Common Sense, Not Billions More to Protect Our Leaders
We Americans have gotten used to systematic failures in our society: unpayable national debt, failing schools, open borders, inhuman conditions in poverty, energy dependence, and infrastructure decay... 'At Nauseum.' A new failure has been added: our incapacity to protect our leaders. The monthly assassination attempts on the life of a former President and leading presidential candidate are incomprehensible, and perhaps providential intervention has precluded a national funeral.
The finger-pointing is predictable, and its aftermath is invariable: more money. It makes everyone more hopeful and avoids a sense of social paralysis. It is probably correct that a little bit of added funding will help, but so will a reexamination of the use of available funds. How can gross inadequacies in the Secret Service's protection performance go unaccounted for? What happened to the use of technology: drones in the air, infrared vision for the dark concentration of bushes, ground-based robots, motion detectors, trained police dogs...
When I served as an infantry sergeant in the Vietnam War, I was periodically assigned to the perimeter defense of what we called LZs for Landing Zones. These were small jungle bases with a dozen or more bunkers arranged as circling wagons embedded in a soil-berm that bulldozers had created as a defense perimeter. The LZs were surrounded by a wood line of interminable dense jungle. I protected myself and my 5-10 men in my bunker area with every tool and tactic at hand. We had directional Claymore Mines in front of the bunker, boxes full of hand grenades, loaded rifle magazines, and hand flairs near every man lying on the berm; the bunkers were avoided during combat since they were magnets for rocket fire. Trip flairs were all over the barbwire that encircled the perimeter. A nightmarish, directed napalm-filled 55-gallon drum in front of the soil-berm was always loaded and ready for remote detonation. Every bayonet was fixed. The base commander pre-aimed artillery fire on the woodline, frequently called for large artillery flairs over the LZ, Cobra helicopter gunships to circle above, and occasional 'Mad Minutes,' 60-second prophylactic free-for-all firing at the woodline. Then we prayed; no atheists there. Enemy suicide charges were, at times, almost daily. I can sarcastically state that if the modern Secret Service leadership had directed the operations at the time, our casualties would have been much higher; we would have been overrun.
Aerial drones would have detected a sniper on a nearby roof or an unoccupied vehicle with a Harris-Walz bumper sticker parked on the road just outside the gulf course fence. Low-flying drones could have been patrolling the inside of the surrounding chain-link fence. Infrared drone-mounted cameras should have been observing the bushes attached to the chain-link fence. Ground-based and aerial time-interval photos and videos would have detected changes between camera shots. Smart computers can flag forms in a picture, like an aiming sniper. Military-style communications should keep all security personnel in the loop. The command post officer must be liable for obvious failures. The opposition presidential candidate and the sitting president should be guarded with equal care. Let's not have another 'nothing can be done' moment.
