New Delhi: Hours before John Wilkes Booth shot him dead during a performance at Ford’s Theatre in 1865, Abraham Lincoln had signed an order to set up a federal agency to combat rampant currency counterfeiting. That same agency, the United States Secret Service, was responsible for protecting former president and Republican Party nominee for 2024 elections, Donald J. Trump, at Saturday’s rally, where he was shot at.
This was the first serious attempt in 43 years to kill a sitting or former head of state of the US within the borders of the country.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old, is the main suspect of the attempted assassination of Trump, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and was killed by US Secret Services agents. The attack at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injured Trump and critically injured two others, while one participant was killed.
The former US president was “shot with a bullet” that “pierced” the upper part of his right ear, according to what Trump shared on social media.
The alleged shooter is said to have used the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to carry out the killing. Trump is the first candidate since George C. Wallace in 1972 to be wounded by a shooter on the campaign trail.
Trump, being a former president, is protected by the US Secret Service, one of America’s oldest federal law enforcement agencies, which was assigned the responsibility of protecting the president in 1901. After the assassination of president John F. Kennedy in 1963, the agency underwent stringent reforms.
Trump is the first former or sitting president to be wounded in the attack, since the assassination attempt suffered by Ronald Reagan on 30 March, 1981. The then president was about two-and-a-half months into his first term, when John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots from a pistol, injuring four persons, including Reagan. Hinckley Jr. was immediately arrested by the Secret Service.
Protocol of the Secret Service
The Secret Service was originally founded with the mandate to combat the rampant counterfeiting of currency in 1865. At the end of the US Civil War, about one-third of all currency in circulation was counterfeit.
The Secret Service was a part of the Department of Treasury, given its primary role of combating counterfeit money. This remained until 2003, when the Service was moved to the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
However, in 1901, after William McKinley — the third US president to be assassinated, while in office — the Secret Service was tasked with the full-time protection of the president. Since then, only president John F. Kennedy has been killed under the full-time protection of the Secret Service.
The Service is also entrusted in the protection of former presidents and their spouses as well as candidates of major parties, four months before the elections. Trump, in this case, is both, however, his security protocols are not the same as full-time protection offered to the incumbent president.
For Trump, the Secret Service, especially at public rallies, secures the venue with help from the local police, along with other agencies within the DHS, like the Transportation Security Administration.
The venues are scanned by agents before he arrives. The former president travels with a fortified motorcade. Moreover, the law enforcement officials put up barriers and create a perimeter around the venue, and install metal detectors through which all participants must pass through to attend the rally.
Participants are also frisked, while their bags and belongings are searched by law enforcement officials, before being allowed into the venue.
Counter snipers located at rooftops, to prevent any attacks from above. It is reported that the Secret Service counter snipers are the ones to immediately shoot and kill the suspected attacker.
The counter sniper team was first set up in 1971 in response to long-range weapon threats, according to the US Secret Service FY 2022 annual report.
Right after the shots were fired at Trump, personnel from the Secret Service quickly surrounded the former president, acting as human shields, while heavily armed agents took to the stage scanning for other threats.
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Assaults against US presidents & candidates
According to a 2008 Congressional Research Service report, there had been at least 15 assaults against the presidents, presidents-elect and candidates since 1835. Robert F. Kennedy and George C. Wallace — both Democratic party candidates — were the only candidates to have faced assaults before Saturday’s attempt against Trump.
Kennedy, the younger brother of former president John F. Kennedy and a former attorney general, was the only candidate to have died from the attempt. He was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan on 5 June, 1968, shortly after winning the California primary in the Democratic presidential race over his views on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Between 1963 and 1975, at least five attempts were made against the sitting presidents or candidates. However, since the 1980’s, attempted assaults against US leaders have reduced. On 29 October, 1994, Francisco M. Duran used a semi-automatic rifle to fire at the White House, while president William (Bill) J. Clinton.
The only other attack since then, documented by the Congressional Research Service, was an attempted assassination of George W. Bush in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2005. The attacker had thrown a grenade at Bush, which did not explode.
In all of these cases, the Secret Service has been the agency responsible for the security of the presidents.
JFK’s assassination & reforms
The assassination of Kennedy led to a whole set of reforms suggested by the Warren Commission. For example, while Kennedy’s motorcade was passing through Dallas, Texas, his security personnel had not checked the buildings along the route or coordinated with local law enforcement agencies.
Furthermore, Kennedy travelled in an open-roof vehicle, which allowed Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot at the then US president. Since then, however, presidents have begun travelling in armoured vehicles. Today, the US president’s vehicle is fondly referred to as “The Beast” for how well armoured and protected it is.
On the day Kennedy was killed, there were about 28 Secret Service personnel present in Dallas, according to NPR. The budget of the agency was also roughly $5.5 million. In FY 2022, the Secret Service had 7,857 employees. The budget in FY 2024 was slightly more than $3.3 billion.
The Service also created the “intelligence division” to help coordinate across agencies, both at the local level and the federal level. US presidents were also separated from the media, with covered arrivals and departures, all part of the reforms since president Kennedy’s assassination.
In 1965, former presidents, their spouses and children were added to the list of those to be protected by the Secret Service. In 1968, major candidates and spouses were added to the list, while in 1971, foreign heads of state were added to the Secret Service protection list.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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