Oscar Villanueva is an international security expert with decades of investigative, physical security, workplace violence, risk management and mitigation, emergency preparedness and critical infrastructure experience. Prior to consulting and providing security advice to government and corporate clients, Oscar had a distinguished career as a federal security and law enforcement agent, manager and executive (SES) with the US Postal Inspection Service. His career in federal law enforcement included conducting and leading large scale investigative, security and law enforcement operations worldwide. As a security consultant Oscar is a dedicated security advocate and advisor providing practical and sensible security solutions to clients of all sizes.
Oscar is a licensed California Private Investigator, holds a certification from ASIS International as a Professionally Certified Investigator (PCI), and is the current Chair of the ASIS International Crime Prevention Community. He is also affiliated with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP). Oscar is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.
Col (R) Lawrence (Larry) Dietz, is a nationally recognized expert in the areas of cyber security, cyber warfare, information security and intellectual property. Mr. Dietz is a licensed attorney and also provides litigation and legal support to our clients in these matters.
Mr. Dietz is a recognized authority in compliance and has lectured nationally and internationally on topics such as GDPR, PII and other critical issues related to Cyber and Electronic Commerce.
Mr. Dietz brings a unique blend of expertise to our clients. As a retired Army Reserve Colonel specializing in intelligence and PSYOP, he has over 30 years of diversified military and commercial information and cyber security experience. This unique knowledge combined with the thought leadership of academia enables Larry to bring varied approaches and solutions to clients’ challenges.
Forrest (Peter) Franklin is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of risk management practices, workplace violence, crisis episode intervention, and premises liability. He is Board Certified in security management, disaster preparedness, and homeland security. He has consulted to multi-national corporations, domestic and foreign governments.
Mr. Franklin has been an expert witness for plaintiff and defense attorneys in more than 250 cases involving premise & personal liability, adequacy of security/safety and security management, operations and training. He has been expert of record in three landmark workplace mass murder litigations.
Mr. Franklin has more than 3,000 hours in counter-terrorism security vulnerability assessments for water treatment, distribution utilities, dams and irrigation districts in the hydro-power and geothermal arenas.
With more than 35 years of professional retail Loss Prevention (LP) experience, Mr. Mike Keenan, a former Foreign Counter-Intelligence Specialist with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is a consummate loss prevention professional, consultant, advocate and educator.
During his long career in loss prevention, Mr. Keenan has managed a wide spectrum of major retailers throughout North America, including Macy’s, Ross, Mervyn’s, Longs Drugs and GAP – each with its own unique set of challenging features.
Mr. Keenan brought to each of these retailers a growing expertise as well as an ability to implement unique solutions that contributed to substantial reductions in losses as well as keeping employees safe. He did this through increased employee involvement, accountability, and responsibility.
Mr. Keenan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) with ASIS International, a Certified Forensic Interviewer (CFI) and is Loss Prevention Certified (LPC). He is a licensed Private Investigator for the State of California.
Lucien Canton has over 30 years of experience in hazard and risk analysis, loss mitigation and emergency planning. Highly regarded for his successful disaster response and mitigation programs, Lucien joined the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1990 where he assisted in the development of disaster response capabilities encompassing strategic planning. He was responsible for the implementation and coordination of field operations. Lucien was later appointed to Director of Emergency Services for the City of San Francisco where he served as a policy advisor to Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., on emergency management and homeland security issues.
Dr. Pely’s academic and business career has centered on increasing security and alleviating conflicts using multiple disciplines.
For the past decade, Dr. Pely's research and writing has been focused on Muslim/Arab conflict management and resolution practices. As part of his field studies, Dr. Pely resided for nearly three years in an Arab village in the north of Israel. He published multiple articles in peer-review journals, exploring culture-specific aspects of Muslim and indigenous dispute resolution mechanisms, and comparing them to Western approaches.
Dr. Pely’s professional career spans a wide spectrum of activities, including military service in the IDF, undercover police intelligence, journalism, international business intelligence, entrepreneurship, executive management, large-scale risk analysis, mediation, and
In addition to his work at TAL Global, Dr. Pely is a University of Southern California (USC) Homegrown Violent Extremism (HVE) Studies Associate at the Safe Communities Institute (part of the Sol Price School of Public Policy).
Dr. Erroll G. Southers is an internationally recognized expert on counterterrorism, public safety, infrastructure protection, and homeland security. He is the Director of the Safe Communities Institute at the University of Southern California, where he is also a Professor of the Practice in National & Homeland Security.
Dr. Southers has held highly influential positions including serving as an FBI Special Agent, President Obama’s first nominee for Assistant Secretary of the TSA and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Deputy Director in the California Office of Homeland Security.
Dr. Southers’ experience includes:
• 35 years of experience in the field
• 12 years chief executive of law enforcement/security agencies
• 10 years operational counter-terrorism experience
• 12 years university faculty of Homeland Security and Public Policy
Dr. Southers began his career at the Santa Monica Police Department and has held public safety or homeland security positions at every level of the government. He is a Certified Airport Security Coordinator (ASC) and served as Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department (the nation’s largest airport police agency), provided testimony as a subject matter expert for the full Congressional Committee on Homeland Security, as a California Superior Court-qualified gang expert and lectured at the Joint Chiefs of Staff Antiterrorism Seminars.
Dr. Southers holds a BA degree from Brown University, and his MPA and doctoral degrees from USC.
Dr. Southers is a member of the Washington, DC Bipartisan Policy Center’s Homeland Security Project, the Pacific Council on International Policy, a Senior Fellow of the UCLA School of Public Affairs and Visiting Fellow of the International Institute of Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel. He is a world-renowned speaker and a regular contributor to CNN, CNN International, NBC, MSNBC, NPR and numerous other media outlets.
As a Managing Director at TAL Global, Dr. Southers works with our clients on a range of issues, including:
• Counter-Terrorism / Homeland Security
• Corporate Risk Management
• Emergency Planning and Response
Johnathan Tal is the President and Chief Executive Officer of TAL Global Corporation, an international investigative and security-consulting firm.
Mr. Tal served as a Military Field Intelligence Officer for the Israeli Armed Forces during the early 1970’s. As an intelligence specialist, Mr. Tal supervised and initiated behind-enemy-lines intelligence gathering relying on both hardware systems and personnel. In the late 1970’s, Mr. Tal served as an anti-terrorism security specialist for the Israeli government. His responsibilities included supervising highly specialized personnel and interacting with international law enforcement agencies and the European intelligence community. During this period Mr. Tal conducted investigations and preventive operations designed to decrease the possibility of terrorist attacks on Israeli installations and personnel.
In 1985, Mr. Tal founded his first agency, which quickly became the largest investigative agency in Silicon Valley. TAL Global extends the concept of high-quality service to cover the world of Security Consulting and Management.
