Just two seconds

by Gavin De Becker; Thomas A. Taylor; Jeff Marquart

  Details: Betancourt was abducted by FARC rebels at a roadblock, while driving into a volatile area of southern Colombia. Her campaign manager, Clara Rojas, was also taken hostage. Betancourt had always been a severe critic of the FARC, but had ignored military advice not to travel to the area.

  852. Date: April 2002

  Target: Governor Guillermo Gavira

  Location: Urrao, Colombia

  Details: Guillermo was kidnapped by FARC rebels along with former Defense Minister Gilberto Echeverri Mejia. Both men were killed along with eight other hostages, during a failed rescue attempt by Colombian special forces on May 5, 2003.

  853. Date: September 12, 2002

  Target: Lukoil Executive Sergei Kukura

  Location: Vnukovo, Russia

  Details: Kukura was en route to work in his company Mercedes with his driver and a bodyguard. Kukura's car was pulled over by a Volga bearing an Interior Ministry license plate. Another car cut in front of Kukura's car, boxing it in, and at least five masked men with automatic weapons dismounted their vehicles. After quickly overwhelming the Mercedes, the abductors ordered Kukura, his driver, and his bodyguard to exit the vehicle. The attackers impersonated police officers ostensibly carrying out a vehicle search and document check. As the Mercedes was being searched, Kukura and his escorts were handcuffed and blindfolded. After the attackers had secured the three men, the driver and bodyguard were injected with sleep-inducing sedatives and placed back in the Mercedes. Kukura was then forced into the Volga and driven away. Lukoil had offered a reward of nearly $6 million for information leading to Kukura's release. Thirteen days later, Kukura was dropped off at his residence unharmed by his abductors. According to the prosecutor, no ransom was paid.

  854. Date: June 2, 2003

  Target: Politician Jose Genoino

  Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil

  Details: Genoino was about to leave his apartment to take part in a TV talk show when he realized he had forgotten his comb. He left his driver and press assistant waiting in the car and returned to his apartment. When he returned, he found his car, driver, and staff member had been kidnapped and robbed. The hostages were released unharmed shortly after.

  855. Date: September 21, 2004

  Target: Cecilia Cubas (daughter of former President Raul Cubas)

  Location: Asuncion, Paraguay

  Details: Cubas was abducted near her home in a paramilitary-style operation. Her father, a businessman who was briefly president at the end of the 1990s, is reported to have paid an $800,000 ransom for her return, only to have the alleged kidnappers break off contact. Officials found her body in an underground chamber at a house near Asuncion. Six people were been arrested in connection with the kidnapping. Paraguayan prosecutors say one of them was in contact with a senior official in Colombia's main leftist rebel group, the FARC. The FARC rebels have kidnapped hundreds of people in Colombia but are not thought to have carried out abductions abroad.

  856. Date: March 28, 2006

  Target: Businessman Filippo Sindoni

  Location: Carora, Venezuela

  Details: Three men dressed in police uniforms stopped Sindoni's car at a checkpoint and abducted him. His driver was not taken captive. Sindoni's body was found the following day. He was shot in the head and his hands were bound. There was no ransom demand made.

  857. Date: April 3, 2006

  Target: Former Wife of Singer Garth Brooks

  Location: Oklahoma

  Details: The former wife of country singer Garth Brooks was reportedly abducted by a worker on her rural Oklahoma farm, but eventually escaped unharmed. She had allowed a bail bondsman onto her property after finding out one of her employees, Quintine Harper, was wanted on an outstanding warrant. Harper allegedly drew a gun and forced Brooks to drive him several miles before she finally stopped the car and ran into a convenience store. Harper was arrested the next day and charged with kidnapping and weapons violations.

  858. Date: June 30, 2006

  Target: Legislator Tayseer Mashhadani

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Gunmen in two vehicles hijacked Mashhadani's convoy as she traveled to the capital. She and eight bodyguards are still missing.

  859. Date: July 3, 2006

  Target: Deputy Electricity Minister Raad Hareth

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Gunmen wearing military uniforms and traveling in five vehicles ambushed Hareth's four-car convoy. They kidnapped Hareth and his 19 bodyguards. They released him the following day, but the fate of his bodyguards is unknown.

  860. Date: August 7, 2006

  Target: Businessman Guido Vitiello

  Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti

  Details: A group of armed men entered Vitiello's villa. They shot Vitiello and left him tied to a chair before abducting his wife, Gigliola Martino. Vitiello later died of his wounds in a hospital. Investigators believed Martino was kidnapped for ransom. Martino was also briefly kidnapped last year and released unharmed.

  861. Date: August 25, 2006

  Target: Legislator Rodney Alcide

  Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti

  Details: Gunmen kidnapped Alcide along with his driver and bodyguard. Alcide was reportedly freed unharmed two hours later, but the driver and bodyguard were still held the following day. It was unclear whether a ransom had been paid. Authorities blamed the kidnapping on well-armed street gangs based in the capital's violent slums.

  "As soon as there is life, there is danger."

  Emerson

  Section 2

  Unintentional Harm

  In the course of our many years of protecting at-risk people, we never had one assassin or terrorist burst through the door with guns blazing -- but we have handled countless emergencies involving other risks.

  In this section we have divided incidents into three categories. The first deals with pitfalls and accidents, including falls. The second section provides a sample of the more newsworthy cases of sudden illness and other medical emergencies. The third section covers situations that can be classified as "wrong place/wrong time," in which the protectee was the victim of a crime, as opposed to the target of an attack. Though the heading "Unintentional Harm" sounds innocuous, any of these situations can be lethal; accordingly, we sought to derive new insights through studying a sample of cases.

  In 1975, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger came to Jefferson City, Missouri, to make an appearance with the governor. Kissinger was under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service at the time, and agents arrived a few days ahead to advance the trip. This amounted to discussing the details -- which car would they ride in, who would drive follow-up, which doors would they use -- and rehearsing every movement. It was decided that Dr. Kissinger would enter the governor's office through the double doors on the portico, which were located behind the governor's desk. Suddenly, the lead advance agent stopped and stated, "He can't come through these doors." The governor's detail leader asked why. The agent pointed over the door to a large brass state seal, which hung by chains over the doorway, like a 300-pound Sword of Damocles. "I don't want him walking under that," the agent announced. "It might fall on him." The governor's detail looked up at the seal which their governor sat directly under eight hours a day, five days a week, as had many governors before him. They were comfortable with their protectee spending most of his working hours seated under it, but the agents didn't want to trust the chains for even the split second it would take Kissinger to walk under the seal! So it was moved. If you go into the governor's office today, you will find the brass seal perched on a tripod in the corner of the office.

  Between the blind trust of the governor's bodyguards that the seal would never fall, and the agent's intuition that it might, lies a diverse difference of opinion about risk. The agent's opinion was not based on fact; the seal had never fallen and there was no evidence that the chains were weak or poorly fastened. However, after seeing a situation that made him uncomfortable, he listened
to his intuition, and wisely took action that reduced the perceived risk. Risk reduction is, after all, one of the primary missions for security personnel. Among these cases, you'll find several in which the actions of protectors favorably or even heroically helped protectees. Still, STARS are not awarded for cases in this section because STARS relate to attack situations.

  Section 2A: Accidents

  A pitfall is defined as a danger or difficulty that is not easily anticipated or avoided. In 1989, the security detail for a Midwest governor accompanied him to Washington, D.C., to attend the inaugural ceremonies for President George H. W. Bush. They were riding in a two-vehicle motorcade, proceeding across town in moderate traffic. As they reached an intersection, the lead car, carrying the governor and his family, proceeded through the green light. The follow-up vehicle, carrying additional officers and staff people, entered the intersection and was plowed into by a car running a red light. A fraction of a second earlier, and the governor and his family would have been hit. If for example, the governor had paused for a second longer while getting into his car, the whole outcome would have been much different.

  A judge touring a building during renovations falls down the elevator shaft and is seriously injured. An airplane carrying a prince blows a tire on landing and slides off the runway. A car carrying a governor is involved in a serious traffic accident. These are all pitfalls, accidents that occur as often as attacks, sometimes through fault of the protectee, and sometimes not. These happenings can injure or kill the protectee just as surely as a terrorist car bomb. Machiavelli noted, "Unexpected accidents cannot be easily prevented, but those foreseen may easily be remedied." This section is a sampling of accidents that were not foreseen.

  862. Date: September 18, 1961

  Victim: U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold

  Location: Ndola, Congo

  Details: Hammarskjold and fourteen others were flying on a diplomatic mission when their DC-6 crashed on final approach, killing all but one. The cause of the crash could not be determined.

  863. Date: October 29, 1970

  Victim: President Richard Nixon

  Location: San Clemente, California

  Details: President Nixon was staying at the "Western White House," his private residence called Casa Pacifica. Nixon's valet had built a fire in the study fireplace. After Nixon had gone to bed, a fire alarm sounded in the Secret Service command post. An agent on post reported an "unusual fog" around the main house. Agents called the valet to check the house. The valet's wife called back, screaming that the house was on fire. Agents quickly evacuated Nixon to a safe location. Other agents extinguished the fire by the time the San Clemente Volunteer Fire Department arrived. (Though the protective strategy of having smoke detection, and the actions of evacuating Nixon were effective and meaningful, STARS are applied only to attack incidents.)

  864. Date: October 14, 1975

  Victim: President Gerald Ford

  Location: Hartford, Connecticut

  Details: Ford was riding in his motorcade through Hartford. At 9:51 p.m., the scout car reported that there was no traffic control at an intersection. At 9:54, the pilot car reported that a local police motorcycle had stopped traffic at the intersection, but then continued on. Fifteen seconds later, while the President's limousine was running through a red light at the intersection, a car with six teenagers drove through a green light and slammed into the right side of the President's limousine. Secret Service agents surrounded the teenagers' car, not knowing if it was an attack. Ford was uninjured.

  865. Date: August 13, 1987

  Victim: President Ronald Reagan

  Location: Santa Barbara, California

  Details: While approaching his ranch in helicopter Marine One, a small airplane came dangerously close, causing Reagan's helicopter to take evasive action. The airplane pilot was detained, and then released without charges.

  866. Date: August 17, 1988

  Victim: President Zia ul-Haq

  Location: Bahawalpur, Pakistan

  Details: The Pakistan Air Force C-130, carrying ul-Haq and 36 other dignataries, including U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel, exploded after takeoff, killing all on board. Some believe it was an act of sabotage.

  867. Date: July 14, 1991

  Victim: PLO Official Yasser Arafat

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Arafat's motorcade was driving across Iraq at over 100 mph when his limousine lost control and overturned. His bodyguard shielded him, breaking both arms, and Arafat was unhurt.

  868. Date: August 7, 1992

  Victim: Governor Brereton Jones

  Location: Frankfort, Kentucky

  Details: A state helicopter, transporting Jones from the Capitol, crash-landed near the interstate highway. Everyone on board was injured, including his state trooper bodyguard. They were all soaked in aviation fuel, but no fire broke out and they all survived.

  869. Date: January 17, 1993

  Victim: Governor Terry Branstad

  Location: Des Moines, Iowa

  Details: Branstad was sledding with his son when they struck another sled, breaking Branstad's upper jaw in six places. He underwent surgery on January 23.

  870. Date: April 19, 1993

  Victim: South Dakota Governor George Mickelson

  Location: Dubuque, Iowa

  Details: Mickelson was killed along with seven others when his state airplane crashed in Iowa. It had reportedly suffered engine failure.

  871. Date: May 21, 1993

  Victim: Diplomat Derrick John Haro and Diplomat David McLackan

  Location: Tehran, Iran

  Details: Haro and McLackan were killed when a minibus struck their car.

  872. Date: July 15, 1993

  Victim: Japanese Ambassador Ryoji Onodera

  Location: Bolzano, Italy

  Details: Onodera froze to death with his guide while climbing the 12,800-foot Ortles peak in northern Italy. His guide was an expert climber and instructor.

  873. Date: July 17, 1993

  Victim: FBI Director William Sessions

  Location: Washington, D.C.

  Details: Distracted by reporters, Sessions tripped over a curb and fell to the sidewalk, breaking his arm.

  874. Date: September 14, 1993

  Victim: German Diplomat Franz Bertele

  Location: Warsaw, Poland

  Details: Bertele was injured when the Lufthansa Airbus he was on crashed while landing, killing two and injuring 68. Brake failure was blamed.

  875. Date: September 13, 1993

  Victim: TV Celebrity Oprah Winfrey

  Location: Miami, Florida

  Details: Though media reports indicated a bomb or smoke bomb had exploded inside Oprah Winfrey's car, the accurate account of the incident is quite different: A crowd of people saw smoke pouring from Oprah Winfrey's car as she was driven away from a public appearance. A security guard in the front seat of her car thought the smoke was coming from a package handed to him by a fan, which he had placed on the floor in front of his seat. He threw the package outside the car. Winfrey was transferred to another vehicle, and soon after, it was determined that the smoke, or what appeared to be smoke, was coming from a faulty compressor in the car's air conditioner.

  876. Date: November 11, 1993

  Victim: Pope John Paul II

  Location: Rome, Italy

  Details: After delivering a speech, the Pope tripped and fell down four steps, breaking his right shoulder. He managed to shake a few hands and then left for the hospital.

  877. Date: December 15, 1993

  Victim: Governor Mike Leavitt

  Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

  Details: Leavitt's wife, Jackie, their son, and seven staff members escaped when a Christmas tree caught fire, causing extensive damage to the governor's mansion. Two fire inspectors had to force open a door to rescue them.

  878. Date: January 15, 1994

  Victim: Queen Elizabeth II

  Location: Sandrin
gham, England

  Details: The queen broke her left wrist when she fell off the horse she was riding.

  879. Date: January 21, 1994

  Victim: Basil Assad (son of President Assad)

  Location: Syria

  Details: Assad was killed in a car crash. He was considered a successor to the throne and served as chief of presidential security.

  880. Date: April 28, 1994

  Victim: Pope John Paul II

  Location: Rome, Italy

  Details: The Pope slipped in the bathroom and broke his right leg. He later sought medical treatment and underwent surgery the following day.

  881. Date: June 18, 1994

  Victim: Governor Bruce Sundlun

  Location: Barrington, Rhode Island

  Details: A man rear-ended Sundlun's car, which was being driven by a state trooper. The man was arrested for being intoxicated.

  882. Date: June 29, 1994

  Victim: Prince Charles

  Location: Glasgow, Scotland

  Details: A tire blew out as Charles' BAe 146 airplane landed, causing it to skid off the end of the runway. There were no injuries.

  883. Date: July 9, 1994

  Victim: Governor Surendra Nath

  Location: Bhuntar, Punjab

  Details: Nath was killed when a state plane carrying him, his wife, eight other family members, and three crewmembers crashed after leaving the capitol.

  884. Date: July 25, 1994

  Victim: Gubernatorial Candidate Amado Avendano

  Location: Mexico City, Mexico

  Details: A tractor-trailer swerved in front of Avendano's Chevrolet Suburban, killing three and injuring three. Avendano suffered a punctured lung, six broken ribs, and head injuries. The truck had no license plates and the driver fled the scene.

  885. Date: July 25, 1994

  Victim: Gubernatorial Candidate Danny Williams

  Location: Muskogee, Oklahoma

  Details: Williams' single-engine plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a highway. Both he and the pilot escaped injury.

  886. Date: August 7, 1994

  Victim: Mayor Roland Roberge

  Location: Milton, New Hampshire

  Details: Roberge died in a fire at his summer cottage. Neighbors rescued his wife.