TRAINING STARTS IN
Executive Protection Program/Intelligence-Based Close Protection
Certified Protection Specialist, C.P.S.
28 – day Residency
2023 SPRING EP RESIDENCY
Start Date: MARCH 19 Graduation Date: APRIL 15
2023 1st FALL EP RESIDENCY
Start Date: JULY 30 Graduation Date: AUGUST 23
2023 2nd FALL EP RESIDENCY
Start Date: OCTOBER 8 Graduation Date NOVEMBER 4
*IT IS BEST TO REGISTER FOR THE CLASS AT LEAST 60 DAYS PRIOR TO THE START DATE TO ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE A SEAT IN THE CLASS THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU.
APPROVED FOR POST 9-11 VA BENEFITS FOR ALL ESI CORE RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
Executive Security International does not offer a C.P.S. for completion of a one-week seminar in close protection. ESI divides Protective Services into six major divisions of the profession:
- PSD Protective Operations,
- Celebrity Protection,
- Estate Security
- Protection of High Net Worth Individuals and Families
- Religious Organizations
We teach each enterprise from the point of view that they possess distinctive styles of operation and client expectations. There is no single model of Protection that has any credibility in Protective Services.
“The Executive Protection Specialist either adapts or goes home.”
The Executive Protection Training Program consists of essential courses for both beginners and Security Professionals who want to bolster their résumé with a certification from a school that meets a standard acceptable to the corporate world and has a reputation in the Executive Protection Industry. The Executive Protection and security program seamlessly incorporates classroom and physical training to equip graduates with the practical skills required to launch a career in Executive Protection and security. Upon completing the diverse spectrum of courses in the program that meet the minimum testing GPA requirements, each graduate will obtain his or her Certified Protection Specialist (C.P.S.) A credential that is in high demand within the Executive Protection industry.
Given the tumultuous environment of the modern corporate world, skills in the field of Corporate Security are paramount to success in a Protective Services profession. This program will familiarize students with the fundamental principles of Corporate Security in regards to Executive Security Services, Workplace Violence, and Disruption, Threats to Employees, Stalking of Employees, and Natural Disasters. A successful Corporate Security structure will integrate security practices into an organization’s everyday routine, and train non-security personnel to be the front line of defense. It will pinpoint organizational risks and partner with other corporate departments, such as Internal Auditing, Ethics, Legal, Human Resources, and IT Security to build functional security and protection programs. In the Executive Security Program, we try to answer the questions, “Who do we protect, and how much is enough?”
The Executive Protection Program is offered as either:
A 28-Day Residency in Grand Junction, CO, or a 15-Day residency combined with nine online courses that are completed at home. This rigorous program is designed to foster the success of graduates protecting Executive Clients, with a focus on Corporate Executive Protection, Celebrity Protection, Dignitary Protection, and the wide variety of considerations that contribute to a successful Protective Detail. Other career paths include Chauffeuring, Hotel & Casino Security, Security Services, Corporate Security, and Estate Security / Residential Security Team members.
Note from the President and Founder of ESI, Bob Duggan;
The teaching philosophy of Executive Protection at ESI begins with the recognition that reactive techniques by close protection security agents to deadly assaults on public figures suffer a 100% failure rate and the failure rate of prankster assaults is nearly as high. To address this failure, ESI has developed a unique “proactive protection methodology.” Our Intelligence-Based Training program has evolved to optimum effectiveness over the last four decades.
We start with the premise that preemptive intervention and protective invisibility are “handmaidens” and by far the preferred form of Executive Protection. ESI trains students to be “Predator Hunters” using Behavioral Intelligence as the best method of identifying a predator and closing the distance to make preemptive intervention possible. The techniques require a mindset of funneling predators into a surveillance zone where contact can be made and a decision to go in hard or soft can be made.
ESI’s method of EP training differs from the much more basic training found elsewhere. During training, you will participate in our 7-day “Stalker Exercise.” Using the lessons from that, you will be required to produce an analytical Threat Assessment and Management Plan. We have had students produce over 50 pages of analysis and planning in this component. Students who score very well in writing this analytical report receive an additional Certificate, which serves as a résumé enhancer which is recognized by the major employers in the industry. This is one of the skills that sets our graduates apart and establishes ESI’s distinct identity in the close protection training universe. Demonstrating the capacity to write a corporate level Threat Assessment is often the difference between being a team member and a team leader in the field.
Course Descriptions:
Advances
(Exclusively in 28-Day Residency)
Embracing the Technological components of private security is what sets the Executive Protection Specialist apart from a bodyguard. Digital mapping technology is evolving very rapidly and this course attempts to keep pace with it.
Our students are coming to us with computer skills not evident only a few years ago. Under Naomi Dunn’s direction, they learn how to use new tools for conducting immediate pre-advances through Dimensional Mapping and then how to apply the visual via Confirmation Route Planning. Proper Advanced Survey techniques will result in enhanced Time Management, Movement Safety, Area Surveillance, and Threat Management, all of which are vital to a successful Protection Detail.
This course focuses on applying modern technology to on-site, whether foreign or domestic, situational evaluations to ensure that graduates are prepared for the most formidable challenges of Intelligence Risk Assessments encountered in the field.
Surveillance and Surveillance Detection
(Exclusively in 28-Day Residency)
It is axiomatic in the protection profession that planned assaults require surveillance of the target. Learning Surveillance Detection is an essential ingredient to any effective protection service. This course devotes 10 days interspersed throughout the four-week close protection program to developing this essential protective skill. Students learn to operate as a team in order to detect surveillance while minimizing their exposure.
Low Signature Protective Operations
(Included in both 28-Day and 15-Day Residencies)
This course is taught directly from the perspective that arms-length protection is not necessarily the best protection available. High Profile celebrities often want the sense of a security Shield that a visible protection agent can provide. His or her comfort zone is greater when there is someone capable of warding off unwanted attention. In a corporate environment, the presence of Protectors is usually invisible. CEOs often don’t want the intrusion into their personal space, but their Board of Directors mandates protective services.
The approach taken by our Low Signature Protective Operations is that protective invisibility is often more effective security than Arms-Length. The skills-sets are different and the teaching philosophy focuses on the source of the threat rather than the principal.
Field drills include practical team maneuvers and assignments that emphasize the role of Proactive, Predictive, and Behavioral Intelligence as the basis for protecting the Principal. Focused on Low-Profile Clients, this course will prepare students to develop and implement exhaustive protection plans in a Corporate Environment.
Topics Covered:
- Protective Invisibility/ Low Signature Follow-up and Limousine Procedures
- Advance Preparations
- Protective Hardware
- Protective Intelligence
- Communications
- Organization of Team Details
- Command Post Operations
Protective Intelligence Operations
Senior Instructors:
Meb West,
Chuck Mauldin,
Chris Story,
Jenny West
The Protective Intelligence Operations portion of the program is a unique teaching platform designed to present the student with an immersive, stress-induced, Team Building Mission with different “Plug-Ins” that we introduce to the program in order to give it thematic coherence and a connection to the client. The client might equally be a corporate CEO, family member, or celebrity.
The student is given a client itinerary and expected to determine a route destination, reasons for selection, and describe vulnerabilities. The Protective Detail is required to organize client itineraries and carry them out as a team. The teams are assigned to do advances for hotels, restaurants and the airport, produce a plan, give a presentation before ESI instructors, and then carry it out. These assignments are done in large and small protective details, on foot, or in mobile convoys in an urban environment.
In the end, the individual student and the team must produce a Threat Assessment, a Management Plan, and complete an FTX in the field. According to ESI’s tradition of “Teaching to a Standard” there are consequences for failure.
Topics Covered
- Psychological Disorders
- Undesirable Contact
- Red Flags and Dangerous Human Behavior
- Intention to Make Contact
- Intervention Strategies
- Protective Operations
- Attacks On Principal
- FTX Writing Threat Assessments
- Writing Management Plans
Estate Security
(Exclusive to 28-Day Residency)



Barry Wilson, CPS CEO,
Anlance Protection
The Estate Security course describes the depth of security issues that accompany the protection and maintenance of large trophy estates. The course will include a review Patrols, Detection Systems, Response Forces and Liaisons with Law Enforcement Agencies, Intrusion Alerts and Delays, Staff Background Checks, Training and Integration into Security Plan, Legal Issues Governing Use of Force, Report Procedures, Fire Alarm Systems and Evacuation Plans, Inventory and Documentation of Property and Items of Value, Visitor Logs, Confidentiality Agreements, Client and Guest Protection and Accommodation.
Topics Covered
- Protection of the Property
- Protection of Client & Guest
- Client Representation
- Maintenance
- Staff Training
- Staff Background Checks
- Integration of Staff in Security
- Liaison with Law Enforcement
- Reports
Behavioral Intelligence and Clues to Dangerousness

Bob Duggan, President
Executive Security International, Ltd.
Behavioral Intelligence is a Predator Hunter program for executive protection agents. The search for Clues to Dangerousness in the crowd relies on a different set of skills than those of an Arms-Length Agent. Beginning with how to assess Normalcy, the student can identify breaks in the Norm based on acute observation of Crowd Behavior and individuals acting within it. The skills emphasized here are those that identify the Precursors to Assault and the different strategies of Preemptive Intervention.
With a special emphasis on Human Behavior Profiling, this course will offer a comprehensive guide to anticipating dangerous people and situations and reacting in a proactive, intelligent manner.
The student will learn what it feels like to ‘Hunt The Predator.’
Topics Covered
- Grid Protective Operations
- Arms-Length Vs. Invisibility
- Assessing the Environment
- Identifying Normalcy
- Recognizing Stalking Behavior
- Body Language, Gestures, and Facial Expressions
- Two Protective Personality Types – The Shield & The Undercover Agent
- Protecting The Principal Vs. Hunting The Predator
- Intervention Strategies
Curriculum
Considered as a single curriculum, the Executive Protection Program consists of an intensive study of executive, dignitary, and celebrity protection. On average, it requires one to nine months to complete the program, depending on the program that a student enrolls in.
Online education courses and 15-Day Resident Training. If the student is enrolled in the online education format, the Program will move at the rate that the student is able to invest time in their studies. The student should complete the nine online courses prior to arrival at Resident Training. If the student enrolls in the 28-Day Residency, the academic curriculum is completed in the classroom or evening study.
Upon completion of any of the three Core Programs, the student is awarded a Certificate of Completion. An ESI Credential is awarded by meeting ESI Standards of Certified Protection Specialist ™C.P.S, Certified Security Management Specialist, Certified Protective Operations Specialists, and the highest award is granted for a Certified Security Specialist upon achieving a Grade Point Average of 80% or above.
COMPLETION TIME
If a student enrolls in the Residency format, the course is completed in a four-week period, and the student is awarded the Certificate at the time of completion. It is possible to break the four-week curriculum into smaller modules, and the student accumulates credit as the modules are completed.
The combined online education and resident training are designed to be completed in a nine to twelve-month period. The student may register in the program at any time and work as rapidly as is consistent with their schedule. Each course contains six lessons; there are two factors that determine completion time. First, how fast the student studies because the courses will move at the speed that the student completes the course. The second factor is the finance program chosen. Courses are made available at the rate that the student pays for each course.
ONLINE EDUCATION
ESI converted its copyrighted textbooks and printed manuals to online digital courses in January 2012. Access to an online training website is available via the internet 24 hours a day. ESI was able to reduce the cost of the Executive Security Certification by 30% compared to the cost of the Residency Format. The Syllabus and testing are done online and, if needed, with interactive support from the Director of Educational Services. Some courses contain material that the copyright is owned by other authors and must be purchased by the student.
We recommend that you work at a steady pace to complete each course within the time frame allowed; on average, it will require 15 to 20 hours per week to complete the course on schedule.
ESI is approved by Sallie Mae, a federally approved student tuition loan company
The cost of administration and initial registration is separate from the cost of the individual courses, which are itemized.