J. Lawrence Cunningham retired from the United States Secret Service after a diverse and accomplished career. Mr. Cunningham's 20-year career encompassed supervisory experience in all aspects of Secret Service jurisdiction. As the Agent in Charge of the USSS Office located in San Jose, California, he coordinated and supervised the security arrangements for visiting dignitaries to include Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, Presidents of the United States, Presidential Candidates and other foreign Heads-of-State. His oversight of law enforcement personnel, motorcade routes, sites, and communications included the development and evaluation of crisis management and emergency contingency plans. Liaison duties included a seven-year membership on the Santa Clara County’s Law Enforcement Executive Council.Other responsibilities included the development and prosecution of numerous domestic and international criminal cases involving complex telemarketing, credit card fraud, computer-hacking and high-tech fraud operations. His office developed precedent setting cases resulting in updated Federal Criminal Statutes. In these efforts, he streamlined the prosecution guidelines and procedures with the local District Attorney and the U. S. Attorney’s Offices.Mr. Cunningham served on the Presidential Protective Division at the White House for five years and conducted international security advances for Presidential visits to Canada, China, France, Grenada and Germany, where his fluency in German was utilized. His other duties encompassed protective detail training and the supervision of the security agents assigned to conduct security advances.During his assignment to the Secret Service Office of Training, Mr. Cunningham played a key role in the development of programs resulting in the implementation of new policies for the Secret Service. These efforts involved establishing new agent and in-service agent training curricula and the revision of the agent applicant hiring criteria. Noteworthy among these included the development of specialized training programs for agents assigned to the White House Presidential Detail. In addition, following the assassination attempt of President Ronald Reagan, Mr. Cunningham consulted with Dr. Kenneth Cooper of the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas and developed the Secret Service mandatory fitness program. A major component of this included the implementation of a stress management curriculum for in-service training. This innovative fitness program was established as policy and has subsequently been adopted by numerous federal law enforcement agencies to include the U.S. Army, U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Marshal Service and a number of police departments. He is affiliated with the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention and has contributed to the development of a multi-factor risk reduction program for public safety officers.
In 1994,he developed the dignitary security plan fo rthe Stanford World Cup Soccer Venue on behalf of Stanford University. His duties encompassed the coordination of emergency training exercises interfacing Bay Area law enforcement entities with Department of Defense officials. He administered post orders, managed and evaluated over 350 security personnel for this event.From 1994 to the present, Mr. Cunningham has established formal associations with several security consultancies and provides security assessment services for a number of organizations worldwide. These organizations includeExxon/Mobil, Harvard University, The International Monetary Fund, NASCAR, The Bush-Cheney Presidential Campaign, Harpo Studios, Michael Jordan Jump, Inc., RLJ Companies, The American Battle Monuments Commission, The George Washington University, U.S. Airways, Gate Gourmet, The United Arab Emirates, (UAE) Army, The UAE Royal Family, The Jordanian Royal Family,The Jordanian Royal Air Force and Navy,US Airways, The Hawaii Department of Transportation, Inc.DHS, The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training –Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education and other international companies.Mr. Cunningham is sought for his knowledge of risk assessments, Internet commerce security,implementing training protocols and the evaluation of Emergency Operation Plans and associated security responses by public safety entities. He regularly makes presentations on a variety of security-related subjects including executive protection, police fitness and stress management. He has developed and teaches cyber-crime and cellular fraud investigative courses for police departments and associated training academies. He regularly conducts security surveys and vulnerability assessments at a number of facilities for a variety of domestic and international clients. In these efforts, he has developed and structured security coordinator programs to include evaluating security-training programs,establishing security protocols,creating security training manuals and implementing a wide range of instructional programs. Additionally,he has made presentations to corporate officials representing a variety of businesses to identify security vulnerabilities and establishing security standards exceeding applicable Federal Regulations. He has published related articles in Security Management magazine for the American Society for Industrial Security. He also serves as a security expert in premises liability cases and provides court testimony accordingly. Mr. Cunningham has prepared successful Responses for Proposals addressing stringent security protocols in a variety of areas to include the manufacture of U. S. Currency Paper solicited by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.Since 1997, Mr. Cunningham has been a member of Science Applications International Corporation’s Senior Crisis Management instructional staff. In that capacity, he provides security risk and crisis intervention instruction for cabinet members and ranking military officials of foreign governments.
In 1998, he conducted a comprehensive five-week protective security, intelligence and fitness-training program for The United Arab Emirates Army Special Operations Group in the Persian Gulf States. In addition, Cable Network News (CNN) and National Public Radio (NPR) consulted Mr. Cunningham for his perspectives on the security and training protocols encompassing presidential protection. He has made five CNN appearances to include interviews on Burden of Proof and Late Edition Sunday.In 2000, he developed security protocols for the UAE Royal Family’s United Kingdom operation. This effort involved the development and implementation of a security guard training program and facility security standards for their residences and support facilities. At the conclusion of the 2000 Presidential Election, The Bush-Cheney Transition Foundation requested Mr. Cunningham to devise a security plan and supervise its implementation for their transition office. During 2001 -2002, Mr. Cunningham conducted security risk assessments and formulated strategic security plans for The George Washington University, The International Monetary Fund and NASCAR. The NASCAR consult involved the evaluation of their existing security plans at five racetrack sand the formulations of their security best practices. NASCAR corporate management in 2002 adopted the strategic and operational security provisions of this document. In 2003, he completed a comprehensive security assessment for Harvard University at the request of President Lawrence Summers after a comprehensive evaluation of their existing security plans. The final phase of this consult included the development of a range of strategic security initiatives and protocols implemented by the Harvard University Police Department in cooperation with contiguous police jurisdictions. These efforts resulted in a more integrated security consensus and response agreements among contiguous police jurisdictions.In 2003, Mr. Cunningham conducted a security survey for the Bush-Cheney Campaign staff and headquarters and developed commensurate security protocols. He managed that security operation for 18 months and conducted security awareness briefings for associated organizations.As the lead security consultant, he was responsible for the development, implementation, ongoing operations and evaluation of the security infrastructure at the Bush-Cheney ’04 Campaign Headquarters in Arlington,VA. This assignment included conducting on-site Security Surveys, CCTV monitor system design, security guard posting and training, development of security protocols, access system design, liaison with Local and Federal Law Enforcement (including the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force) and development of emergency/security protocol handbooks for the Bush-Cheney staff and security officers.He has developed and teaches two training programs for the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy and the Terrorism Research Center, Inc. The programs address cyber crime investigations and recognizing and responding to terrorism indicators for law enforcement officers. He has prepared and presented several
seminars on a range of security related topics to include, Security Awareness, Risk Management, Emergency Management Planning and Cyber Terrorism.From March –June2004, Mr. Cunningham was retained by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC)to develop, manage and implement the ABMC security plan for the World War II Memorial Dedication ceremonies.From 2004 –2009, Mr. Cunningham conducted threat and vulnerability assessments of the executive protection(EP)operation at Harpo Studios in Chicago, Ill. This included development and implementation of EP training protocols for the EP specialists assigned.In 2007, He completed a threat and vulnerability assessment of the Royal Family of Jordan. This assessment included the evaluation of the Executive Protection protocols for their Royal Guard to include security advance and crisis response procedures. In May 2007, he assisted with the development of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC) All-Hazard Campus Strategy.This strategic document is designed to tailor an integrated solution that provides comprehensive all-hazards training to assist campuses in responding to emergencies. In 2008, Mr. Cunningham completed a review and evaluation of the Personal and Executive Protection Program for Exxon/Mobil to fulfill business regulatory requirements. From 2005 to the present, Mr. Cunningham serves as a Department of Homeland Security(DHS)certified adjunct instructor and subject matter expert for the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training–Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education at Louisiana State University.NCBRT is one of the seven-member consortia of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortia (NDPC). NDPC is a major DHS training partner providing highly specialized training to emergency responders and the military both internationally and domestically.He teaches the following courses on an on-going basis:•Prevention and Deterrence of Terrorist Acts•Executive Seminar: Prevention of, Response to, and Recovery from Campus Emergencies•Terrorist Threat Guidelines•Integrated Response to Suspected WMD Cargo•Instructor Development Workshop•Agriculture & Food Assessment Vulnerability Training Program•Instructor Assessment Program•Site Protection and Observation Techniques•Critical Thinking & Analysis Methods•Principles of Intelligence Writing & Briefing
Following the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007, on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, VA, Mr. Cunningham co-developed and authored significant portions of the NCBRT Campus Emergency course seeking to improve the lack of effective integration among the nation’s campus governance, campus police and local police departments. This DHS certified course incorporates instruction and table-top exercises addressing the Incident Command System (ICS), the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), provisions of the Clery Act, weaknesses with Information Sharing and the enforcement of laws prohibiting weapons sales to mentally disturbed persons. A significant element of this course development included participation in the Virginia Tech After-Action creation of the Threat Assessment Team concept adopted by most of the nation’s college campuses.As lead instructor and subject matter expert for several of the above courses, he is responsible for leading the instructional teams during the on-going developmental, delivery and updating efforts of these courses.As a developmental instructor,he represents the NCBRT at course matrix reviews conducted by CRA (formally Community Research Associates). These courses receive formal approval from the DHS, Federal Emergency Management Agency with their Training & Exercise Integration (TEI)Training Operations Division. He is currently assisting with the research and development of new public safety training initiatives on behalf of DHS and NCBRT.Mr. Cunningham has served on the Law Enforcement Advisory Council for NCBRT since 2013.
