Security expertise, turned into executive-ready decisions.
We keep people, places, and organizations SAFE by turning security into strategy that leaders fund and stakeholders believe in.
For healthcare security leaders, executive protection teams, and organizations in any industry that need a physical security assessment. Start with the one challenge you need fixed now.
One quick, confidential survey for every industry. Prefer to talk? Call (484) 559-SAFE.
Start with the one challenge you need fixed now
Clients engage us for an audit, a strategy assessment, and a proposal their leadership can fund. It begins with a Situational Session: a quick, confidential conversation about the one security challenge you need corrected right now, so the work starts where the urgency is.
Healthcare Security
For hospital and health system security leaders who need executives to fund a mitigation strategy. Our method ends in HAPSA, the Health Care Advance PSA proposal tool.
Deliverable: a HAPSA proposal, today vs. proposed, with a CEO briefing.
Confidential Situational SurveyExecutive Protection
For detail leads, advance teams, corporate security, and family offices. ARGUS Advance turns hours of protective advance into minutes.
Deliverable: a sourced, per-stop ARGUS Advance assessment.
Confidential Situational SurveyOrganizations & Residences
Physical security evaluations and security consultation for businesses and homes, wherever the risk sits.
Scope: physical security, infrastructure, and utility assessments for any industry.
Confidential Situational Survey
After the assessment: the cost of implementing
An assessment tells you where the gaps are. We then help you define what it will cost to implement the fix, so leadership sees the value and the cost together before it decides.
What would you champion, and who approves it?
Knowing whether a proposal goes to the CEO, the CFO, or the board tells you which value case you have to make.
How we work: Audit, Strategy Assessment, Proposal, Advisory
It begins with a Situational Session: a quick, confidential conversation about the one security challenge you need corrected right now. From there, this is what clients engage us for.
Audit
We confidentially audit the priority you want a proposal or mitigation strategy for.
Strategy Assessment
A call to shape the mitigation strategy and the executive value case, and a physical security assessment that confirms the gaps.
Proposal
We help define the cost of implementing and build the funding proposal: today vs. proposed, with a CEO briefing.
Advisory Services
We advise and coach you through approval and implementation.
ARGUS Advance: turn hours of protective advance into minutes
ARGUS Advance is Fed Science IO's tool for executive protection. It assesses every stop of a trip: the threat picture, the way in and out, the nearest trauma care, and the venue itself. It answers your team's questions in plain language on the device they carry, and the same assessment is available in the operations center.
Built for detail leads, advance teams, corporate security, and family offices.
How we work in executive protection
The same path, with ARGUS Advance producing the proposal.
Audit
We confidentially audit the executive protection challenge you need corrected now.
Strategy Assessment
A call to shape the protective strategy, and an assessment of the stops, routes, venues, and medical readiness that matter to your principal.
Proposal ARGUS Advance
ARGUS Advance produces the proposal: a sourced, per-stop assessment your detail can act on and your leadership can approve.
The advance shouldn't pull your team off the principal
A protective advance today is hours of scattered legwork: pulling crime data, mapping routes, locating trauma centers, vetting venues, and cross-checking feeds. ARGUS Advance replaces that fragmented research with a single assessment any team member can open, trust, and act on.
The 90/10 model
ARGUS Advance does about 90% of the advance, the research and assessment layer. Your detail owns the 10% only people can do: on-site confirmation, liaison, judgment, and physical protection of the principal.
What ARGUS Advance does
Threat picture
A sourced threat picture for every stop.
Routes
Primary, alternate, extraction, and avoid routes, ready to brief.
Venue
A per-venue site card an advance team can walk from.
Medical readiness
Nearest trauma care for every stop, and a medical plan in hand before it is needed.
Live alerts
Multiple live sources with citations, and monitoring that surfaces changes before arrival.
Tailored monitoring
Monitoring tuned to the principal and each location, not a generic feed.
Planning workflow
Drop in an itinerary and get a structured trip, with a pre-walk checklist.
Plain-language answers
Trip-specific answers to questions like "nearest Level 1 trauma?", phone-first with a desktop operations view.
Common questions
Does ARGUS Advance replace our protective team?
No. It carries the research and assessment work. Your detail owns on-site confirmation, liaison, judgment, and physical protection.
Can we trust what it produces?
ARGUS Advance is a decision-support tool. Assessments cite their sources and give your team a starting point to confirm on the ground.
How is access protected?
Credential-gated access, issued and revoked centrally, with no shared password. Trip records are encrypted at rest, with identifying details minimized.
How is it deployed?
Deployment is scoped per engagement. Capabilities and data sources vary by deployment and region.
ARGUS Advance is a decision-support tool, not a warranty of safety. The 90/10 split is illustrative, not a measured performance guarantee. The final call is always your team's. Learn more at argusadvance.com
Healthcare Security: proposals leaders fund
We help security leaders win approval by showing executives the corporate value of a mitigation strategy. Our method ends in HAPSA, the Health Care Advance PSA (Physical Security Assessment) proposal tool.
How we work in healthcare security
Audit, Strategy Assessment, Proposal, ending in HAPSA.
Audit
We confidentially audit the priority you want a proposal or mitigation strategy for.
Strategy Assessment
A call to shape the mitigation strategy and the executive value case, and a physical security assessment that confirms the gaps.
Proposal tool HAPSA
An executive-ready proposal: today vs. proposed, with a CEO briefing.
Look at a camera. What do you see?
A budget line sees a cost. An executive should see an investment that serves the whole organization. One camera can support:
- Safety for patients, visitors, and staff.
- Slip-and-fall litigation defense with a clear record of what happened.
- Retail hot spots: traffic patterns that inform revenue decisions.
- Lockdown support when every second counts.
- Staffing data to put people where they are needed.
Know who approves it
Every proposal has an audience. Knowing whether it goes to the CEO, the CFO, or the board tells you which value case you have to make.
What HAPSA delivers
Today vs. proposed
Each recommended fix comes with its case in your hospital's terms: what today's setup no longer does, the risk that creates, and how the fix helps with safety, evidence, liability, and cost. Options sit side by side: baseline, proposed, and future ready.
A CEO briefing
Executives get a three-sentence briefing, the decisions awaiting them, and the barriers holding progress back, so the value case reaches the person who approves it.
One assessment, every lens
Physical security, HIPAA readiness, and Joint Commission and CMS survey readiness, reviewed together, with frontline subject-matter experts able to answer from their phone.
HAPSA was invented by Ricky L. Mason, President & CEO, former Executive Director of Physical Security at Johns Hopkins, and developed by Eric R. Mason.
Advisory Services: we stay with you through approval and implementation
Do you know the security breakpoints of your home and your organization? We identify vulnerabilities and support you in addressing them, then advise and coach you while the plan is approved and put in place.
How we work in advisory services
The same path, with an advising and coaching relationship after the proposal.
Audit
We confidentially audit the security challenge you need corrected now.
Strategy Assessment
A physical security evaluation, or an infrastructure and utility assessment, that identifies the vulnerabilities behind the challenge.
Proposal
We help define the cost of implementing and build the funding proposal for the people who approve it.
Advising & coaching
We advise and coach you through approval and implementation, making sure the right security contractors are providing services as directed.
Services
Physical security evaluation
An evaluation of your physical security that identifies vulnerabilities, with support addressing them.
Infrastructure & utility assessments
Assessments of the infrastructure and utilities your home or operation depends on.
Residential & business consultation
Security consultation for homes and businesses, integrating physical and digital security measures.
Four questions for the C-suite
If you can't answer one of these with confidence, that is where the conversation starts.
- Vulnerability: do you know how vulnerable your home and organization are, across physical, technological, and digital footprints?
- Financial impact: do you know the financial impact of a digital, physical, or cyber event on your home or business?
- Value of risk reduction: do you know the value of reducing risk, at home and at work?
- Training: are your family, staff, and executives trained on cyber safety, physical security procedures, personal protection, and emergency response?
Who we serve: homeowners and tenants, businesses of all sizes, C-suite executives, and global leaders.
The right services, not more services
Clients get an expert who makes sure the right security contractors are providing services as directed, instead of paying for expensive and unnecessary services.
Calls we offer
15 Minute Focus
A quick focus session on your personal or organizational security threats.
30 Minute Threat
For an impending personal, residential, or organizational threat.
60 Minute C-Suite Strategy
For your next organizational, executive, or division security briefing.
See the method in action
Beyond the Lens: A Hospital Camera System Case Study. Follow Jordan, a fictional hospital security director, from a stalled camera proposal to a reframe that shows leadership what the system does for the whole organization, not just what it costs.
A fictional composite
The Beyond the Lens case study is a fictional composite for illustration only.
About Us
Ricky L. Mason
President & CEO, Fed Science IO
We keep people, places, and organizations SAFE by turning security into strategy that leaders fund and stakeholders believe in.
Ricky L. Mason founded Fed Science IO in March 2023. His career spans the U.S. Secret Service, SAP, Johns Hopkins, and the U.S. Navy.
- U.S. Secret ServiceFormer Senior Executive, Technical Security, Presidential Protective Division. White House technical security, Reagan to Obama.
- SAPFormer Global Head of Physical Security for Data Centers, 2020–2023.
- Johns HopkinsFormer Executive Director of Physical Security, JHU and JHMI, 2014–2020.
- U.S. NavyVeteran, 1982–1989.
- Liberty UniversityPh.D. candidate.
What would you champion, and who approves it?
(484) 559-SAFE (484) 559-7233Or take the Confidential Situational Survey: 2 minutes of fact-finding about the one security challenge you need corrected right now. Get the Beyond the Lens case study instantly by email, and we'll follow up to schedule your quick, confidential Situational Session.
One survey for every industry. Confidential.