It often goes unnoticed, but it’s attention to detail that makes the U.S. Secret Service the world’s finest protective force.
The agency is constantly working to learn from previous assassination attempts. And it gained another opportunity this week when a pro-Beijing politician, Junius Ho, was attacked with a knife on a Hong Kong street. Ho lacked a protective detail but survived with only minor injuries. Still, had this attack been replicated against an individual with U.S. Secret Service protection, it likely would have failed. The same cannot be said of other Western protective agencies, such as those in Britain.
To understand why, watch this BBC video below (another video shows the actual moment when Ho was stabbed).
Now let’s pretend that this occurred in America. Depending on the Secret Service detail’s size — which is a minimum of two agents on any one shift — Ho’s equivalent would have either have been surrounded by agents on all sides or had one agent facing outwards and one agent just behind him.
At first, the agents would not have been too concerned with the man approaching, carrying flowers. The flowers would have drawn their attention and focus, but agents are accustomed to political junkies seeking selfies and throwing their babies in politicians’ faces.
But the Secret Service detail would quickly have become more alert when the man reached towards his bag with the words “Let me take out my phone, OK?”
Secret Service agents are taught to watch for diversions — which, incidentally, is why the agency doesn’t overreact to protests. In this case, the bag movement would have sparked the detail’s concern as to the purpose of the flowers. Namely, that the man might not actually have been interested in saying hello and offering a gift, but rather in gaining proximity to the politician while getting his guard down.
The agents would have found the “Let me take out my phone, OK?” particularly noteworthy. After all, agents are also taught to read body language and microexpressions for protective inferences. And it’s odd to ask to take a phone out after requesting a photo. Watch any video of a political rally and you will see fans with their phones already out, ready to take a photo. (Cellphones raise their own security issues for the Secret Service, but that’s another matter.)
Now comes the hard part. The movement from withdrawing the knife to the actual strike is measured in less than a second. This means the agents would have had to react almost instantly to cover and evacuate the politician or “protectee.”
If the protectee had a small Secret Service detail, one or two agents would have engaged the attacker and the others would have pulled the protectee away. With a larger detail, such as those provided to the president, vice president, and high-polling presidential candidates, the two agents alongside the protectee would have sought to deflect the attack. The detail agent in charge or shift supervisor would have simultaneously pulled the protectee rearward and on a turn away from the attack.
But the small details are key. To maximize their ability to successfully intercept an attack, agents are trained to operate at a “hands ready” posture, with their hands raised just below chest level. To maximize their ability to efficiently evacuate a protectee, a shift supervisor will sometimes hold a protectee’s belt as a leverage point to yank him back. The supervisor and other agents on would then have rushed the protectee to a stronghold defensive position.
This stronghold might be a controlled, defensible room if indoors or an armored vehicle — door already open — if outside. Depending on the nature of the threat, the Secret Service Counter Assault Team would then engage the attackers or support the motorcade evacuation.
To make a long story short, we are lucky to have this very fine agency protecting our elections and our elected officials.
