On August 30 through Sept. 2, the Republican National Convention descended upon New York City, bringing with it a host of government VIPS, celebrities, protesters, anarchists and scores of curious New York denizens. With this volatile a mixture of interest and this high-profile of an event, security was a top concern, especially since the entire convention and festivities were being closely watched by national news media.

The security efforts brought upon a convergence between a variety of groups, including the NYPD, the Secret Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, private security firms and even the U.S. Postal Service - their police force was used at the Madison Square Garden post office and the media center.

Inside the alphabet soup of different security operations was Joe Sordi, president and CEO of Strategic Security Corporation, a N.Y.-based firm that provides comprehensive security solutions.

SecurityInfoWatch.com spoke with Sordi recently to get a sense of what it takes to be a private security firm working a major event associated with the Republican National Convention.

Getting the Contract

Sordi, an active sergeant with the NYPD Intelligence Division, started working in security over a decade ago, and two years ago founded Strategic Security Corporation to fill what he saw as a void in the industry - a company that brought together high-level physical security with emergency operations, executive protection, port security, installations, event security and more. "People were asking for risk assessment and they were just getting a physical security assessment," notes Sordi, explaining the raison d'etre of the company's founding.

He put his staff together and brought on top security experts as consultants, and managed to gain some high-profile clients in the process.

And then, earlier this fall, the RNC came to town. When it came time to bid on some event security projects, one of which was the "Warehouse Party" that occurred nightly and served as a lobbying forum as well as a place for officials and VIPs to rub elbow, cut deals and generally enjoy themselves. Sordi's company landed the contract for the Warehouse Party, largely, he says because in their proposal, the looked at the "what if" factor.