STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We evaluate the Secret Service performance in protecting a former American president.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Former President Trump was golfing on his West Palm Beach course yesterday afternoon when a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of the bushes. Florida police later arrested Ryan Wesley Routh, a man whose social media feed testifies to his interest in politics and the war in Ukraine.
INSKEEP: Let's go to Bill Gage, a former Secret Service agent who's now a senior security consultant with SafeHaven Security Group. Welcome back to the program, sir.
BILL GAGE: Hi, Steve. Thanks for having me.
INSKEEP: So I'm thinking about what the Secret Service has told us. The former president is golfing. Somebody's going one hole ahead. An agent is going one hole ahead of him and spots this rifle barrel. They engage the suspect. They later catch him. Those are the basics. How would you evaluate the job the agents did there?
GAGE: Well, you know, this model that the Secret Service uses for when presidents golf goes back to the Eisenhower administration. He was one of the first golfing presidents. And, you know, they have a sort of model that they use, with agents ahead and behind kind of securing the golf course the best they can. This is a public golf course. I know it's a private club, but essentially, it is a public course.
I've golfed with presidents many times, mostly Obama at military courses. So those are much easier to secure. I can remember generals and colonels being turned away at these golf courses because they could just shut the golf course down, but this presents a challenge to the service. But, you know, as far as their performance here, I think the Secret Service performed well. An agent - they haven't released what agent, what section of the Secret Service, whether this was a countersniper, just like we saw in Pennsylvania...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
GAGE: ...Whether this was a countersurveillance - like, a plain-clothes Secret Service agent acting just like a golfer. So they haven't released who actually noticed the gunman and shot back. But I think as far as the model goes that the Secret Service uses for protecting presidents at golf courses, I think the model was successful here, and it sounds like the agents performed well.
INSKEEP: Yeah, and everybody's safe, that's for sure. Interesting - you mentioned sometimes they will act just like golfers, you're saying. They'll be actually - like, they're out there hitting a shot.
GAGE: That's right. You know, they'll have - in their golf bag, they'll actually have weapons, and they'll be dressed like golfers. There'll be some for this model that Service uses - very overt, very noticeable agents around the president - but there'll be some that you would never think are Secret Service agents.
INSKEEP: Now, let me ask you this question. You mentioned a military course would have been easier to secure. This more public facility or private facility was harder to secure. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw yesterday - that there was a limited number of agents assigned because of his status. Let's listen to a little bit of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RIC BRADSHAW: He's not the sitting president. If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded.
INSKEEP: Is that true that there would have been more personnel for the sitting president than happened in this situation?
GAGE: It is true, Steve, but it's got to be taken into context here. And a lot of this came out after Pennsylvania - after Butler, Pa., the...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
GAGE: ...First attempt on President Trump's life. You know, where former presidents sort of don't rate the same protection as a sitting president now, there has been some news released in the last couple of weeks where the military is going to be providing more assets to both Vice President Harris and former President Trump. And a lot of that's based on threats. A lot of it's based on crowd size. So what he's saying there is true, but it has to be taken into context that historically former presidents just don't have the footprint that a sitting president would have, and so the Secret Service would not rate them at the same level as a sitting president.
But, Steve, I've seen the internet chatter and some of the internet comments by members of Congress and press conferences, and that is not based on politics at all, Steve. That is strictly based on crowd size and threats. So the Secret Service makes a judgment call based on a variety of factors, politics not being one of them.
INSKEEP: Bill Gage is a senior security consultant with SafeHaven Security Group. Thanks so much for your insights.
GAGE: Thanks, Steve. Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
