Michael Van Giesen used to provide security for British royalty.  Now he sells his services to American executives traveling abroad -- and, thanks to the conflict in Yugoslavia, business has never been better.

   Van Giesen expects the NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia to increase the already considerable demand for his services.

   "It has been an ongoing issue for the last two years," said his boss, Robert Strang, head of New York-based security specialists Strang Hayes Consulting.  "Many company officers do not require security (to travel) with them but people are much more aware of international travel and safety," Strang said.

   Vociferous demonstrations against the NATO attacks on Serbia have been held outside U.S. embassies in Europe and Russia.  A bomb blast outside a shop selling Apple computers in Athens may have been the first action against a U.S. business, prompting U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns to ask Greek officials to increase security for American interests.   

   "America is viewed all over the world as the extreme capitalist demagogue," said Fred Rustmann, a former Central Intelligence Agency case officer and now head of West Palm Beach, Florida-based CTC International Group Inc., which advises businesses on security.

   "Right now America is the No.1 target.  If they can't hit an embassy they'll go for something else that has recognition such as a McDonald's," he said.

   The head of security at a large U.S. corporation that has many executives traveling overseas told Reuters, "I sent out a letter to our travel department warning travelers to be cautious.  We have a situation in the world where certain groups are looking very angrily at members of NATO nations."

   William Daly, a managing director at another security firm, Kroll Associates, said a protracted conflict in Yugoslavia could result in threats or actual violence against U.S. government facilities and businesses overseas. 

   For some executives, travel abroad now routinely involves checking in with the U.S. Embassy and taking note of its location, as well as the locations of medical facilities and local law enforcement agencies. 

    Most concerns today focus on kidnapping, robbery and political protest, according to Strang. Before the conflict in Yugoslavia, U.S. citizens were being targeted by groups unhappy about the U.S. bombing of Iraq, he said.

   Van Giesen, vice president at his firm's London office, said sending NATO ground troops into the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, as some are advising, could put the United States "further into the spotlight" and increase anti-U.S. sentiment. 

    Firms such as Strang Hayes, which has 300 employees in 50 countries, help provide security by reviewing an executive's overseas itinerary in advance after consulting with police and U.S. State Department officials.

   Often a company will try to learn if a terrorist group has included its personnel on a "target" list.  And sometimes firms such as Strang Hayes and CTC are called in to help extricate an executive from a troubled country.

   "We are in the prevention business, but then sometimes you have to respond," Strang said.

   Executives needing a security detail to travel with them likely will invite Thomas Petro, a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service and now a vice president at Strang Hayes.

  Petro says he looks to protect his client "360 degrees," establishing concentric circles, or perimeters, of defense.  Within the first or inner circle is the client; outside it are buffers such as guards or people in an assembly hall.  In a restaurant this buffer could be a group of tables, Petro said.

   Rustmann said some U.S. firms with overseas operations do advance planning for evacuating employees in case of trouble.  Such precautions can involve secret caches of money, weapons, vehicles, food and water and a mapped escape route, he said.

   The head of corporate security who sent a letter of caution to his firm last week said a key to being safe is being inconspicuous.  The executive, whose background is in domestic and overseas airport security, said business people are most vulnerable en route to and from airports.

   "Very often some business people insist on traveling in a limousine -- that's when they become conspicuous," he said.

   Rustmann agreed. "Keep a low profile. That's the No.1 thing," he said.