It's a Lucrative Time to Be a Bodyguard

America's richest are jittery, and a growing group of "meat shields" is cashing in. That's the term one bodyguard-in-training uses in Grayson Schaffer's deep dive into the industry for GQ. For the record, bodyguards use the term "protector," though the leader of a team is usually the BG, or bodyguard. Whatever the term, more aspirants are flocking to executive-protection courses like the one run by Elijah Shaw, a former protector for 50 Cent and Usher who now trains others to keep billionaires, tech titans, celebrities, and politicians safe. Schaffer drops into Shaw's weeklong Las Vegas class, where students practice pulling "principals" off the X, or point of attack, and learn that the job is more about advance work than gunplay.

The story zooms out to explain why business is booming: high-profile killings and attacks on CEOs, governors, figures such as Charlie Kirk, and even the president—all part of rising political violence as tracked by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative. This trend of "stochastic terrorism" has corporate security budgets swelling. Shaw and his peers say the real work happens long before an attack, in mapping exits, anticipating threats, and swallowing ego. Trainees are reminded—repeatedly—that running away with the client beats winning a fight. The job, as one trainee puts it, is being a literal human buffer—an "oversized butler" with a plan. Read the full story.