Why a secret service detail matters

From the files of Dan Bongino at The Conservative Review

Click Here to Read the Dan Bongino Files

Despite the recent spate of negative headlines, the Secret Service is still the best in the business with regard to protection.

I spent twelve years of my life as a Secret Service agent working alongside some of the most intelligent and hard-working men and women I've ever met and no one conducts as thorough a security operation as they do.

There is no free market-equivalent in the security arena that has the assets or accumulated expertise which the Secret Service has access to, and the benefits to a presidential candidate of a Secret Service detail are invaluable.

The process of acquiring a Secret Service detail as a presidential candidate is relatively straightforward.

Title 18 of the United States Code Section 3056 states that "major" presidential, and vice presidential candidates, along with their spouses are entitled to Secret Service protection 120 days from the general election, although this "within 120 days of the general Presidential election" has become largely vestigial in this new era of campaigning where, start to finish, presidential campaigns can last two years and longer.

Then-Senator Barack Obama received a Secret Service detail over 500 days from the general election and with the announcement this week of Secret Service protection details for presidential candidates, Ben Carson and Donald Trump, this requirement looks to have been waived again.

A committee consisting of the DHS Secretary and select Members of the House and Senate evaluate hard metrics such as funds raised, national poll numbers, and crowd sizes and, using that information, decide who qualifies as a "major" candidate.

The implications of this decision to assign Secret Service protection details to Mr. Trump and Mr. Carson are significant.

Disregarding for a moment the immeasurable emotional boost to the candidate and his family, of knowing that their security is being handled by this experienced group of professionals, there are significant secondary advantages imparted on a presidential campaign through the Secret Service protection detail as well.

Follow Dan Bongino at The Conservative Review

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Dan Bongino is the bestselling author of the book Life Inside the Bubble and is a Contributing Editor at Conservative Review. He was the 2012 and 2014 Republican nominee for the United States Senate and 6th congressional district in Maryland. 

He served for over a decade as a special agent in the United States Secret Service, and currently owns a security consulting business. 

You can follow Dan Bongino on his website, at Facebook or on Twitter.

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