在选举日之前解决特勤局问题并不容易：“一个巨大的挑战”
【中美创新时报2024 年 9 月 17 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）在特勤局挫败了周日针对唐纳德·特朗普的暗杀企图后——这是不到两个月内第二次发生暗杀企图——越来越多的人呼吁为该机构提供更多资源，以在总统竞选的最后几周保护候选人。《波士顿环球报》记者Tal Kopan 和 Jim Puzzanghera对此作了下述报道。
“我想明确一点：特勤局需要更多帮助，”拜登总统周一告诉记者。“我认为国会应该回应他们的需求。”
但目前只剩下不到 50 天的时间，尚不清楚在选举日之前是否有足够的时间让援助到达。
国会距离联邦政府资金耗尽还有两周的时间，却没有任何明确的延长计划，更不用说给特勤局更多资金了。众议院成立了一个特别工作组，调查 7 月一名枪手在宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒射中特朗普耳朵的子弹是如何发生的，该工作组正在取得进展，但要到 12 月才会发布报告。即使批准了额外的资金，将其存入特勤局金库、用于技术或雇用和培训更多特工也可能需要比该机构现有的时间更长的时间。
与此同时，专家和前官员表示，目前安全威胁的程度十分严峻，网络和外国对手加剧了高度的政治两极分化。
“国家正面临着一个高度复杂、动态和危险的威胁环境，”曾两度担任国土安全部反恐协调员的约翰·科恩 (John Cohen) 说。 “这是我在执法和国土安全部门工作 40 多年来所经历过的最危险的威胁环境……这是一个巨大的挑战。”
这个问题已经引起了国会的关注。上个月，国会迅速成立了一个由两党议员组成的小组，以应对暗杀企图。周日的事件发生后，特勤局特工在特朗普高尔夫球场的灌木丛中发现了一支 AK-47 的枪管，并向一名后来被捕的男子开枪，关于增加资源的讨论迅速升温。
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默周一表示，如果特勤局需要更多资源，民主党准备提供，可能是在即将出台的短期政府拨款法案中。
但说起来容易做起来难。
“国会拨款并不会自动转化为一支能力强、训练有素、随时可以上岗的特勤局特工或保护部门人员，所以这需要一些时间和投入，”前联邦调查局代理局长安德鲁·麦凯布在 CNN 上说。
据新闻媒体 Roll Call 报道，特勤局去年的预算也增加了 9% 以上，该机构代理局长本月在一封信中告诉参议员，他不认为资源不足是 7 月枪击事件的罪魁祸首。
代理特勤局局长罗纳德·L·罗威 (Ronald L. Rowe Jr.) 周一下午晚些时候在佛罗里达州西棕榈滩告诉记者，那里发生的事件提醒人们，他的特工和他们保护的人面临着“高度动态的威胁环境”。他强调，涉嫌枪手未能向特朗普开枪，这表明在宾夕法尼亚州暗杀企图发生后实施的改革取得了成功。
罗威表示，特勤局为特朗普提供了“最高级别的保护”，“如果我们需要进一步加强，我们会这样做。”
他还称赞拜登和国会议员对特勤局的承诺，因为特勤局几十年来一直在“用更少的资源做更多的事情”。
“我相信我们会得到我们需要的东西，”他说。
除了增加资金外，安全专家和立法者还为特勤局提出了一系列建议，并一致认为挫败这名周日晚些时候被捕的枪手的明显计划已经是保护特朗普工作取得进展的迹象。
科恩表示，特勤局应加强情报分析，与地方和联邦层面的其他执法伙伴密切合作，寻求额外资金支持加班费，并提高其技术能力。他承认，在两个月内实现这一目标的前景可以用一个词来概括：“令人生畏”。
佛罗里达州共和党众议员迈克·沃尔兹是调查宾夕法尼亚州暗杀企图的众议院特别工作组成员，他说特勤局需要重新评估其人员配置，为前总统提供更多保护。
他周一告诉 CNN：“我认为特勤局和联邦调查局都必须摆脱这种模式，即当你是现任总统时你会遇到这种情况，当你是前任总统时你也会遇到这种情况。” “如果你是吉米·卡特或乔治·W·布什，你知道，一边画画一边享受退休生活，我认为这是有道理的，但这需要与威胁相匹配。”
在罗威向记者介绍特朗普的安全级别之前，沃尔兹发表了讲话。罗威表示，他不会详细说明周日特朗普临时打高尔夫球时，特勤局特工人员的人数，但他表示，与特朗普执政时期相比，特勤局在高尔夫球场的部署“没有太大区别”。
前特勤局特工保罗·埃克洛夫曾在 2016 年竞选期间和特朗普执政期间担任特朗普的护卫，他说，特朗普在高尔夫球场的特勤局保护似乎与他担任总统时的数量大致相同，甚至更多。
但他表示，还需要更多。
“我认为他们现在需要提高到高于总统级别的安全级别，”埃克洛夫说。“我知道这听起来很可怕，也很令人困惑，但他们需要寻找一些开箱即用的解决方案，并加强特朗普所到之处的周边安全。”
牛顿民主党众议员杰克·奥金克洛斯谴责了周日的事件，并表示他支持在“政治气氛紧张的时刻”向特勤局提供更多资源。但他补充说，国会也应该采取措施防止“极端分子和潜在的大规模杀人犯获得战争武器”。
“我希望这一事件能促使共和党加入民主党的枪支安全立法，如果不是为了学童，也许他们会采取行动保护唐纳德·特朗普，”他说。
但众议院 7 月枪击案工作组的另一名成员表示，虽然他们的调查仍在进行中，但她很清楚有些事情是可以解决的，比如确保基本问题得到解决。
“这很复杂，但不复杂的是，你们都在沟通吗？”宾夕法尼亚州民主党众议员玛德琳·迪恩说。“所以有些事情会非常复杂，有些事情会非常清楚，只是沟通失败，未能评估相邻房产的风险。”
埃克洛夫和其他人相信，无论国会是否给予更多帮助，特勤局都会尽一切努力完成任务。
“在竞选年的运作节奏中，几乎没有时间停下来吃饭或休息，尤其是在国会进行更多调查之间，”埃克洛夫说。“再一次向国会做简报不会让前总统特朗普更安全。”
题图：周一，在佛罗里达州西棕榈滩发生一起针对前总统唐纳德·特朗普的暗杀企图后，执法人员继续调查特朗普国际高尔夫俱乐部周边地区。Joe Raedle/Getty
附原英文报道：
Addressing Secret Service issues before Election Day won’t be easy: ‘A huge, huge challenge’
By Tal Kopan and Jim Puzzanghera Globe Staff,Updated September 16, 2024
Law enforcement personnel continue to investigate the area around Trump International Golf Club Monday after an apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla.Joe Raedle/Getty
WASHINGTON — After the Secret Service foiled Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump — the second in less than two months — there is a growing call to provide the agency with more resources to protect the candidates in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.
“One thing I want to make clear is: the service needs more help,” President Biden told reporters Monday. “And I think Congress should respond to their need.”
But with fewer than 50 days left, it’s unclear if there’s enough time before Election Day for help to arrive.
Congress is two weeks away from federal funding running out governmentwide without any clear plan to extend it, let alone to give the Secret Service more money. A House task force created to investigate how a gunman was able to fire a bullet that grazed Trump’s ear in Butler, Pa., in July is making progress but isn’t due to issue its report until December. And even if additional funds were approved, getting it into Secret Service coffers, spent on technology, or to hire and train more agents could take more time than the agency has.
Meanwhile, experts and former officials say the extent of security threats right now is dire, with high political polarization amplified online and by foreign adversaries.
“The nation is facing a threat environment that is highly complex, dynamic and dangerous,” said John Cohen, a two-time former counterterrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security. “It is the most dangerous threat environment that I’ve experienced in the 40-plus years I’ve been working in law enforcement and homeland security. . . . It’s a huge, huge challenge.”
The issue already has Congress’s attention. Last month, it quickly stood up a bipartisan group of lawmakers in response to the attempted assassination. After Sunday’s incident, during which Secret Service agents noticed the barrel of an AK-47 in the bushes at Trump’s golf course and fired shots toward a man who was later captured, the discussion of more resources quickly picked back up.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that if the Secret Service needs more resources, Democrats are prepared to provide it, possibly in an upcoming short-term government funding bill.
But that is easier said than done.
“A congressional appropriation doesn’t automatically convert into a capable, trained, ready-to-work Secret Service agents or protective division folks, so this is something that’s going to take some time and commitment,” former acting FBI head Andrew McCabe said on CNN.
The Secret Service also saw a more than 9 percent increase in its budget last year, and the agency’s acting director told senators in a letter this month that he does not believe insufficient resources were to blame from the July shooting, according to the news outlet Roll Call.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr. told reporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., late Monday afternoon that the incident there was a reminder of “the heightened and dynamic threat environment” faced by his agents and the people they protect. He stressed that the alleged gunman’s failure to fire a shot at Trump showed the success of changes put in place after the Pennsylvania assassination attempt.
Rowe said Trump has the “highest levels of protection” from the Secret Service and “if we need to ratchet up additionally, we will.”
He also praised Biden and members of Congress for their the commitment to the Secret Service after decades of the agency having to do “more with less.”
“I feel confident that we will get what we need,” he said.
Security experts and lawmakers had an array of suggestions for the Secret Service, besides more funding, and agreed that foiling the apparent plans of the would-be shooter, who was apprehended later Sunday, is already a sign of improvement in protecting Trump.
Cohen said the service should up its intelligence analysis, work closely with other law enforcement partners at the local and federal level, seek additional funding to support overtime pay, and boost its technology capabilities. The prospect of doing that in two months, he acknowledged, could be summed up in one word: “daunting.”
Representative Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican and a member of the House task force investigating the Pennsylvania assassination attempt, said the agency needs to reassess its staffing to give more protection to the former president.
“I think both the Secret Service and the FBI have to get out of this paradigm of, you get this when you’re the current president, and you get this when you’re a former” president, he told CNN on Monday. ” I think that makes sense if maybe you’re Jimmy Carter or [George] W. Bush that, you know, is painting and living a retired life, but it needs to match the threat.”
Waltz spoke before Rowe briefed reporters about Trump’s level of security. Rowe said he would not detail the number of Secret Service agents protecting Trump on Sunday when he made an unscheduled golfing trip, but said “there’s not much difference” in the agency’s footprint at the course now compared to when Trump was in office.
Former Secret Service agent Paul Eckloff, who served on Trump’s protective detail during part of the 2016 campaign and when he was in office, said there appeared to be about the same amount of Secret Service protection for Trump at the golf course, if not more, than there would have been if he were president.
But there’s a need for more, he said.
“I would say they need to move to higher than a presidential level of security at this time,” Eckloff said. “I know that sounds terrifying and it sounds confusing, but they need to look for some out-of-the-box solutions and increase perimeter security everywhere he goes.”
Representative Jake Auchincloss, a Newton Democrat, condemned Sunday’s incident and said he would support providing more resources to the Secret Service “at a moment of heightened political tempers.” But he added that Congress also should take steps to prevent “extremists and would-be mass murderers to access weapons of war.”
“I hope this episode galvanizes the GOP to join Democrats on gun safety legislation, if not for school kids, perhaps they will act to protect Donald Trump,” he said.
But another member of the House task force on the July shooting said that while their investigation is ongoing, it’s clear to her that some things are fixable, like making sure the basics are covered.
“It is complex, but something that is not complex is, are you all communicating?” said Representative Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat. “So some things are going to be very complicated and some things are going to be really clear, that there’s just a communications failure, that there’s a failure to assess the risk in that adjacent property.”
Eckloff and others believed the Secret Service would do whatever it needed to succeed at its mission, with or without more help from Congress.
“During the operational tempo of a campaign year, there’s very little time to stop and even eat or rest, especially in between more congressional inquiries,” Eckloff said. “Briefing Congress on the Hill one more time won’t make former President Trump any safer.”
