Originally published on LinkedIn · April 1, 2024. Monthly converged security newsletter.
Website updates with new graphics through Microsoft CoPilot Designer. New audit and assessment tools in development. Major announcement coming: CSA. Currently developing courses with Texas A&M TEEX and expanding the Family Emergency Go Bag class into a corporate version. Celebrated five years as a volunteer first responder this month and attended Minuteman Disaster Response’s annual gala.
Leadership & Governance: DISC
DISC personality assessments have been valuable for understanding how to lead different team members effectively. My traditional operations background creates natural friction with sales and marketing personality types — understanding DISC has made those relationships more productive. Cross-sector governance models from municipalities, NGOs, nonprofits, and houses of worship offer lessons that corporate security leaders rarely look for.
Metric of the Month: Percentage of team members who completed DISC assessments and related training.
Insider Threat
Insider threat is broader than theft. It encompasses behavioral threats, communications violations, and security breaches — and when it surfaces, it requires coordinated response across security, HR, legal, and ethics. Organizations that have not built that coordination before an incident find themselves improvising it during one.
Metric of the Month: Percentage of insider threat reports involving coordinated response across all required departments.
M&A Security
An $18 billion M&A transaction illustrates the complexity that even smaller deals require. Security integration typically needs two years from close to complete. Organizations must address 20+ security domains during due diligence regardless of deal size — the scope does not scale linearly with transaction value.
Metric of the Month: Percentage of M&A transactions with identified Project Integration Officer, Crisis Manager, and Incident Commander on close day.
Getting a Seat at the Table
Stop “connecting to the business.” Start “connecting to the humans.” A handwritten note. A face-to-face meeting when an email would do. Genuine engagement with what the person across the table actually cares about. That is how security professionals earn their seat — not through metrics decks and dashboards.
Metric of the Month: Percentage of calendar meetings that could be converted to face-to-face with minimal cost.
Physical Security / CPTED: Drones
A significant physical security incident this month: observed a drone operating beyond visual line of sight near my property. The broader point for security professionals: Part 107 licensed drone pilots provide a physical security assessment capability that Google Earth and informal photography simply cannot match — including thermal and infrared imaging, full-perimeter coverage, and defensible documentation.
Metric of the Month: Percentage of enterprise security personnel with Part 107 pilot licensing or equivalent drone assessment capability.
Executive Protection
Texas DPS data shows significant growth in licensed security personnel: Personal Protection Officers grew from 6,186 to 7,663 (20% increase, 2021–2023). Guard companies: 2,346 to 2,627 (12% increase). Private businesses with internal security: 515 in 2023 (17% increase in 3 years). Growth brings compliance obligations that many new entrants have not fully mapped.
Metric of the Month: Percentage of organizational security functions that would require supplier licensure if externalized.
Security Metrics
The upcoming second edition of my security metrics book will add approximately 34 new domains — roughly doubling the current content — including cybersecurity-specific areas and industry-specific metrics. The core principle remains: if your senior leadership and board are not genuinely alarmed by your security metrics, you are measuring the wrong things.
Crisis Response
Crisis management requires four simultaneous states of readiness: anticipating a crisis, recognizing an incoming crisis, managing an active crisis, and recovering from a crisis. Most organizations plan for only one of those. The other three are where the gaps live.
Metric of the Month: Percentage of crisis event types that have been tested in tabletop exercises.
Honor — Mark Dorsett and Ed Aubel
Honoring Mark Dorsett and Ed Aubel — colleagues whose long-term relationships and authentic friendship have been a consistent source of professional and personal strength. Long-term relationships in this industry are rare and worth honoring explicitly.