After an attack on Trump - These men and women protect the Chancellor
When Thomas Matthew Crooks pressed the trigger of his rifle on a Saturday, it became clear that the Secret Service was in for uncomfortable weeks ahead. The US agency is responsible for protecting the sitting president and their predecessors. This included Donald Trump, the target of Crooks' shots.
Although the former US President escaped with just an ear wound from the bullet, the question remains whether the security personnel failed. After all, the shooter should not have been able to reach the building next to Trump's rally in the US state of Pennsylvania, let alone take the shot.
The assassination confirms the perilous situation that US political elites have always faced. Seven presidents have been targeted, four of whom did not survive their injuries.
But even leading German politicians live dangerously. In October last year, the police arrested five suspects who had planned to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. In May, a man attacked Berlin Senator for Economics Franziska Giffey (both SPD) from behind. How are German top politicians protected?
Even while jogging, the Chancellor is not alone
The security of the constitutional organs of the Federation is the responsibility of the "Sicherungsgruppe" department of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). It protects the Federal Chancellor and the ministers, the Federal President, and the members of the Bundestag, Bundesrat, and the Federal Constitutional Court. On a state level, the responsibility lies with the state criminal police (LKAs). In the case of the attack on Giffey, there were no LKA officers present.
Experts divide the threat level into three so-called threat categories. In the third category ("medium"), BKA officers accompany politicians "occasionally," as it is called in the jargon, such as during campaign appearances. In the second category ("high"), the agency expands protective measures.
The first category ("very high") applies only to persons for whom an attack is always a possibility. They are accompanied by bodyguards around the clock, both on duty and on vacation. This includes – by office – the Federal Chancellor and the Federal President. But also Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), or Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) are intensively protected by the BKA.
The BKA assesses the level of danger itself. The evaluation is based on the office held by a politician, but also on the concrete threat situation. What matters most is not whether an appearance is public or private, official or personal. Instead, the scope of protective measures depends on the "assessment of individual risk." This is why BKA personnel were also present at the wedding of Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) on Sylt.
But what does "round-the-clock protection" in the highest threat category mean concretely? Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder once joked that his bodyguards did not accompany him "to bed or to the bathroom." His successor Olaf Scholz (both SPD) was even seen jogging with his bodyguards.
Scholz's bodyguards open the door for him when he gets out of his armored limousine. They follow him step for step, securing rooms before the Chancellor enters them. When Scholz holds a speech in the Bundestag, they keep him in their sight from the side entrances of the plenary hall.
A heavy mishap occurred for their protectees around about one year ago. At that time, a man was able to approach the Chancellor unhindered on the field of Frankfurt Airport and embrace him.
In Doubt They Risk Their Lives
The bodyguards are expected to put their own health at risk for their employer in doubt. The "basis" for the service is, "to behave in such a way that the person is protected, if necessary with their own life", said Rainer Schanz, the former bodyguard of Gerhard Schroeder and Angela Merkel, recently to *stern. They must throw themselves into the line of fire and stand in the way of an advancing attacker – without hesitation.
In their dark suits, always with a button in the ear, Federal Eagle on the reverse, and pistol at the belt, bodyguards are easily recognizable. But the BKA also uses undercover officers who mix in with the audience at appearances by politicians.
The protection of the interior of buildings where politicians reside permanently is also the responsibility of the BKA. This includes both official offices such as the Federal Chancellery, but also private residences. This includes the installation of bulletproof windows.
Even AfD Politicians Receive Personal Protection
Even Bundestag members can receive personal protection. In Germany, for example, top functionaries of the AfD are protected on the state's expense. Many politicians of the partly extremist right-wing party are targets of unregulated threats.
Not only the chairwomen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla are permanently accompanied by bodyguards at public events. Thuringia's AfD state chairman Bjoern Hoecke has been receiving similar protection for at least seven years, like Minister President Bodo Ramelow (Linke). Even Hoecke's family is guarded.
Immediately before the Bundestag election 2021, a list of target persons with their home addresses was published on a left-extremist website. Hoecke was also on the list. "Let's kill the pigs of the AfD with explosives", it said there.
The State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Hans-Georg Engelke, explained in March 2021 in the Bundestag in response to a question from an AfD deputy: "The general threat situation of the office and mandate holders is regularly checked and updated by the Federal Criminal Police Office. This also applies to the members of the AfD faction in the German Bundestag." In doing so, the "specific threat situation" due to politically motivated criminality "is expressly taken into account".
- Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the responsibility for protecting German political leaders falls on the "Sicherungsgruppe" department of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).
- In the highest threat category, BKA personnel provide round-the-clock protection to high-risk individuals, such as Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was seen jogging with his bodyguards.
- Rainer Schanz, a former bodyguard for German leaders Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel, stated that bodyguards are expected to put their lives at risk for their employer if necessary.
- Even prominent members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, like Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, receive personal protection due to frequent threats against them.
