Companies step up security in wake of UnitedHealthcare CEO’s slaying

New York
CNN
—

Companies are closing headquarters, scrubbing their websites of top executives’ photographs and increasing armed security detail for key executives following the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

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

CVS and other health care companies have removed photographs of CEOs and other senior executives from their websites following Thompson’s slaying early Wednesday morning outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel.

It is common for top executives of larger companies to have personal security provided by their companies. But companies across a wide range of industries are scrambling to improve security measures for executives in the wake of the killing.

“The outreach from companies in the last two days has been very urgent,” Glen Kucera, the head of Allied Universal’s enhanced protection services unit, told CNN. “It has been an eye-opener for many companies in how they go about protecting their managers.”

A manhunt is underway for the shooter. The words “delay” and “deposit” were found on a live round and shell casing, according to police sources. The killing has sparked an outpouring of rage and frustration from social media users over denials of their medical claims.

Kucera said companies have taken a number of measures since the killing. Some are asking for armed security personnel for managers as they travel and commute to work from their home. Other companies are stepping up their monitoring of threats on social media platforms.

Some of these measures are short-term, but Kucera expects a permanent effect from the killing. Investors and corporate boards will demand more periodic risk assessments for high-risk managers, he said.

Dozens of companies have expanded armed security protection for C-suite executives, including permanent security presences, in response to the killing, said Dale Buckner, CEO of Global Guardian, which provides executive protection for a wide range of industries. Buckner said that in the first hours after the shooting, 47 companies contacted Global Guardian to request additional management security.

“This is a bell race and a shift,” he said.

Buckner said executives often travel with armed security protection when they travel abroad, but such security details have grown in the United States in recent years. Round-the-clock armed security personnel at the leaders’ homes has also been increasing.

After the attack, UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare, made safety plans for employees.

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

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

“More support mechanisms” are being put in place for employees, Witty said. “We have increased security at our campuses in Minnesota, in addition to locations in the Washington, DC and New York City areas.”

That includes temporarily preventing visitors from entering administrative campuses, he added.

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

Like UnitedHealthcare, which removed its management page, Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and affiliated plans, removed a top management page 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 page. 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 killing, but left many of their bios intact. CVS declined to comment further.

Centete made the same move, though it’s not clear when it decided to remove images of executives between Friday and two months ago, when images of executives were last documented as being on the site, according to Wayback Machine records. The company did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Still, even though health insurance companies removed information about executives from their websites, many executives kept their names, titles and photos up on other sites like LinkedIn as well as in press releases.

In many cases, it will likely be impossible for these figures to completely remove their digital footprint and association with their employers, as many have had numerous public speaking engagements as well as television interviews posted online.

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