‘During Watergate, I became known to be able to penetrate high-security places. People make the assumption if I could penetrate, I could protect against it.’ : Liddy Teaches Lessons of Watergate

An accomplice to one of the most famous burglaries in U.S. history has turned his talents to teaching others the tricks of corporate security, and earlier this month he was in Santa Ana for the graduation of a handful of students from the traveling academy that bears his name.

The G. Gordon Liddy Academy of Corporate Security and Private Investigation, which offered one week of training in Santa Ana for $1,500 and two weeks for $2,200, consists of a group of teachers ranging from former Israeli commandos to a one-time U.S. marshal. Seven students received certificates after the first week, and the remaining 10 were to complete the course the next week.

The training included hostage negotiation and counterterrorism, surveillance, self-defense, intelligence and counterintelligence.

Liddy, who spent almost five years in prison for his role in Watergate, said recently that he capitalized on Watergate and his name.

“During Watergate, I became known to be able to penetrate high-security places,” he said. “People make the assumption if I could penetrate, I could protect against it.”

Liddy said he started the academy’s parent company, G. Gordon Liddy & Associates Inc., in Miami in 1981 because he saw a market for specialized industrial security. His company originally specialized in counterespionage, but after realizing that corporations were looking for one company to serve all their security needs, Liddy branched out.

The only major qualification for students is that they have no criminal background, school spokesman Jack Sague said.

Those who attended this session ranged from doctors to stockbrokers.

“Every man still has some boy in him, and as a boy I wanted to be a policeman,” said Frank Barney, a stockbroker in Beverly Hills who said he was “very empathetic with Gordon because I honestly feel that the bad guys in the country are getting away with being bad.”

Liddy’s academy offers more thorough instruction and has more competent instructors than other schools, said Barney, who added that he once served on the police force in Parker, Ariz.

Student Mat Toia, who came to Santa Ana from Florida for the course, said he is phasing out of the veterinary business and into the security business.

Toia, who said the instructors at the academy are the best in the business, explained that three factors contributed to his decision to switch careers: his training in the military, the ability to perform a public service, and money.

Toia said a glut of veterinarians and the profession’s relatively low income spurred his decision to start his own company, which became operational in January. His business includes selling counter-surveillance equipment.

Toia said he believes he can relate to Liddy because they were both insecure children.

“Our fathers were not around when we grew up so we had to fend for ourselves and conquer our own fears,” he said. “When I was afraid of water, I became a scuba diver.”

Toia said attending the academy for one week cost him more than $5,000--including air fare and travel expenses--but he looks at it “as an investment.”

“Gordon has a name,” he said.