If John McCain is elected president, the first thing he should do is fire Mark Sullivan as head of the Secret Service. Last week Sullivan revealed publicly that the Republican presidential contender had not asked for Secret Service protection, even though he is entitled to it by law. Announcing that McCain was unprotected placed the senator in greater danger, and by the weekend, McCain had agreed to submit to Secret Service protection.
Because the agency will not reveal the most benign facts about its operation — claiming that doing so would jeopardize the security of its protectees — it is inconceivable that Sullivan’s revelation was not calculated to force McCain’s hand. The motivation is obvious: Sullivan likely is less concerned about protecting McCain than he is about protecting his own turf.
