Where Institutional
Security
Meets Independent
Counsel
Independent security advisory for corporations, family offices, and senior executives who require strategic counsel, not a vendor relationship.
What Enterprise
Vendors Can't
Deliver
Enterprise security firms protect the average principal. Your principal is not average.
HCI functions as an independent advisory partner: no agents to deploy, no headcount to protect, no vendor contract to renew. Every recommendation is made without a financial interest in the outcome.
| Capability | Enterprise Vendor | HCI |
|---|---|---|
| Independent advisory | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fortune 500 principal experience | ✓ | ✓ |
| Program audit capability | ✗ | ✓ |
| IRS 132 program structuring | ✗ | ✓ |
| ISS report production | ✗ | ✓ |
| Professional liability insurance | ✓ | ✓ |
| In-house program development | ✗ | ✓ |
| Principal threat intelligence profiles | ✗ | ✓ |
| Federal & diplomatic security network | ✗ | ✓ |
| Single accountability contact | ✗ | ✓ |
Five Lines
of Advisory
Each engagement is scoped around the client's actual threat environment, organizational structure, and risk tolerance, not a templated service package. This includes organizations that have chosen to build and operate programs in-house rather than through an external vendor. HCI does not deploy agents. We design, build, audit, and advise.
EP Program Design & Architecture
Full-cycle EP program development: threat assessment, SOP development, agent selection criteria, advance protocol design, and IRS 132 compliance structuring. Built as a duty-of-care asset, not a reactive cost center.
Interim Program Leadership
Director-level program oversight, deployable within 72 hours. Provides continuity, agent accountability, and principal confidence during leadership transitions or organizational restructuring.
Security Consulting & Program Audits
Independent program audits and strategic advisory for CSOs, General Counsel, and boards. Vendor-independent recommendations aligned with ISO standards, FBI and DHS risk frameworks, and board-level fiduciary requirements.
In-House Program Development
For organizations building internal EP capability. HCI provides the institutional framework: hiring criteria, org structure, SOP development, training standards, and technology selection, so the program operates at a professional standard from day one.
Individual Security Study & IRS 132 Qualification
IRS Section 132(d) requires a formal Individual Security Study to qualify EP expenditures as tax-exempt working condition fringe benefits. HCI produces audit-ready ISS documentation that turns your security budget into a defensible fiduciary position.
Principal Threat Intelligence & Risk Profiles
A written threat profile for a specific principal: digital exposure, residential vulnerability, travel risk, and reputational targeting vectors. Distinct from the ISS, this is operational intelligence for program directors and CSOs who need a current threat picture.
Case Studies
The following case studies are composite scenarios drawn from HCI's advisory practice. All identifying details have been altered or omitted to protect client confidentiality.
Program Audit Following a Material Threat Escalation
A Fortune 500 technology company retained HCI following a credible threat incident; the existing EP program, managed by a national vendor for three years, had never undergone an independent audit.
No current ISS. Threat assessment 27 months old, prepared by the vendor itself. SOPs never updated. Agent selection entirely at the vendor's discretion. IRS 132 documentation absent, with retroactive tax exposure estimated at over $180,000.
HCI conducted a structured 50-point audit over six weeks (agent interviews, SOP review, threat reassessment, and contract analysis), entirely independent of the existing vendor.
Building an In-House EP Program From the Ground Up
A multi-principal family office with significant public exposure made the decision to move from a vendor-managed EP model to a fully in-house program, after years of inconsistent coverage quality and confidentiality concerns.
Building in-house EP without institutional knowledge produces structural gaps and legal exposure. The family office had no existing documentation, no hiring framework, and no IRS compliance structure.
HCI built the program from zero: individual threat assessments, org design, full SOP library, training standards, and concurrent ISS production for all three principals. Operational handover in five months.
Interim Program Leadership During a Critical Transition
A global entertainment company's corporate security director departed unexpectedly, mid-vendor contract, active threat environment, with a permanent replacement search expected to take three to four months.
All operational knowledge (vendor relationships, advance protocols, threat file history) walked out the door. Without immediate replacement, the vendor would run the program without oversight. The risk committee flagged an unacceptable governance gap.
HCI activated an interim program director within 72 hours. Full scope assumed immediately: daily oversight, agent accountability, advance coordination, threat monitoring, and principal communication.
All case studies represent composite scenarios. Client identities, industries, and specific details have been altered or omitted to protect confidentiality. Outcomes described reflect the types of results achieved across HCI advisory engagements.
The Document
That Justifies
Every Dollar
Under IRS Section 132(d), executive protection expenditures qualify as tax-exempt working condition fringe benefits, meaning the company pays for the program without it becoming taxable income to the executive.
The requirement: a formal Individual Security Study (ISS): a documented threat assessment by a qualified security professional establishing a bona fide, business-oriented security concern specific to the individual. The IRS does not accept generic assessments or templated forms.
Most organizations either skip this entirely, leaving significant tax exposure, or produce documentation that would not survive audit scrutiny. HCI produces ISS reports built to withstand IRS examination.
Intelligence
Worth Acting On
Why Most Corporate EP Programs Fail Before the Threat Arrives
The structural failures in corporate executive protection are rarely tactical. They are architectural, baked into the program design before a single agent is deployed. Understanding where they originate is the first step toward building something that actually holds under pressure.
Read Analysis OperationsThe Advance as a Decision Architecture Tool
Advance work is not logistics. It is intelligence-driven risk reduction executed in compressed time. Most programs treat it as the former.
Read Analysis Board AdvisoryMaking the Business Case for EP to a CFO
IRS 132 qualification turns protection expenditure into a defensible fiduciary position. Here is how to frame it.
Read Analysis Threat EnvironmentCEO Threat Exposure Has Changed. Most Programs Have Not.
The threat landscape facing C-suite principals has shifted structurally since 2022. Digital exposure, reputational targeting, and residential vulnerability are now primary risk vectors.
Read Analysis Residential SecurityThe Residential Vulnerability Gap
The home is now the primary attack surface for C-suite principals. Digital exposure, public records, and open-source intelligence have made residential security the weakest link in most Fortune 500 EP programs.
Read AnalysisGlobal Threat
Assessment
Real-time AI-generated threat assessments for every country and major city, covering political stability, security conditions, principal travel risk, and EP program recommendations. Built for security directors, CSOs, and executive protection program managers.
Frequently
Asked
Questions
Answers to the questions we receive most often from CSOs, General Counsel, HR leadership, and family office principals before engaging HCI.
Request
a Briefing
A direct conversation with senior advisory leadership. No sales process, no account manager. Response within 24 hours.
Bay Area & Northern California
Direct corporate engagements
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Security Consulting Firm