In the wake of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson‘s killing in New York City Wednesday morning, some companies are taking additional precautionary measures to protect their executives while corporate security firms are reporting an uptick in interest in their services.
The shooting of Thompson, who did not appear to have a security detail with him when he was attacked outside a Manhattan hotel, is shining a light on the business of protecting prominent corporate executives, whose security costs can reach millions of dollars per year.
It’s common for the top brass at public companies to be protected by guards around the clock, according to security experts. Social media’s amplification of everyday individuals’ dissatisfaction with a particular person, product or service has only heightened the need for protection, they say. That’s particularly true in an industry like health care insurance, when many Americans say they are dissatisfied with the services they receive.
Indeed, in the wake of Thompson’s killing, many on social media expressed vitriol for some health insurers’ practices.
“We’ve gotten to a point where health care is so inaccessible and unaffordable, people are justified in their frustrations,” Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, told CBS Mornings about the public voicing its frustrations.
To be sure, some of the biggest U.S. companies, particularly those in the tech sector, were spending heavily on personal and residential security for their top executives prior to Thompson’s killing. Meta, whose businesses include Facebook and Instagram, reported the highest spending on personal security for top executives last year, at more than $24 million, filings culled by research firm Equilar show.
While Thompson had an in-house security detail during his New York City visit, it wasn’t with him at the time of the shooting, according to CNN, which cited a source familiar with UnitedHealthcare’s security.
In the wake of the attack, corporate security experts said companies should take time to evaluate their corporate security protocols and beef up protective measures, if necessary, to protect against a variety of threats.
“My phone has been ringing off hook, with calls in particular coming from health care leaders who are reevaluating their security,” said Paul Sarnese, a safety and security consultant and former president of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS).
He said the deadly incident will likely prompt more executives to seek more robust protection. “This incident will definitely change those executives’ minds that might have been reluctant to initiate security protocols. I think they’ll be more receptive to executive protection,” he said.
In the wake of Thompson’s death, some companies are taking steps to limit publicly available information about their executives. For example, a page on UnitedHealthcare’s website about the company’s leadership — where Thompson and other executives’ bios were listed — no longer exists, and instead redirects to the company’s home page.
Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm, as well as other insurers have taken similar actions, their websites show.
Medica told the Associated Press Friday that it is temporarily closing its six offices for security reasons, in addition to removing executives bios’ from its website.
“Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution,” the company said in a statement.
Experts say these types of moves are wise.
“I think we share too much. I don’t need to know where you live and that you’re married and have three wonderful kids,” Sarnese said. “We don’t need to advertise to the public where the president and CEO are sitting.”
While executives across all industries should be evaluating their security postures, healthcare industry professionals have received more threats in recent years as a result of divisiveness that arose around safety protocols, including mask mandates, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarnese said.
“Every industry has challenges because there is always going to be somebody who is upset with a service or product or philosophy. But COVID changed everything. We never saw the level of threats we saw during COVID toward healthcare workers and leaders, because of some of the mistrust and misinformation that was out there in the community,” he said.
Security industry veteran Brittney Blair of K2 Integrity said that online threat monitoring is as essential as physical protection.
More companies are becoming more active in tracking cyber threats, including monitoring the web and dark web.
“I think people want to take a more proactive approach to making sure they are not in a situation where they’re caught off guard or not prepared for that bad thing,” she told CBS MoneyWatch. “You cannot predict crime, and you can’t prevent all of it, but you should be doing as much as you can to make sure you’re getting ahead of any possible threat that could be coming your way.”
contributed to this report.
