Photo: whitehouse.gov
In honor of President’s Day, I’m going to talk about our most recent President, George Walker Bush. On January 20, Inauguration Day 2009, I was one of the millions of people who was ecstatic to see former President Bush leave Washington, D.C. As with many of his predecessors, he left the U. S. Capitol aboard a helicopter known to most of us as Marine One and then left Andrews Air Force Base aboard the jet we know as Air Force One. Note that both the helicopter and plane couldn’t be designated as such because he was no longer POTUS, President of the United States. You can see those great moments on YouTube: helicopter and plane.
But soon after watching the coverage, my thoughts began to drift toward President Bush’s safety. You see, he will be the first former President to have his Secret Service protection limited to ten years after leaving office. That’s because Congress, during President Clinton’s term, changed the law granting lifetime protection for former Presidents and their families. You don’t have to take my word for it, it’s codified as 18 USC 3056. For the non-legal types, that’s Title 18 of the United States Code, §3056.
I think the general sentiment at the time was that it was too costly to provide lifetime protection. However, President Bush and his successors will still receive their federal pensions; official travel, office, and staff expenses; and the National Archives and Records Administration will maintain their presidential libraries after they are built. So, I do wonder how much we actually save.
But I digress.
President Bush left office with one of the lowest approval ratings in history – a sign of his unpopularity, for sure. But what about all those terrorists or terrorist-supporting countries that he went after in applying the Bush Doctrine of preventive war? While I vehemently disagreed with him on many, if not most, policy issues, I would never wish any harm upon him, or his family for that matter. But I don’t think other people out there are as sane as I am.
My general concern is this: I truly believe Congress needs to reconsider this law and the lifetime protection, not just for President Bush’s safety, but also for the national security of the United States. What if something happened to President Bush after his Secret Service protection ended? Could you imagine the difficult diplomatic situation we might be in if something were to happen to him? Countries have been embroiled in war because of assassinations.
Remember, former presidents have high security clearance and access to sensitive information that normal citizens do not. In the wrong hands, that kind of information could be disastrous, as happened when Captain Jean-Luc Picard became Locutus of Borg.
As well-intentioned as this legislation was, I think security should be more important than saving some money. If we can afford an almost $800 billion stimulus, surely we can afford several million dollars to avoid an endless number of potential highly undesirable scenarios with a former president.
Granted, if President Bush is as much a home-body as he was during his presidency, this may all be an academic discussion. Nonetheless, this is a real situation that we should plan for now. We have about 9 years, 11 months left, but let’s not put it off until it’s too late.
Mahalo!
Not to worry, Capsun, the law was changed because many acknowledged that former POTUSes have a vastly different financial future upon leaving office, as compared to those from previous eras. Basically, they make enough money to be able to afford their own security. I'm sure that, in the highly unlikely event that a former POTUS is financially unable to do so, there will be assistance offered by all and sundry.
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