Fred Burton

The protection profession has evolved dramatically over the past two decades and is no longer confined to the shadows as bodyguards or operational security managers: today’s protectors are trusted advisors, strategic risk leaders, and organizational influencers. The Protector’s Edge: Leadership Through Strategy and Action examines how leadership in protection has evolved in an era of converged risk, where physical, digital, reputational, and narrative threats intersect. Drawing on decades of experience across intelligence, executive protection, government service, and enterprise security, the authors present a practical framework for moving from reactive protection to intelligence-led leadership. The book translates protective tradecraft into strategic decision-making, showing how intelligence, technology, and human judgment combine to anticipate risk, enable continuity, and build trust before crises emerge. Through real-world case studies, leadership insights, and operational lessons, the authors outline how protection professionals must move beyond daily operations and think like business leaders—integrating risk intelligence, influencing cross-functional teams, and aligning protective strategies with organizational goals. The twelve chapters provide concrete frameworks that show how protectors can lead themselves, their teams, and their principals through crises ranging from active shooter incidents to reputational attacks. Written by three recognized leaders in the protection profession, this book combines decades of experience to deliver practical insights and strategic vision. It challenges experienced protectors, security leaders, intelligence professionals, and risk managers to think beyond the current mission and invest in developing the next generation of protective leaders. The Protector’s Edge reframes protection as a strategic capability; one that strengthens leadership, continuity, and resilience rather than serving as a reactive safeguard.

The world reacted in horror to the graphic security camera footage of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson being gunned down on a Manhattan sidewalk as he was on his way to attend a scheduled investor conference. Contrary to many reports, his murder was not the first attack against a CEO on American soil, and it won’t be the last.Since this murder has already spawned copycat attacks, The Protective Intelligence Advantage: Mitigating the Rising Threat to Prominent People is especially needed at this moment in time. In it, the authors outline various case examples of other executives, VIPs, and high-profile figures who were victims of such attacks. The goal is to learn key elements from them, then outline exactly how individuals and security teams can utilize protective intelligence tools —and their own behaviors, mindfulness, and awareness to protect themselves and their families from threats and imminent harm. The book will detail the essential security and awareness tools that any executive can learn: what the authors dub protective intelligence-led security, a model they designed. Since 1998, the authors have trained billionaires and Fortune 100 protection teams on the concept.After a lifetime of investigating attacks on high-profile persons, heads of state, and celebrities—and training others to prevent them—the authors will be the first to examine the murder of Brian Thompson in detail, and use the lessons learned from that attack (and others) to illustrate how protective intelligence can be used to identify threats and prevent attacks.

Joe has a successful government position working with a state senator in Pennsylvania, Nicole and her family enjoy their life on their rural campgrounds, and the two seem headed towards romance and possible marriage. But Nicole's very way of life is threatened when the government takes over her father's property for fracking, stealing away the life her family has known for years. Responding to this tragedy, Nicole finds her personal relationships strained, even the one with Joe. What will she do? As Joe weighs his career goals against his personal morals and individual aspirations, he's left with this fundamental question: Does he put his job above everything else, or risk a total professional loss for Nicole's sake?

On a warm Saturday night in July 1973 in Bethesda, Maryland, a gunman stepped out from behind a tree and fired five point-blank shots into Joe Alon, an unassuming Israeli Air Force pilot and family man. Alon's sixteen-year-old neighbor, Fred Burton, was deeply shocked by this crime that rocked his sleepy suburban neighborhood. As it turned out, Alon wasn't just a pilot - he was a high-ranking military official with intelligence ties. The assassin was never found and the case was closed. In 2007, Fred Burton - who had since become a State Department counterterrorism special agent - reopened the case. Published to widespread praise, Chasing Shadows spins a gripping tale of the secret agents, double dealings, terrorists, and heroes he encounters as he chases leads around the globe in an effort to solve this decades-old murder.

"The Old Songs" takes place in Queens, N.Y. during the 1950s and 1960s. The members of the extended family you meet have been shaped by The Depression and World War II. They respond to these traumatic events with resilience and defiance, which is captured in their fun-loving and raucous gatherings. It's not long before a tragic event occurs, taking two of the main characters from them. Those left behind struggle to maintain the things that keep them bound to each other, and shun contrary attitudes and ideas. But what they didn't realize was how elusive the control they desired would be. The title captures an essential theme of the book. The first chapter occurs at a family party. The petty conflicts are undone by the singing of songs and you sense the rich heritage this represents. Later, they sing in a restaurant and it becomes painfully clear how the world has passed them by. The concluding chapter has the larger group reassembled for perhaps the final time. The singing begins and feelings of hurt and alienation are met with a counterforce that suggests that beauty can be found even in difficult situations. There are no heroes in this book but truth can be found in the fabric of their shared experience, each strand of which struggles for connection. Their love for each other battles against the crises that have shaped their lives. They are poorly equipped for looking inside themselves because of a morality that scorns analysis of this kind. Despite these obstacles each is given a chance to learn how to forgive, both themselves and each other, and those who grow in this way secure some measure of peace in their lives.

On a warm Saturday night in July 1973 in Bethesda Maryland, a gunman stepped out from behind a tree and fired five point-blank shots into Joe Alon, an unassuming Israeli Air Force pilot and family man. Alon's sixteen-year-old neighbor, Fred Burton, was deeply shocked by this crime that rocked his sleepy suburban neighborhood. As it turned out, Alon wasn't just a pilot--he was a high-ranking military official and with intelligence ties. The assassin was never found and the case was closed. In 2007, Fred Burton--who had since become a State Department counterterrorism special agent--reopened the case. Here, Burton spins a gripping tale of the secret agents, double dealings, terrorists and heroes he encounters he chases leads around the globe in an effort to solve this decades-old murder. From swirling dogfights over Egypt and Hanoi to gun battles on the streets of Beirut, this action-packed thriller looks in the dark heart of the Cold War to show power is uses, misused, and sold to the most convenient bidder.

In this hard-hitting memoir, Fred Burton, a key figure in international counterterrorism and domestic spycraft, emerges from the shadows to reveal who he is, what he has accomplished, and the threats that lurk unseen except by an experienced, worldly-wise few. Plunging readers into the murky world of violent religious extremism that spans the streets of Middle Eastern cities and the informant-filled alleys of American slums, Burton takes us behind the scenes to reveal how the United States tracked Libya-linked master terrorist Abu Nidal; captured Ramzi Yusef, architect of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; and pursued the assassins of major figures including Yitzhak Rabin, Meir Kahane, and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the president of Pakistan-classic cases that have sobering new meaning in the treacherous years since 9/11. Here, too, is Burton's advice on personal safety for today's most powerful CEOs, gleaned from his experience at Stratfor, the private firm Barron's calls "the shadow CIA." Told in a no-holds-barred, gripping, nuanced style that illuminates a complex and driven man, Ghost is both a riveting read and an illuminating look into the shadows of the most important struggle of our time.