ASIS International, the world’s leading security body, has unveiled a definitive new framework for Executive Protection
The release of the new Executive Protection Standard by ASIS International arrives as corporate leaders face an increasingly volatile risk landscape—where digital harassment rapidly escalates to physical threat and global travel demands fluid, proactive security intelligence.
This comprehensive document, developed by a technical committee of seasoned practitioners, codifies the industry’s best practices, moving the discipline of executive safeguarding from reactive close-protection to a strategic function integrated into broader organisational risk management.
Joe M. Olivarez, Jr., the 2025 President of ASIS International, positioned the standard as a necessary evolution for the security sector. “As threats to executives become increasingly sophisticated and complex, this standard provides the comprehensive framework our members need to deliver world-class protection services while maintaining the highest professional standards,” he stated.
Beyond Tactical
The key innovation of the standard is its insistence on a strategic approach, linking risk assessment directly to resource allocation and policy development. It acknowledges that effective protection must now extend a “defence umbrella” over the executive’s family members and associated assets, reflecting the reality that threats often target vulnerable relatives to gain leverage.
According to Charles Tobin, who chaired the technical committee, this holistic perspective is paramount. He emphasised that robust protection demands “strategic thinking, meticulous planning, and seamless coordination,” adding that the standard “reflects the collective expertise of seasoned executive protection professionals who understand that effective protection requires more than just physical security.”
Core Tenets Of New Framework
The standard provides clear methodologies across five core pillars, establishing the professional benchmark for the sector:
Threat & Risk Evaluation: Defining comprehensive approaches to needs analysis, risk assessment, and intelligence gathering required to pre-emptively evaluate threats.
Programme Governance: Establishing clear guidelines for security leadership, policy development, resource planning, and ethical compliance within the protective team.
Operational Execution: Providing detailed procedures for personnel management, training criteria, communications protocols, and the deployment of close-protection teams.
Contingency Protocols: Setting standards for protective operations during transportation, security advances, and coordination for critical emergency response.
Continuous Improvement: Mandating methods for monitoring, compliance assessment, and auditing to ensure programmes are adaptive and continuously effective against evolving threats.
The release marks a significant moment for the industry, ensuring that the protection of corporate and public leaders aligns with the sophistication of the modern threat environment.
