Ron Rowe, principal in Security Risk & Resilience and former acting director of the U.S. Secret Service told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Brief‘s Erle Norton, that many large companies are expanding the scope of their security engagements with The Chertoff Group “because of what is going on right now with targeted violence.”
Attacks on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home over the weekend were the latest in a series of attacks on CEOs and corporate America, including the 2024 assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and last summer’s Park Avenue attack of the NFL Headquarters building in New York City.
“There’s so much more anger and vitriol being directed at CEOs,” Rowe said.
The landscape of Executive Protection has shifted from theoretical risk to a critical business necessity following a string of high-profile attacks. These incidents are increasingly being driven by grievance-motivated or ideologically motivated factors, involving symbolic violent strikes against an industry, company or person.
The number of companies implementing an IRS-132-compliant executive protection program has increased considerably. Over the last 12 months alone, The Chertoff Group has completed independent security studies for multiple Fortune 500 clients launching or expanding such programs. Rowe went on to say “EP is not a luxury perk; it’s a business continuity control.”
Rowe told the Journal, that even a keynote address today involves a level of preparedness that once may have been reserved for heads of state. In today’s threat environment, an effective Executive Protection program requires investments in people, process and technology, undergirded by strong corporate governance that ensures security measures are rooted in tangible risk management objectives.
Simply put: gone are the days of considering close protection professionals as just “body guards” or valets. The landscape of Executive Protection has shifted from theoretical risk to a critical business necessity following a string of high-profile attacks. These incidents are increasingly being driven by grievance-motivated or ideologically motivated factors, involving symbolic violent strikes against an industry, company or person.
Read the Wall Street Journal’s April 15, 2026 CEO Brief.
Ron Rowe leads executive protection and special event security engagements at The Chertoff Group.
