$16.5 mil for hiring and training the Secret Service detail that will protect W after he leaves

[n2doc]

He asked for 5 mill, CONgress bumped it up to 16.5...maybe they know that he is going to need a lot of protecting?


Monday, December 18, 2006
Bush gives little thought to life after White House
But Secret Service protection for him will be very high

By KEN HERMAN
COX NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- In a recent hand-scribbled note, President Bush insisted he is not giving much thought to life after the White House.

"Thanks for 'Second Acts' and your very kind letter," he said in a letter to Mark Updegrove, author of a new book about post-presidential life. "I'm not quite ready to take the stage for the 2nd act. After a two-year sprint, then I'll take the lessons of your book to heart." Bush may not be thinking about the next act, but planners are planning for it. And they foresee an unprecedented post-presidency, largely because of the war. The White House sought $5 million in the 2007 budget to begin hiring and training the Secret Service detail that will protect Bush after he leaves office. The money also will be used to protect 2008 presidential candidates. Congress bumped the appropriation up to $16.5 million.

"The increase in the budget is for the most part the result of the post-9/11 threat environment," said Joanna Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. "It's expected that the post-presidency protection is going to require significantly more resources." Gonzalez noted that former Presidents Clinton and Bush have maintained "very active profiles" since leaving office. "We expect the current president to do the same," she said.

Bush has said little about what he plans to do when he heads back to Texas. He has the ranch in Crawford, and the Bushes also could establish a home elsewhere, perhaps in Dallas, where Southern Methodist University -- Laura Bush's alma mater -- is a favorite in the contest to house Bush's presidential library. The White House, as usual, declined to talk about security plans. The Secret Service money came through a committee headed by Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky. Planning for unprecedented protection for Bush after he leaves office was a no-brainer, said Rogers spokesman Jim Pettit. "This is the first president we've had post-9/11," Pettit said. "Given the overall threat environment, there are going to be new concerns."

Former Secret Service agent Chuck Vance, who is a former son-in-law of former President Ford, said Bush's post-presidency will include a variety of challenges. "One thing is, he is a relatively young man, and young men are more active and always on the road," said Vance, now a security consultant in Virginia. "That takes a lot of manpower and a lot of team effort." And, Vance noted, Bush will be a target. "He is the only president that invaded a country without provocation and without it being started by the other side. I think he has gained a lot of enmity. ... There are a lot of people who resent this president, both externally and internally, some of whom have lost sons and daughters and had people injured in the war in Iraq," he said.

more
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/296244_bush18.html

[wakeme2008]

1. The Crawford Pig Farm will be sold

Laura will only live in a major city.

Also IMHO, when Bush leaves office, he will not travel as much as they expect. Who want to host King George ONCE he leaves office?

[WinkyDink]

12. He won't travel; he has zero interest in anything.

[ToolTex]

2. I doubt that $16.5 million can keep him safe from The Hague judges?

But it probably can keep us from getting our hands on him like the French people did with Louis XVI.

[elocs]

15. "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride."

There are 2 chances that Bush would ever end up in the Hague: none, and none. I would love to win $16.5 million in the lottery, but the odd against that are astronomical. I may wish for that, but being in touch with reality I know it will never happen.

[Jack from Charlotte]

23. Where would he travel to? Which countries would welcome him? None. (nfm)

*

[Perky]

3. Well tobe fair some of the moneyis going to the '08 campaign

But Former Presidents typiclly only travel when there is honorariums involved and W just doe not inspire people to want to ho hear him (Nizon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I and Clinton all had important things to say or atleast could spekk either intelligently or from the heart)

[ToolTex]

4. Those last few sentences in the OP are priceless. Vance can't quite call him

the most hated man in the entire world, but gets pretty close while hacking around the shrub.

[napi21]

5. I really don't expect Shrub to travel much. I doubt he'll stay in Crawford

either. I believe there are many times he walks around the residence saying "What the hell did I do this for?" I think he's just going to have a good time partying and hiding from the media.

[Disturbed]

6. How many years does the SS protect an Ex- Pres?

Hmmmmmm?

[Cooley Hurd]

7. For the rest of his lifetime...

[hlthe2b]

13. NO.. they changed it... Clinton is last to get lifetime: GWB gets 10yrs

Daddy Bush will of course still get lifetime, but once he is gone, Babs the Horrible will be vulnerable too...

Like everyone here, I'm sure, I absolutely wish NOTHING to ever happen to any of them. I just want the entire BFEE to go away--live out their lives in whatever way they wish--just disappear from the public stage and let us try to contain all the damage they have wrought on the "little people."

However, this may well validate the Paraguay rumours...

[Canuckistanian]

18. I hope the SS guys like Paraguay

Sounds like they're going to be spending a lot of time there.

[napi21]

19. Until he dies and is burried. I believe most ex Prez. aren't really much of a problem, and it's

pretty much gravy duty for the SS. This one however,is going to be a challenge! They'll not only have to guard him closely if and when he travels abroad, but here in the US as well!

Edit: I was wrong! See this.

Under a 1994 law, the Secret Service detail for ex-presidents and their families lasts for 10 years. That protection can be extended if it appears there is still a threat. The law applies to presidents who took office after January 1997, meaning Clinton still gets lifetime protection.

Some former Secret Service officials and presidential scholars predict Congress eventually will reverse its decision to stop guarding former presidents for their entire lives.

(snip)

Congress ended the lifetime protection requirement after debating it for years. Lawmakers said they were troubled by the cost and noted that former President Richard Nixon dropped his Secret Service detail in 1985, nine years before his death.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/opinion/story.asp?ID=162083

[n2doc]

22. When that happens they should just save time

and install a urinal over his gravesite...

[liberal N proud]

8. How much to keep him in prison where he belongs?

THey would need fewer SS agents if he were locked up. Maybe someday it will happen

[Selatius]

9. No, a better use of the extra 11.5 million could go to paying off the National Debt

Y'know, the one that GWB increased by roughly 3,000,000,000,000 dollars. He's blown enough money.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Frivolous Bullshit!

Borrow and spend republicans are out to bring down the country and turn it over to the Nazis!

[sweetheart]

11. the yakuza has to be out for him

He's crossed a lot of people billions and billions of dollars,
murdered hundreds of thousands and thrown millions in to prison
on his tenture, i'm sure that there are lots of people who have
reasonable motive, and surely they need to keep him in an underground
bunker for the rest of his life.

Another possibility is to get the scumbag out of the country to
an island like elba, or st. helena, and then they can just mine the
seas and keep a squadron in the air over him.. that might protect him
from his own karma, or maybe not...

[maine_raptor]

14. Where ever he chooses to live as an ex-Prez

Should immediately be declared non-American Territory. Let him pay for his own protection, he can afford it, we (the American People) can't.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Shove him on a static cycle and show him a movie of a track

and then you get some useful work out of him at last - hook it up to a generator, and you can light the cell next door. "The Triplets of Belleville" showed us the way. He'd also be very easy to protect. It would even keep him happy.

[elocs]

17. I would be careful about what you post here and do not go over the line.

Bush is, no matter how untastefully, still the president and there are some in authority who take their jobs seriously regardless. I realize that there is a lot of venting going on about Bush and that people are just indulging in their fantasies and there is nothing wrong with that, but nobody wants a visit from somebody they would not want to see. I think we are all aware of what the line is that should not be crossed. So it is fine to fantasize seeing Bush impeached, convicted, and traveling to the Hague if it makes you feel better as long as you know the difference between fantasy and reality. It's a long shot, but I may be driving in a car near yours.

[IA_Seth]

20. If I hear 'post 9/11' one more time.... ugh. n/t

[kentuck]

21. I call bullshit!

Why should this guy have more protection than Bill CLinton? Senator Jesse Helms once said that Clinton would need to watch his back if he came to NC...