09/17/2024
Presidential Security is a Deadly Balancing Act
Aside from living in a bunker like Vladimir Putin, afraid of, not only The Ever Present Assassin, but of your own generals and people, there are no guarantees when it comes to the security of a leader.
Looking back, almost every presidential assassin that we know about, was able to evade, elude and circumvent the best security.
Lincoln had no security
McKinley had little
Kennedy had only a tiny inner perimeter and sat in a convertible
Ford would have been assassinated if it weren’t for a Secret Service agent’s thumb that interfered with the gun hammer.
Reagan had only a small perimeter that was breached.
Trump’s Butler attack was a debacle by his detail as the report will show.
Trump Again: Lastly, the “Almost” attack at Trump’s golf course was not as much a failure as it was a realization that no security is perfect. The lone gunman has the advantage. He’s only got to be successful one time whereas the Secret Service must have a 100 percent success rate.
We have 1000 times the ability to protect a president than we had even 60 years ago with drones, satellites tracking communications, social media tracking, simply more bodies in the detail, greater coordination with local authorities and advance teams for every movement of the president and, of course, The Beast, a car that is built like a tank.
None of this matters if a president can be seen, line of sight, from just one place that is not covered by a body or with surveillance. It doesn’t mean we stop trying to give a president the best security we can provide, but it just takes one motivated crackpot.
It’s always been a risk and always will be. The simple use of glass around the teleprompters is so easy and cheap and works, but when the president is walking outside in public, it’s almost impossible to cover every possible avenue.
We can’t have another president shot and everyone should be gratified one Secret Service agent had some eagle eyes and acted. They really do do their best to protect our presidents.
Biden calls for the US Secret Service to be given 'more help' after second attempt on Trump's life on Sunday