daily flat rate for an agent.
00:17:24.000Of course, that's in addition to expenses or anything you might have to provide if they need a vehicle.
00:17:29.000If there's lodging involved for the agents travel, things like that.
00:17:33.000Um, but we, I've built more than that, depending on the detail.
00:17:37.000And there's other companies that bill far more than that $2,000 a day, you know, they'll bill or more for an agent.
00:17:43.000So, you know, but we're in the business to be fair.
00:17:46.000We, we want to make sure we pay our people.
00:17:48.000Well, that's the main thing so that, you know, the really, honestly, the way we run our companies, our profit margin comes secondary.
00:17:55.000We have to make sure the agents get taken care of.
00:17:58.000And I'll tell you another thing that is becoming more and more important to companies that contract you.
00:18:19.000They want to know that you're taking care of their, your people, because that reflects on them too.
00:18:24.000Because they're, yes, it's a contract, but it's working for their firm.
00:18:28.000So, so we, the first thing is that, and then, you know, you just want to make sure you have a profit margin in there that's fair for you and the client.
00:18:38.000I'll tell you, we're, we're definitely, I'd say below average in the billing rate for, for some companies.
00:18:44.000Plus you'll have companies that'll, for lack of a better word, gouge.
00:18:47.000You know, when you go in and do an initial assessment, they'll say, well, you need this many agents and you should have someone here and someone here.
00:18:54.000You do one of these assessments, you should be giving them the most cost effective and efficient option you can that still provides them the appropriate level of protection.
00:19:05.000It's very easy to say, well, let's do 10 agents because they know it's billable hours, right?
00:19:11.000They know they're looking at math rather than what this person really needs.
00:19:15.000So when you're saying millions of dollars for executive protection 24 seven, how many agents are you calculating that would need to run that?
00:19:21.000Because I did the math, I'm like, okay, 168 hours.
00:19:24.000Is there a limit on how many hours an agent can work?
00:19:27.000Is it a four at 40 hour limit that you have that an agent can work per week?
00:22:18.000He would attend these and he would have, he would have a private security with them.
00:22:23.000He no longer had the secret service protection.
00:22:25.000So in that scenario, maybe, but when you're talking about anyone from like a county executive or a mayor or a governor, they have, they have police providing their security, executive protection, like I did when I was a detective.
00:22:41.000And I've worked with, I've worked with law enforcement members from so many different governors and mayors details.
00:22:50.000We would all, you know, you would all interact because politicians interact.
00:22:54.000So you would come across these different details.
00:22:57.000And then it's funny because I've also run into some of them who like me have transitioned into the private sector and doing the same thing.
00:23:17.000So, you know, they typically say like, if you go to the DMV and you don't like the way they handle, you're getting a new license registration.
00:23:25.000No one is really going to give you any kind of customer service.
00:25:10.000And they're bringing what they learned in the public.
00:25:12.000So if it's a former secret service guy that's also working in the public, so he's going to have a multidimensional experience and somebody that just was secret service.
00:25:36.000They get the, you know, executive protection is a customer service based business.
00:25:40.000I always like to say when we're training our agents, we do get bags, you know, that whole attitude where I would be like, no, I'm here for security.
00:25:51.000We're here to help them and whatever they do within reason, you know, we're not going to have people doing ridiculous things so that security is jeopardized, but we're here to work for the client and the secret service really gets that.
00:26:03.000They work in that same type of a manner with all of their principles they've worked with.
00:26:09.000And, and I would say that they have a great afterlife because, you know, the name secret service agent goes a long way in the corporate world, you know, or not just for executive protection, but becoming security directors and working in corporate security.
00:26:24.000People like that, that title, you know, that they bring with them on their resume.
00:26:28.000Do some of these guys come out and they say, you know, I'd love to just lend a family and they go live with a family.
00:26:37.000They, they get closer to a family and a family pays them.
00:26:41.000I don't know, 150, 200, 250, $300,000 a year.
00:26:44.000And they're just like, look, kind of like, you know, how somebody has a nanny or your home, whatever you want to call it.
00:26:49.000They get a place in the back and you're getting paid a quarter million.
00:26:52.000Just make sure our family is protected when we travel, you go with us.
00:26:55.000Is there those types of relationship as well for some of these folks?
00:26:57.000Oh, I've heard everything, the full spectrum.
00:27:00.000You know, you have people that might just be per diem agents protecting someone when they come to visit New York or Las Vegas or LA.
00:27:07.000And then you have people that they bring in a relationship is very important.
00:27:12.000If they, like you mentioned earlier, if they have someone they really like, and like, like you said, you like the agent, I'd like that one to work tomorrow.
00:27:19.000That people will pay top dollar and they'll make accommodations for them.
00:27:24.000I've heard everything from a an executive protection agent in the private sector.
00:27:28.000There was someone hiding a very high net worth who allowed him to use his cars.
00:27:33.000I mean, Ferraris and things when when he was off off duty, not working.
00:27:41.000That's what's nice about it is that there's no you know, you don't have the strict adherence to rules that you have in the government work.
00:27:48.000Right. People, they are the boss. They are the principal.
00:27:50.000And a lot of these people have tremendous resources themselves.
00:27:53.000And if they really like someone, you know, it's a fine line you have to tread, but they'll bring them almost in.
00:27:59.000They want them almost sort of like a member of their family because they're going to be around their children.
00:28:03.000They're going to be around their family.
00:28:05.000They're going to see them at their most intimate moments all the time.
00:28:08.000So they want someone they're comfortable with.
00:28:10.000You know, there's just that fine line as someone who runs an executive protection firm that we want them not to cross where they, you know, you don't want an agent that feels if they're working for my company, feels like they're empowered because they have a close relationship with a principal, my client.
00:28:25.000And they feel like they can call the shots and tell me what's going on.
00:28:28.000You know, that's a challenge. I think anyone who has a company like mine has for the most part, the people we recruit and train, they get it.
00:28:36.000They know where their loyalty is and and they will they know how to how to walk that line.
00:28:43.000Yeah, very, very insightful because, you know, you know, most most most of us all we know is movies.
00:28:50.000You know, when you think about buying, you know, movies, you think about executive protection.
00:28:53.000You think about, hey, in that movie with Kevin Costner and that movie with Liam Neeson or that movie.
00:29:01.000And so, hey, you know, you know, but but in reality, it's slightly different on what happens versus in movies.
00:29:08.000Let me let me go with a different angle with you here on on this.
00:29:12.000This was very helpful is what what are what are some commonalities amongst executive protection agents that you'll say?
00:29:22.000Here's what they're very good at. And what is the priority?
00:29:25.000Yesterday I interviewed a sniper, Nicholas Ingram, Nicholas Irving.
00:29:31.000He had 33 confirmed kills in Afghanistan in 100 days.
00:29:37.000And I said, tell me about, you know, what are the trends of snipers?
00:29:40.000Are they loners? Are they, you know, this? Are they that?
00:29:43.000And just kind of trying to see is there like a trend with them?
00:29:45.000Because, you know, engineers, if you look at engineers that are coding, they're quiet.
00:29:49.000They put the headset on. They don't want to be around people. Don't bother me.
00:29:52.000You know, let me just kind of get to work and finish my project.
00:29:54.000So with executive, if you were to say, well, if I was to judge one from the top to bottom, the most important quality is to have a feel for the room.
00:30:04.000Number two is, you know, being able to protect somebody with firearm.
00:30:10.000Firearm is more important than actually fighting because we rarely fight.
00:30:14.000Being able to drive and escape and got to be good in math, got to be good at common sense.
00:30:19.000How would you say, like, if you were to say, these are the five things we look for for somebody to be very good at what they do?
00:30:24.000So what I would say is communication skills is top, top tier.
00:30:30.000It's a number one priority with an agent that we recruit.
00:30:33.000You have to be able to communicate with not only the principal, but their staff.
00:31:31.000And then as you're driving, they said, we changed our mind.
00:31:34.000We want to go to this location now in Westchester County from Manhattan and changes everything while your agent is sitting in that seat and the driver.
00:31:43.000You have to be able to react immediately like that and mitigate.
00:32:32.000Very interesting what you just said, right?
00:32:34.000You know, I've had Bernard Carrick on before and we had a great conversation and him and I communicate every once in a while.
00:32:40.000And it's it's very interesting how, you know, different it is with military and PD, especially when union gets in and you have to deal with politics and you have certain protection and it's makes your job a little bit tougher.
00:35:18.000Um, then you're going to want someone who has that better that strong skill set of of firearms proficiency.
00:35:26.000So when I I'll be honest with you, when I use armed, the vast majority of the people I use armed in the United States are former law enforcement.
00:35:34.000You want to know why? Because they come with their training.
00:35:36.000Wait, wait, can you say that one more time?
00:35:38.000So so the vast majority of people that I use that are armed are former law enforcement.
00:35:44.000Domestically. So in other words, you can have someone who just has a armed security license and a firearm and they've never been in law enforcement.
00:35:53.000However, what I what I would say, the majority I've hired people like that.
00:35:58.000The majority I use are former law enforcement when it's an armed detail.
00:36:02.000First of all, it really is beneficial for all the licensing requirements.
00:36:06.000If they're a former law enforcement officer like myself, I have H.R. 218.
00:36:10.000I could carry a firearm anywhere in the United States.
00:37:54.000What is the worst situation you have been in yourself as an executive protection or one of your agents that reports you and works for you?
00:38:02.000What's been a case where, you know, we were in a situation where at a restaurant, we were on road, you know, all of a sudden this is what happened.
00:38:13.000Obviously, you can't disclose a name, but if you could disclose the situation you were in, what would you say is the worst situation you've been in?
00:38:19.000So I'm going to I'll tell you about a few of them.
00:38:23.000One of them was similar to what you just said.
00:38:24.000We had brought a principal corporate principal to a large venue, high occupancy venue in Las Vegas for a UFC fight.
00:38:34.000And while we were at there doing security and our agent was in there with the principal, we had agents waiting outside, kind of all hell broke loose at this fight where we had to get this person who was very close to the ring out of there very quickly.
00:38:50.000So that's something that is a real thing that could happen when you're protecting a principal.
00:38:56.000And you're talking about, you know, thousands and thousands of people.
00:39:00.000You that's why planning is so very important.
00:39:02.000You need to know where you have an egress route to get out of that building.
00:39:05.000Where is your vehicle stage to get them in that vehicle and get them out quickly?
00:39:25.000And this person who I was protecting personally at the time, because right now I manage a lot of details, but at this time I was the lead agent, sort of gave me a look and asked.
00:39:38.000We were in the green room and they asked me to come over.
00:39:44.000There's a person standing here in the green room.
00:39:47.000Um, that is a known stalker who's been following me.
00:39:51.000And now this was not a fault of mine for not recognizing this because it was I was never giving what we call a bolo.
00:39:58.000Now, who are the company that hired me never provided me with this information that there was, in fact, someone who's been following them.
00:40:06.000Usually if someone if there's a known entity and often there is high profile business executives don't have many people that they keep an eye on.
00:40:13.000They track because they've made threats.
00:40:15.000They show up at a lot of their events.
00:40:21.000Also, the person had legitimate press credentials.
00:40:24.000So, you know, they were allowed in there.
00:40:27.000That's another problem you'll find in security these days is that press credentials are easy to get.
00:40:33.000You could have a blog and somebody will issue you some type of a press credential where you could get pretty close access to people.
00:40:39.000Um, so that was it was a successful mission.
00:40:44.000And as I was told this, the person had took off.
00:40:46.000She the person in question, the subject, saw me walking over talking to the principal and fled.
00:40:54.000But I had two other agents out in the audience who, through my description and me talking to them in the radio, located the person, followed them back into the forum.
00:41:03.000We were able to get local law enforcement to show up waiting for them and they walked out.
00:41:48.000I think something like over 900 people had been killed in political violence in the country.
00:41:52.000We went to Kinsasha and, uh, I was kind, I was advising the soon to be hopefully elected president because the former president Kabila was a dictator for 20 years.
00:42:30.000Um, and, uh, you, it was a lot of experience.
00:42:34.000It's another reason I like the military people for the high threat operations.
00:42:38.000I had two top tier people retired, uh, former Marine infantry and a former Green Beret who within 24 hour notice were with me at the airport with a goat bag ready to go to fly to Africa.
00:55:36.000And through that website, you know, as you mentioned, I'll give you all of my social media info and links.
00:55:42.000But through that website, GlobalThreatSolutions.com, they can find, they can get in touch with not only representatives of my company, but myself.
00:55:51.000One thing we pride ourselves in, a lot of companies in this industry, they get very big.
00:55:56.000They're corporate and they lose quality.