Changes in U.S. Secret Service Protection of Presidents Over the Years

When presidents leave the White House, they are accompanied by a phalanx of Secret Service agents and officers. Cars can no longer drive past what is often called the people’s house at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The gate is up, and don’t even try to get past the gate without an appointment or a badge.

The number of people under surveillance has also increased, including vice presidents, former presidents, candidates, family members and others who are receiving protection.

During the Civil War, Lincoln was reluctant to have the White House resemble an armed camp, but by late 1864, several police officers were assigned to guard him, according to the White House Historical Association. President Franklin Pierce was the first to have a full-time bodyguard, in 1853.

It was not until 1901, after President William McKinley was assassinated, that Congress directed the Secret Service (originally a department of the Treasury Department dedicated to prosecuting counterfeiters) to protect the commander in chief.

Since then, the protective details have grown and evolved, often in response to assassinations, dire situations or other major security incidents. Former Secret Service agents say the agency is studying the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life at a rally in Pennsylvania a week ago and making changes to accommodate it.

The attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 is often cited as a turning point in how the Secret Service operates.

Reagan was emerging from the Washington Hilton hotel when John Hinckley Jr. opened fire from a crowd of onlookers and reporters just 15 feet, or less than 5 meters, away. Hinckley fired six shots before Secret Service agents tackled him. The last shot ricocheted off a limousine and into Reagan.

Some of the changes that followed, though not so obvious to the outsider, were nonetheless crucial. For example, the Secret Service began assigning an agent to the small group of reporters who traveled with the president, so they would know if anyone was infiltrating the group.

After the Reagan shooting, presidents were also driven in through underground parking garages. If that is not possible, a cover is placed around the entrance to block the view as the president enters or exits a vehicle.

“Nobody walks through the front door anymore,” said retired Secret Service supervisory agent Bobby McDonald, now a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven. Secret Service presidents and protégés have seen more loading docks and walked through more kitchens than ever before.

Joseph LaSorsa, a retired Secret Service agent who served from 1976 to 1996 and was part of Reagan’s security detail, said that in the post-Reagan era, metal detectors were also increasingly used to screen crowds approaching the president, to prevent weapons from entering the secure area around the leader.

Changes also followed the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 as he drove through Dallas in a convertible, former agents say. Presidents no longer sit in open vehicles, but wave to bystanders through the thick glass of a heavily armored limousine nicknamed “the Beast.”

Former officers also say there is much more attention to preparing for trips and more has been done to secure the routes of the convoys.

Changes have also been made in the White House to make it more secure.

On one day in May 1995, an estimated 26,000 cars drove down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House. The next day, the street was eerily quiet after workers installed concrete barriers at both ends to block off access.

Mounting security concerns a month after the Oklahoma City bombing of a federal building led to the closure. Other changes included restrictions on air travel after a small plane crashed on the White House lawn in 1994. The mansion was also hit by gunfire twice that year.

Then-President Bill Clinton said the street closure was necessary to protect against the kind of attack seen in Oklahoma City, but vowed that people’s access to the White House and their president would not be impeded. He even vowed that protesters would still have the right to walk onto the White House grounds. Many still do.

Thomas Jefferson first built a wooden fence around the White House around 1801. In 1808, he replaced this fence with a stone wall.

To deter jumping over the fence, sharp metal spikes were installed in 2015, and its height was later doubled to about 13 feet (4 meters). That later renovation widened the space between the bars slightly, just enough to allow a small or mischievous child to slip through.

Heightened security around the president inevitably increases the distance between Americans. While people can still visit the White House, they must request tours through their member of Congress and provide their identification to the Secret Service in advance.

Paul Eckloff, a retired Secret Service agent who worked on security for three presidents during his 23-year career, says he often hears people say the president shouldn’t hold outdoor rallies or should stay away from people.

He understands the trade-off: More security means more separation between the president and the people. As an agent, Eckloff said, he always saw his job not as protecting the person but as the office of the presidency.

If I woke up in a country where the president of the United States lives in a castle, never speaks to voters, and no ordinary American ever gets a chance to see him, I wouldn’t consider my sacrifice worth it, he said.

First print: Jul 20, 2024 | 9:43 PM IST