GSX 2026 is in Atlanta, Georgia, and one of the city’s world-class attractions is the Georgia Aquarium. Attending the ASIS Celebrates networking event on 15 September? You’ll be there, and the man in charge of your safety is Jonathan Thomas, the aquarium’s senior manager of security and compliance. One of the biggest challenges for him and his team? “Trying to give our guests, along with our team members and our animals, the top-level security without them feeling like they have the top-level security,” Thomas says. Hear more from Thomas about aquarium security and, yes, his favorite picks for must-see animals on a visit (he didn’t want to play favorites—we made him).
This special GSX episode is generously sponsored by Wavelynx.
Additional Resources
Sign up for the new school-facing pilot program from Wavelynx here:
https://wavelynx.com/shield-our-schools
Thomas sometimes works closely with other major venues as part of Atlanta’s down Pemberton Place area, which includes World of Coca-Cola and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights: https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/plan-your-visit/pemberton-place
Want a sneak peek of Thomas’ picks? Check out the Ocean Voyager exhibit, home to a whale shark, manta rays and more. And check out the live video for African penguins or a beluga whale (can’t promise they’ll swim by, but maybe): https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/gallery/ocean-voyager/
Security practitioners need to know how to deal with difficult feelings for visitors and staffers when bad things happen to animals in zoos and aquariums: https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/articles/2025/09/violent-incident-recovery/critical-incident-stress-management/
The Columbus Zoo family of parks, which includes an aquarium, went through an extensive rekeying project in 2024: https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/articles/2024/05/zoo/columbus-zoo-rekeying/
A series of swatting incidents and hoax threats hit zoos this year. Read the Security Management analysis here: https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/latest-news/today-in-security/2026/may/zoo-swatting-hoax/
Explore all of our GSX coverage in the GSX Daily here: https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/articles/2026/gsx-daily-2026/
