RICHMOND, Va. — During his eight-year tenure as Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety, Brian Moran worked tirelessly to keep Virginians safe, especially during turbulent times involving political and social unrest. Moran served in both Gov. Terry McAuliffe's and Gov. Ralph Northam’s administrations after a long career as a prosecutor and Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
Now working as a Homeland Security consultant, Moran is seeing a political, economic and technological climate that has increased threats to many that work in both the public and private sector.
“There’s a distrust right now of our institutions,” says Moran. “Whether it’s the government, our politicians or our corporations, right now there’s a tremendous level of distrust."
On Monday 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, a former prep school valedictorian and Ivy League engineer, was arrested in Pennsylvania for the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson was shot outside his Manhattan hotel early last Wednesday.
A three-page handwritten document recovered from Mangione suggested that he was hostile toward Corporate America, calling its leaders “parasites” that “had it coming.”
While police believe that Mangione was allegedly acting alone, large companies across the country are reassessing the safety and security of their top executives.
Virginia is home to more than 20 Fortune 500 Companies, eight in the Greater Richmond region, including Richmond-based Dominion Energy, Henrico-based Altria Group and Genworth Financial and Goochland-based Performance Food Group.
“CEO’s unfortunately that’s probably where we are today,” Moran said. “They need to make sure that they have security to ensure their safety. Particularly if it’s a public facing company, like a social media company, a healthcare company, certainly big Pharma right now, and medical, there’s a tremendous amount of anger around that.”
Moran says The Virginia Fusion Center, embedded at the headquarters of Virginia State Police, is a central hub for collecting, analyzing and sharing information and intelligence about all crimes and hazards in Virginia. Moran says the center works closely with corporate partners to share information that may impact them.
“We have a Dominion utility representative with our fusion centers to make sure,” Moran says. “Because they’re constantly under attack and that is our grid, our energy is dependent on Dominion’s smooth operation and so we work very closely with Dominion and other corporate entities if the case requires.”
According to INC.com, a New York based resource group for businesses, just over a quarter of companies in the Fortune 500 report spending money to protect their executives.
Last year, Meta spent $24.4 million on security measures to keep Mark Zuckerberg and the company’s COO safe, however the median payment for personal security for most company CEO’s is about $98,000.
While the focus has been heavily on cyber security for corporations over the past few years, many companies are now realizing the importance of physical security too.
“The need for a personal security force may be necessary based on their threats,” Moran says.
He says the public can also play a vital role in protecting other Virginians from harm.
“Be self-aware,” Moran says. “If you see something, say something.”
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