Following the assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, companies are stepping up their security measures

Following the assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, companies are stepping up their security measures


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CNN

Companies are closing headquarters, purging their websites of photos of top executives, and the numbers are increasing Details on armed security of key executives following the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Health insurer Medica has temporarily closed its headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota, for safety reasons, a spokesperson told CNN. “We closed the headquarters out of an abundance of caution following the Thompson shooting,” the spokesman said in an email.

CVS and other health care companies removed photos of CEOs and other executives from their websites after Thompson was killed outside a midtown Manhattan hotel early Wednesday morning.

It is common for top executives of large corporations to receive personal security from their companies. But companies across a wide range of industries are scrambling to improve security measures for executives in the wake of the murder.

“The outreach from companies over the last two days has been very urgent,” Glen Kucera, head of Allied Universal’s advanced protective services division, told CNN. “It opened the eyes of many companies to how they protect their leaders.”

A manhunt is underway for the shooter. According to law enforcement, the words “delay” and “deposit” were found on a live cartridge and cartridge case. The murder sparked widespread anger and frustration among social media users over the denial of their medical claims.

Kucera said the companies have taken a number of actions since the murder. Some are calling for armed security guards for executives on their way to work from their houses. Other companies are increasing their monitoring of threats on social media platforms.

Some of these measures are short-term, but Kucera expects the killing to have lasting effects. Investors and corporate boards would demand more regular risk assessments for high-risk executives, he said.

Dozens of companies have expanded armed security protection for C-level executives in response to the killing, including constant security presences, said Dale Buckner, CEO of Global Guardian, which provides executive protection for a variety of industries. Buckner said that in the first hours after the shooting, 47 companies contacted Global Guardian asking for additional security for their executives.

“This is a defining moment and a shift,” he said.

Buckner said executives often travel with armed security when they travel abroad, but such security details have increased in the United States in recent years. There has also been an increase in round-the-clock armed security guards at executives’ homes.

After the attack, UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare, laid out security plans for employees.

“We ensure the safety and well-being of our employees,” UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said in an email sent to employees Thursday and obtained by CNN.

The health insurance company is cooperating fully with law enforcement as the search for the shooter continues, the email said.

“Multiple support mechanisms” will be put in place for employees, Witty said. “We have increased security at our locations in Minnesota as well as locations in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas.”

This also includes temporarily banning visitors from entering administrative premises, he added.

As an added precaution, some health insurance companies have made their executives less visible on their websites.

Like UnitedHealthcare, which removed its leadership page, Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and affiliated plans, also removed a page listing its leadership on Friday. That’s according to the nonprofit Internet Archive Wayback Machine, which documents when web URLs are removed or instructed to redirect users to another site. Elevance Health did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

CVS, which owns Aetna, told CNN it removed photos of executives after the UnitedHealth CEO’s assassination, but left many of their biographies open. CVS declined further comment.

Centete decided to take the same step, although it’s not clear when it decided to remove photos of executives between Friday and two months ago, when photos of executives were last documented on the site, according to Wayback Machine records. The company did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

But even as health insurance companies removed information about executives from their websites, many executives retained their names, titles and photos on other websites such as LinkedIn and in press releases.

In many cases, it will likely be impossible for these individuals to completely remove their digital footprint and connection to their employers, as many of them have given numerous public speaking engagements and posted television interviews online.

CNN’s Chris Isidore, Karina Tsui, Mark Morales, Brynn Gingras and John Miller contributed to this article.

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