Christopher Falkenberg
Christopher Falkenberg, president of Insite Security, is a corporate and personal security expert. He is a former U.S. Secret Service Agent and attorney. While with the Secret Service, Mr. Falkenberg conducted numerous protective advances for the President, government officials both here and abroad and visiting dignitaries. At Insite Security, he regularly consults with Fortune 1000 companies and high-net-worth individuals on threat assessments and management, executive and family protection, security training, evacuation training, workplace security, disaster recovery planning and much more.
Christopher Voss joined Insite Security in 2009, as the managing director and leader of the firm’s Kidnapping Resolution Practice. His role is to address the security needs and protection of corporate employees and high-net-worth individuals. Mr. Voss received his training on hostage survival and negotiations during his 24-year tenure with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Throughout his career, Mr. Voss has negotiated more than 150 hostage releases and was awarded the FBI Agent’s Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service and the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement.
Chris Voss
At 4:30 pm on Thursday, October 14, Falkenberg and Voss will conduct the session “Corporate Kidnapping: Preparing Management for the Unthinkable” at the ASIS International 56th Annual Seminar and Exhibits. The session will discuss how a company can integrate a working plan into its existing decision-making structure, raise awareness of ethical and legal parameters surrounding a kidnapping, and prepare security professionals and executives to handle conversations with a professional kidnapping negotiator.
What are you gentlemen presenting on during seminar?
Voss: As we continue to help companies understand corporate kidnapping cases, there are some consistent types of misperceptions or disconnects in these types of cases that we are seeing. We’d like to take this opportunity to help people understand what they’re getting into.
When most companies deal with a kidnapping it’s probably their first time. And since they’re used to dealing with a high-pressure environment, they don’t quite understand how their approach to problem solving doesn’t quite translate to this environment. I get asked the same questions over and over by experienced CEOs who deal with stressful situations and they just need some help in understanding their current approach to problems and how it needs to be tweaked during a kidnapping.
What are those questions?
Voss: One organization we talked to had a sister organization that had someone kidnapped. The CEO called and asked if I had been following it in the press. I had been aware of it, but I hadn’t been following it closely and I told the CEO that. And the CEO said, “Take a good look at it and I think this kidnapping is going to be the model for all kidnappings of this type.” I thought all right, maybe there’s something unusual here, I’ll take a closer look at it. And I did, and I looked at the reporting on it and there was absolutely nothing remarkable about the case. It was a cookie-cutter case like dozens and dozens just like it in the 150 cases that I’ve seen. So my question was this: “If this is not a new case, then the issue is it’s new to this CEO.” CEOs aren’t used to getting hit by things that are new to them. So if it’s completely new to them, they think it must be new to the world. Because in their world, they’re so experienced: they know what they’re doing. I realized that kidnapping tests people who aren’t used to being caught off guard. Continue Reading »
Tags: education, kidnap, ransom, Speakers
