Secret Service: Retired Bush will be 'high value terrorist target'

David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Thursday June 21, 2007 Print This Email This

CNN reported Thursday that the Secret Service expects President Bush to be "a high value terrorist target after he leaves office." They then showed the Secret Service practicing to deal with everything from James Bond-style stealth weapons to roadside IED's in order to meet that challenge.

Retired agent Terry Samway told CNN, "We have the mandate to make sure that whatever they did during their presidency, they are still safe from any of those lingering issues after their presidency."

Even before 9/11, the cost of protection for former presidents was estimated as $24 million a year, and Bush will be guarded by an unprecedented 103 full-time agents starting in January 2009. However, a 1997 law limits the duration of Secret Service protection for former presidents to just 10 years.

"But before they can protect a president or former president," concluded CNN, "the new recruits are drilled in the basics, including target practice at 100 yards and then a sprint to load and fire again -- this time much more up close and personal."

The following video is from CNN's News Room, broadcast on June 21.







