Principal Protection; Lessons Learned
The Evolution of Protective Operations

by R.E. “Rick” Colliver

Protection, like any other process, is evolutionary. And we should agree that a large part of any evolutionary process is failure, which is another way of saying “learning through our mistakes.”

As the title suggests, this book is about the lessons learned through several thousand years of trial-and-error, creating and adopting best-practices, striving to provide protection for persons of public interest and others at risk.

Originally developed as a companion text supporting professional courses in protective operations, Principal Protection; Lessons Learned can be a valuable reference for all specialists and managers employed in the protection field, to help them enhance and add value to their own vulnerability assessments, protective operations, and human security management.


Far from being another "how-to" book on protection, it is more of a "why-to". Principal Protection; Lessons Learned goes far beyond the reactionary skills highlighted in other texts, and provides the reader/practitioner with a wealth of applicable information and knowledge that has been acquired through the experience of protection professionals for several millennia.

Finally, a book for both public and private sector protection professionals who are required to manage protective operations with a minimum of headcount and budget, in an increasingly complex and demanding environment.