特勤局不仅保护候选人，它还保护民主
【中美创新时报2024 年 9 月 17 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）在唐纳德·特朗普遭遇第二次近距离暗杀后，随着竞选活动进入最后阶段，该机构需要更好地保护候选人。对此，《波士顿环球报》编辑委员会发表了下述社论。
周日，特勤局在佛罗里达州的一个高尔夫球场挫败了一起针对前总统唐纳德·特朗普的暗杀企图——但事实上，嫌疑人能够在几个月前就如此接近特朗普，这让这个陷入困境的机构再次受到审查。
在短短两个多月内，主要政党的总统候选人两次险些遇害，这对于所有美国人来说都是不可接受的，无论他们自己的政治倾向如何。距离选举日不到两个月了，这个国家已经两极分化严重。如果有人杀死或重伤特朗普或民主党候选人副总统卡马拉·哈里斯，对我们的民主来说可能是灾难性的。
从长远来看，鉴于针对公职人员的威胁不断增加，以及国家政治中带有暴力色彩的言论，国会需要增加特勤局的资金，以便该机构能够雇用更多员工并加强保护。在短期内——即选举日之前——特勤局应该全力以赴，为特朗普和哈里斯提供尽可能接近现任总统所获得的同等保护水平。
据执法部门称，被指控的枪手是 58 岁的瑞安·W·鲁斯，他躲在西棕榈滩特朗普拥有的高尔夫球场附近的灌木丛中，距离这位前总统只有几百码远。棕榈滩县警长里克·布拉德肖周日表示，一名特勤局特工在高尔夫球场上领先特朗普一个洞，他看到了枪管并开始射击。劳斯逃跑了，不久后在一次交通检查中被捕。
似乎很难想象特勤局只领先其目标一个洞。但布拉德肖说，“他不是现任总统——如果他是，我们就会把整个高尔夫球场都包围了。”
“我可以想象，下次他来高尔夫球场时，周围可能会有更多的人，”布拉德肖说。似乎有充足的时间和机会来发现劳斯的存在：检察官说，他的手机位置数据显示他已经在那里待了大约 12 个小时。
7 月，特朗普在宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒的竞选活动中遭到一名男子的枪击，特勤局因此受到严厉批评。在那起案件中，这名刺客爬上了距离特朗普演讲台约 450 英尺的屋顶。其中一颗子弹擦过特朗普的耳朵，特勤局前局长金伯利·奇特尔 (Kimberly Cheatle) 因此事辞职。特勤局随后加强了对特朗普的保护。
不可能保证公职人员的绝对安全，尤其是在一个枪支泛滥、枪支管制法律漏洞百出的国家。（劳斯是一名被定罪的重罪犯，他不应该获得他携带的步枪。）一个真正坚定且熟练的刺客很难被阻止。但这两起事件似乎都是可以预防的。虽然我们只能猜测劳斯当时的想法，但第一次暗杀企图甚至可能鼓励了第二次暗杀，因为它向世界展示了特朗普周围的保护网是多么漏洞百出。
十年来，特勤局的问题一直被广泛报道。它工作过度，人手不足，而且还承担着太多非核心职责，比如追捕货币伪造者。
这并不是要淡化伪造问题，而是该机构及其领导层需要专注于其保护使命，尤其是在暴力政治言论如此普遍的现在。政府不会为了个人利益而保护总统、总统候选人、前总统和其他政要。对我们的民主来说，这个国家的领导权必须通过选票而不是子弹来决定。
周一，拜登总统再次呼吁为该机构提供更多支持。“我想明确一点：[特勤局]需要更多帮助，”拜登说。“我认为国会应该回应他们的需求。”
尽管现在的政治已经两极分化、愤怒四起，但情况可能会变得更糟。针对最高官员的政治暴力爆发是一个永远不应该打开的潘多拉魔盒。保持它关闭是特勤局最重要的工作，在接下来的两个月里，保护特朗普和哈里斯的安全是特勤局的首要任务。
该社论代表了《波士顿环球报》编辑委员会的观点。
题图：9 月 13 日，共和党总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普抵达加利福尼亚州兰乔帕洛斯弗迪斯的特朗普国家高尔夫俱乐部洛杉矶新闻发布会之前，一名特勤局特工监视了该地区。Mario Tama/Getty
附原英文报道：
The Secret Service doesn’t just protect candidates. It protects democracy.
After a second too-close-for-comfort assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the agency needs to better protect candidates as the campaign enters the home stretch.
By The Editorial BoardUpdated September 17, 2024
A Secret Service agent monitored the area before Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump arrived at a press conference at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles on Sept. 13 in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.Mario Tama/Getty
The Secret Service thwarted an apparent assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida on Sunday — but the fact that the suspect was able to get so close to Trump in the first place, just a few months after a previous assassination attempt, has put the beleaguered agency under renewed scrutiny.
Two close calls against a major party presidential nominee in just over two months should be unacceptable to all Americans, no matter their own political leanings. Election Day is less than two months away, and the country is deeply polarized. If someone were to kill or gravely wound Trump or Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, it would be potentially catastrophic for our democracy.
In the long term, given the rising number of threats against public officials and the violence-tinged rhetoric in national politics, Congress needs to increase Secret Service funding so the agency can hire more staff and beef up protection. In the short term — i.e., through Election Day — the Secret Service should pull out all the stops to provide Trump and Harris with as close as possible to the same level of protection a sitting president would receive.
According to law enforcement, the accused shooter, Ryan W. Routh, 58, was hiding in bushes near a golf course Trump owns in West Palm Beach, a few hundred yards away from the former president. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County said on Sunday that a Secret Service agent, who was one hole ahead of Trump on the golf course, caught sight of the gun barrel and began firing. Routh fled and was arrested shortly afterward in a traffic stop.
It seems hard to imagine that the Secret Service was only one hole ahead of its charge. But, Bradshaw said, “he’s not the sitting president — if he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded.”
“I would imagine that the next time he comes at a golf course, there’ll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter,” Bradshaw said. There appears to have been ample time and opportunity to detect Routh’s presence: Prosecutors said his cellphone location data suggested he’d been there for about 12 hours.
The Secret Service was heavily criticized in July after Trump was shot at by a man during a campaign stop in Butler, Pa. In that case, the would-be assassin was able to get onto a rooftop about 450 feet from the stage where Trump spoke. One of the bullets grazed Trump’s ear and the agency’s former director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned in the fallout. The agency then stepped up protection for Trump.
It’s impossible to guarantee total safety for public officials, especially in a country awash in firearms and with porous gun control laws. (Routh is a convicted felon who shouldn’t have been able to acquire the rifle he was carrying.) A truly determined and skilled assassin will be hard to stop. But both of these incidents appear to have been preventable. Although we can only speculate about what Routh was thinking, the first assassination attempt could even have encouraged the second, by showing the world how leaky the protective net around Trump was.
Problems at the Secret Service have been well-documented for a decade. It’s overworked, understaffed, and still has too many noncore responsibilities, like chasing currency counterfeiters.
Not to minimize counterfeiting, but the agency, and leadership, needs to be solely focused on its protective mission, particularly now, when violent political rhetoric is so common. The government doesn’t protect presidents, presidential candidates, former presidents, and other dignitaries just for their own sakes. It is critical to our democracy that this country’s leadership is settled by ballots, not bullets.
On Monday, President Biden reiterated a plea for more support for the agency. “One thing I want to make clear is: The [Secret] Service needs more help,” Biden said. “And I think Congress should respond to their need.”
As polarized and angry as politics may be now, it could get a whole lot worse. An outbreak of political violence against the highest officials is a Pandora’s box that should never be opened. Keeping it closed is the Secret Service’s most crucial job, and for the next two months keeping Trump and Harris safe needs to be its highest priority.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board.
