Accountability is an old-fashioned word that seems to fade more and more from modern leadership. Yet in the world of private security, especially at the UHNW level, accountability isn’t optional — it’s the foundation every detail stands on. When I watched the recent Shawn Ryan interview with Brian Harpole, Charlie Kirk’s former head of security, one thing became painfully clear: the concept of personal responsibility, the same principle that has guided some of the strongest leaders in history, was completely absent from his explanations. If the stakes hadn’t been so high, the interview might have been uncomfortable. But with a principal’s life on the line, the patterns revealed in his statements become alarming.

To understand why this matters so deeply, we need to go back to one of the clearest examples of accountability in American history. Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, stepped into office under circumstances that would have crushed most people. He inherited the final stage of World War II. He faced a turbulent economic landscape. He made decisions that shaped the Korean War. His approval ratings dropped into the low twenties. He was criticized, doubted, blamed and questioned on a national and international scale, and yet he never shifted responsibility away from himself. His famous phrase “The buck stops here” was not a slogan. It was the foundation of how he led, decided and acted. Today history remembers Truman not for the problems he inherited, but for how he managed them. He is now considered one of the most effective and respected presidents the United States ever had.

This mindset, however, appears completely foreign to Brian Harpole. In the interview with Shawn Ryan, Harpole’s comments repeatedly circled around distance, deflection and an almost complete absence of ownership. Instead of explaining how decisions were made, he explained why things were not his fault. Instead of clarifying what his team assessed, he listed what fell outside his “area of responsibility.” When the subject of accountability came up, he instead talked about grown men and how he “couldn’t manage them.” And when asked about the fatal failure — the roof — he rested everything on two text messages to the chief of police.

When Harpole notified Chief of Police Jeff Long that students had access to the roof — information Harpole hadn’t discovered himself but had been told by a student group — the chief simply replied: “I got you.”

That was it. No follow-up. No confirmation. No verification. No cross-check with his own team. No visual assessment of the most critical angle of approach in a high-threat environment.

In UHNW residential or event protection, this is unthinkable. In my world, responsibility doesn’t end because someone else sends a reassuring text. You verify. You double-check. You inspect. You confirm. And if you don’t have access, you solve the problem another way. Accountability doesn’t dissolve just because another agency is involved. Protectors share responsibility with partners, but they never surrender it.

Listening to the interview, it became clear that Harpole does not come from the UHNW residential world. There is no shame in that — everyone starts somewhere — but pretending to possess the competence to protect a household or a high-profile principal is dangerous. In a billionaire’s home, situations arise daily that demand creative solutions, calm decision-making and a willingness to step outside comfort zones. When the generator fails during a power outage, a protector doesn’t say “I’m not a technician.” When the family dog is choking, no one says “I’m not a vet.” When an intruder is on the property, you don’t respond with “Well, I was busy helping with the fireplace.” These fictional examples may sound humorous, but they mirror the exact mindset Harpole broadcasted: “not my job.”

If a protector walked into any UHNW household with that mindset, they would not last four weeks. Not even close. Families with significant assets, influence and public visibility pay for protection that is proactive, adaptable and above all, accountable. They don’t tolerate blame-shifting. They don’t tolerate excuses. They don’t tolerate a protector who thinks responsibility ends at the inner bubble or at the edge of a text message.

Ultra-high-net-worth families commonly spend over one million dollars per year for comprehensive protection. And that investment isn’t for show. It’s not for uniforms or equipment. It’s not for a team that stands around waiting to be told what is and isn’t their job. They pay for accountability. They pay for leadership. They pay for protectors who step forward, not away. Every principal I have ever worked with in Beverly Hills, Malibu or anywhere else would have removed Harpole from the detail immediately after hearing those statements. Not because of the tragedy that happened, but because of what his interview revealed about his mindset. They would have called their friends, their executive networks, their estate managers and their security consultants, and the message would have been clear: “Never hire this man.”

And here is the question I would ask Harpole directly, without hesitation:

Were you hired to keep Charlie Kirk alive only some of the time — only inside the bubble? Or were he, his wife and his children relying on you to protect him from all harm, at all times, from all angles?

Because no UHNW protector sees their job as conditional or partial. The moment you accept a protective assignment, especially one involving a national figure, you accept full responsibility for the life placed in your care. That responsibility does not shrink because a police department is present. It does not disappear when a partner agency replies with “I got you.” And it certainly does not end at the imaginary border of an “inner bubble.”

What happened to Charlie Kirk was not an unpredictable anomaly. It was a predictable failure born out of a flawed mindset. A leader who believes accountability is optional will always miss danger that requires ownership. A protector who believes their responsibility ends when another agency steps in will always fail to secure angles they assume someone else has covered. A security professional who talks about “grown men he can’t manage” has already surrendered leadership long before crisis strikes.

As protectors, we owe something to the people we guard. We owe something to the families who trust us with their lives. And we owe something to the profession itself, which has been shaped by thousands of men and women who took responsibility seriously. Truman understood this decades ago, and his words echo louder than ever today: “The buck stops here.” In high-risk protection, that sentence is not poetry. It is survival.

Below this article, you’ll find my detailed video breakdown of the Harpole interview — filmed from the standpoint of real UHNW residential and event protection. We examine every layer of the blame-shifting narrative, every decision point, every moment that shows what happens when accountability is removed from a security detail. And more importantly, we look at what would have kept Charlie Kirk alive.

If you’re looking for elite, discreet and fully accountable security services anywhere in Southern California — Beverly Hills, Malibu, Ventura County or beyond — my team at MSB Protection is here to help.
For inquiries or to discuss a tailored security plan, reach out directly at:
📧 contact@msbprotection.com

Your safety deserves professionals who take responsibility — every time.