Dear johandkoh-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. Much of what you would probably like to know is not
published for obvious reasons, but I may still be able to satisfactory
assist you with your curiosity. I have, in the past, assisted the
local advance team that clears the way for a Presidential or
Presidential Candidate visit and I have taken part in some of the
local exercises that lead up to such an appearance.
?Does the Secret Service provide protection for all Bush cabinet members??
Yes and No. The Secret Service is designated and authorized by law to
provide physical protection to the following individuals, referred to
by the Secret Service as ?Permanent protectees? and ?Temporary
protectees?:
The President, the Vice President, (or other individuals next in order
of succession to the Office of the President), the President-elect and
Vice President-elect
The immediate families of the above individuals
Former Presidents, their spouses for their lifetimes, except when the
spouse re-marries. In 1997, Congressional legislation became effective
limiting Secret Service protection to former Presidents for a period
of not more than 10 years from the date the former President leaves
office.
Children of former presidents until age 16
Visiting heads of foreign states or governments and their spouses
traveling with them, other distinguished foreign visitors to the
United States, and official representatives of the United States
performing special missions abroad
Major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, and their spouses
within 120 days of a general Presidential election.
US SECRET SERVICE
http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml
http://www.secretservice.gov/protection_works.shtml
I can tell you with absolute certainty that if a cabinet member were
attending a venue in close proximity to the President at a moment that
the President was physically threatened, that cabinet member?s safety
would also be a concern to the Secret Service and actions would be
taken to protect him//her as well to the best of their ability provide
of course that such an act is not carried out at the risk of the
President himself. In other words, in an immediate threat to the
President, the President?s safety would obviously be come first.
Do Secret Service members go home with these cabinet members or
protect them in their day-to-day activities? No. Law does not
authorize them to be utilized for that purpose.
While on-premises, the United States Capitol Police and the Federal
Protective Service provides the additional security for individuals on
government property. The permanent or temporary protectees already
receiving protective services from the Secret Service continue to
receive their personal protection from that agency even while on
government property in conjunction with the two agencies permanently
on watch there.
UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE
http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/home.html
FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE
http://www.ice.gov/graphics/about/organization/org_fps.htm
?What has changed in politicians' protection since the assassination
attempt on Pres. Reagan??
Obviously technology has changed. Many more advanced methods,
techniques and equipment have been developed since the time Ronald
Regan was shot by John Hinckley. Communication equipment has become
smaller and more reliable, satellite telephones and satellite radios
have since been perfected and undoubtedly training has improved based
on lessons learned from that single unfortunate event.
More dramatically, and more importantly perhaps, the political
dynamics of the world have changed. Elements who would do harm to the
President are more widely dispersed, more determined and probably even
better funded and trained. Some groups are even more vocal in that
they are even openly offering rewards in world media (television,
newspaper, radio, etc) for the death of the President and certain
members of his staff; and act that would have been unheard of and not
tolerated only a few decades ago. With these new motivations and
probabilities in mind, protective measures have been enhanced
accordingly to meet the threat.
?How is Pres. Bush's car protected when he travels??
The presidential limousine, on the outside at least, is a heavily
armored stretched Cadillac DeVille. What?s on the inside though is
classified. We do know that the car is most likely most likely it's an
all-wheel-drive with a drive-train from something other than Cadillac.
It does have onboard alarm systems, night vision cameras, Goodyear
run-flat tires, and the interior is also environmentally sealed to
protect the occupants from chemical and airborne germ-warfare
terrorism.
POPULAR MECHANICS
http://popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars_trucks/2001/6/cadillac_one/print.phtml
The car is ?delivered? under guard, often by airplane unless the event
is local to Washington DC, to the location it will be used and it is
never left alone, not even for a moment.
?All of this would be further augmented by aircraft from the Special
Air Mission unit from Andrews Air Force Base. This fleet would consist
of Air Force One, a back-up Air Force One, plus an unknown number of
other 707 or cargo-types to carry Secret Service, press, assorted
dignitaries and the presidential limo.?
HONOLULU STAR BULLETIN
http://starbulletin.com/2000/03/16/editorial/letters.html
One or more Secret Service agents are assigned to the protection of
the vehicle at all times while it is not in use. The time the
President spends inside the vehicle is actually meticulously
choreographed. Under ideal circumstances agents know precisely how
long the President will be in the car on any given route on any given
event. As such, agents in charge of providing protection to the
unoccupied car are ready to assume control of it and whisk it away to
its next staging area. The agents in charge of the vehicle consist of
highly-skilled professional drivers, and those trained in both armed
and unarmed self defense.
As far as what the car is designed to do in order to protect itself,
there are some built-in features to insure that the car is not
disabled or hijacked, but of course these protective features of the
car are classified. I can safely say, however, from having been close
enough to one of these cars on more than one occasion and looked
closely at it, that it is abundantly skinned in military-grade armor,
has extremely thick windows (not glass but 5 inch thick ?transparent
armor?), and is reinforced to such a degree that any destructive
device less than what it would take to disable a military tank would
probably have little or no affect on it. These are not secrets but are
commonly known facts common to most all modern-day presidential
limousines. The classified issues surrounding the car (and you can bet
there are some) are obviously not published and are known only to
those who have access to the car itself.
?What kind of attacks on politicians is the Secret Service fearing??
I don?t know if ?fearing? is the right word to describe it, but the
Secret Service, and indeed all presidential protective services around
the world, remain on high alert for the most likely of attackers, the
opportunists. Opportunists, or those who just take advantage of a
split second chance to harm a politician, are by far the most abundant
threats out there. The reason opportunists have yet to assassinate a
president is because the service has taken great pains to prevent them
from doing so. In almost every instance that a president has been
shot, the assassin carefully planned the crime and little could be
done to predict it or to prevent them from carrying it out.
During the Civil War (and well before Secret Service assumed the
protection of the President and his family), there was a concern that
the President might be kidnapped. Much has changed since those days
and kidnapping has probably long since been removed from the top ten
likely scenarios the Secret Service would ever be faced with. As you
well know, in today?s world, the Secret Service is now concerned with
biological and chemical attacks. These types of assaults are
undoubtedly trained for on a regular basis and efforts are constantly
underway to develop and perfect new methods of predicting and
thwarting them.
As for conventional threats, those in charge of protecting the
President are always on the alert for attacks against the White House,
the presidential limo, Air Force One, Camp David, and local venues
where the President appears publicly or privately. In American society
where forearms are plentiful and easily obtained and explosives are
being used more and more often, the scenarios are probably endless in
terms of what the agents are now watching for as opposed to what was
probable in Reagan?s time.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
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Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
20 May 2004 19:11 PDT
Dear Johannes:
In, 3 USC CHAPTER 3 - PROTECTION OF THE PRESIDENT; UNITED STATES
SECRET SERVICE UNIFORMED DIVISION the mission of the Secret Service,
an entity of the US Treasury Department is clear. However, there are
caveats that can leave as ambiguous certain assignments. For example:
TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS
?Functions of all officers of Department of the Treasury, and
functions of all agencies and employees of such Department,
transferred, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Treasury,
with power vested in him to authorize their performance or performance
of any of his functions, by any of such officers, agencies, and
employees, by 1950 Reorg. Plan No. 26, Sec. 1, 2, eff. July 31, 1950,
15 F.R. 4935, 64 Stat. 1280, set out in the Appendix to Title 5,
Government Organization and Employees. Secret Service, referred to in
this section, is an agency in Department of the Treasury.?
3 USC CHAPTER 3 - PROTECTION OF THE PRESIDENT; UNITED STATES SECRET
SERVICE UNIFORMED DIVISION
http://resource.lawlinks.com/Content/Legal_Research/US_code/Title_03/title_03_03.htm
Clearly then, the Secret Service CAN be used on an "as needed" basis
to perform certain protective functions at the whim of the Secretary
of Treasury and though we are not privy to such orders, if indeed
there are any, common sense would dictate that every effort to protect
our cabinet members is being exercised. So, as for your question about
cabinet members, traditionally they have not been guarded by the
Secret Service while in their civilian capacities. In this day and age
however it would be ludicrous to assume that there is no added
protection whatsoever around their homes and elsewhere.
That said, the US State Department has its own protective division of
480 special agents called the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (led by
Ambassador Francis X. Taylor). These men and women are charged with
the protection of the likes of Secretary of State Colin Powell and
Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage.
BUREAU OF DIPLOMATIC SECURITY
http://www.state.gov/m/ds/
FRANCIS X. TAYLOR
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/4331.htm
SECRET SERVICE FAQ
http://slate.msn.com/id/1006848
The Secretary of Defense is provided security through the Department
to Defense, which in more recent times is so broad that there is
really no way to accurately determine who is providing what type of
security services to him and any given time (nor should we probably
attempt to explore that). Suffice it to say that his protection could
come in the form of direct military protection to any one of these
protective services:
DEFENSE SECURITY SERVICES
http://www.dss.mil/
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/
UNITED STATES DEPARTMEN OF JUSTICE
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE
http://www.state.gov/
Or any of those listed here:
US INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY AGENCIES
http://www.fas.org/irp/official.html
An interesting note here is that Bill Clinton is the last president
with who will receive lifetime Secret Service protection. In 1997 the
law was change limiting to 10 years the time that a former president
is authorized to utilize the Secret Service for his own protection in
a civilian capacity. Ten years after George W. Bush leaves office, he
will become the first former US President unprotected by the Secret
Service since Harry S. Truman.
I hope this adds significantly to what we have already discussed.
Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
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