Rethinking Security for Events With Big-Name Speakers

The Trump assassination attempt at last week’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner has organizations who are astute at protecting dignitaries and high-profile guests taking a step back to ensure that they are doing everything they can.

In most cases, they are.

One planner from a nonprofit organization in the political arena described how their security goes far beyond the use of metal detectors and ID’ing people at the entrance. For their invite-only events, they monitor lists of known agitators, and flag them if they try to log in to find the location and time of the next event. Registration has multiple steps and authentication levels. While the shooter at the Washington Hilton turned out to be a hotel guest, they often buy out an entire hotel to protect attendees.

“We’re constantly monitoring attendance and being protective of registration information,” she said.

One potential change she sees after last week’s assassination attempt is removing branding in the cases where her organization doesn’t buy out a property.

“I think that might have to change. If we’re not buying out the hotel, do I really want signage in the lobby and elevators?”

Speaker Safety

On the speaker circuit, many high-level speakers not only travel with their own private security, but also have hotel security requirements in their appearance agreements. “Private security and enhanced hotel security for VIPs has been a requirement for years,” said Marc Reede, president of Rave Speakers.

Reede shared that he was hosting one of the sharks from the TV show Shark Tank in Texas this week. “He requires that hotel security be present for any movement on the hotel grounds during his stay.”

Jaki Baskow, founder of Las Vegas Speakers Bureau personally vets the security experts for the speakers for her corporate clients. As a result of the recent violence, she expects that speakers with their own security will now require multiple levels of security, and request professionally trained ex-policemen.

Dignitary Protection 

Many venues could take a page from college campuses, which regularly host not just high-profile speakers, but controversial ones like conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, who frequently draws large protests.

Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, has worked in 11 countries advising colleges about dignitary protection. He says this level of security extends far beyond the norm to include sophisticated technologies such as pattern matching and detection of pre-attack behavioral indicators. On site, screening goes beyond metal detectors and X-ray machines to include drones, smart surveillance, and license plate recognition.

For large events, working in conjunction with law enforcement, organizers bring in scent plume detection canines, who can detect individuals with a firearm or explosive device in a large crowd, and counter sniper personnel and equipment.

“In my 46 years in the field, I have seen continual changes in the threat level and in the responses,” he said. “Fortunately, in my experience, we now stop most attempts, which historically was not the case.”