Who are the bad guys?
Most of our clients – indeed, most people, independent of their wealth, position, or celebrity – face relatively little risk in their lives other than that associated with normal living. By this we mean that all of us, rich and poor, famous and unknown, face the danger of accidents, traffic accidents, and health problems, but few of us face the danger of bad guys out to get us.
On the other hand, there are some clients – and some people – who indeed do face some generic special risk because of their wealth, position, or celebrity status. For these people, certain generic special precautions must be taken. Within this group there is a smaller number of people who face a specific danger from a specific threat. These people require specific precautions to be put in place.
The big question is, how do you know when you have moved from the generic higher-risk group to the group where there is a specific threat? The answer is that you know through the gathering of intelligence regarding the threat level you face. As we have noted in the past, this is important for two reasons. The first is that without a specific threat the IRS may consider precautions to be a taxable perk. The second, of course, is that without the appropriate intelligence you could end up dead or injured in some fashion.
Because of this, it is appropriate, when you reach a certain level of generic risk, to be paying someone to be your intelligence gathering department. This person (or persons) will be your intermediary with the police department, and any other appropriate source of information.
