Executive Security Spending Is Climbing. Is It Going to the Right Place?

Since the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, boards across the country have been asking the same question: how much protection do our leaders need? The filings show they are answering it by spending more.

More money is not the same as better protection. A Pearl Meyer poll found that 73% of companies decide executive security needs by management or board judgment alone, and only about 10% use a formal, independent threat assessment (Pearl Meyer). In other words, most of that spending is being set by gut feel.

Equilar’s review of S&P 500 proxy filings found that 37.8% of companies provided security perks to executives in 2025, up from 33.5% the year before, and the median disclosed value rose about 20% to $130,468. That median has more than doubled since 2021 (Equilar). Compensation Advisory Partners found CEO security perks at 44.4% of the large-cap companies it tracks, and not one company dropped the benefit once it was added. About 12% of the companies that disclosed a value reported more than $1 million for 2025 (Compensation Advisory Partners).

Start with intelligence, then staff to the threat

At Protection Cell, we work the other way around. Protective intelligence comes first: watching for the behaviors that actually come before targeted violence, such as fixation on a person, escalating grievances, interest in schedules or locations, and attempts at unwanted contact (Security Magazine). Most hostile online noise never crosses that line, and treating all of it as a threat wastes money and attention.

When the intelligence shows a real concern or a high-risk environment, we put trained people on the ground for that event, that trip, or that stretch of time. When it doesn’t, the client isn’t paying for a full-time detail to guard against every imaginable risk. Our approach is low-profile and non-obtrusive: detect trouble early, avoid it when we can, and spend resources where the risk actually is.

Three questions to ask about your own program

1. Who decided what level of protection your leaders need, and what was that decision based on?
2. Is anyone watching for warning behaviors between events, or only during them?
3. When the threat picture changes, does your coverage change with it?

If those answers are fuzzy, a protective intelligence assessment is a good place to start. Contact Protection Cell to talk it through.