川普遇袭事件让特勤局沦为笑柄 | 经济学人

1

经济学人美国｜子弹脱靶

The Trump shooting has made a mockery of the Secret Service

川普遇袭事件让特勤局沦为笑柄

保护总统需要沟通，光有一群持枪保镖可不够

When trying to put in context how close Donald Trump came to being killed on July 13th, Anthony Cangelosi, a former Secret Service agent, now an academic at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, uses an analogy that the former president could appreciate. “It’s a chip shot,” he says. For the benefit of non-golfers: one that is easy for somebody who practises. “It’s not hard to hit a target from 150 yards with a rifle,” he says. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from a suburb of Pittsburgh, was a member of a rifle club, though was apparently rejected from his high-school shooting team. Had he been a slightly better shot, America’s election would now look very different. But how on earth was he able to get onto a roof with a view of Mr Trump, and enough time to aim and fire? That question now seems likely to launch an enormous review of presidential security.

安东尼·坎杰洛西（Anthony Cangelosi）是前特勤局特工、现约翰·杰伊刑事司法学院学者，他用了一个前总统特朗普可能喜欢的类比，来试图说明特朗普在7月13日离死亡有多近。他说:“这是一记切球。”常打高尔夫的人都知道，切球非常容易。坎杰洛西表示：“用步枪击中150码外的目标并不难。”枪手托马斯·马修·克鲁克斯（Thomas Matthew Crooks）今年20岁，来自匹兹堡郊区。他是一个步枪俱乐部的成员，尽管似乎未能通过高中射击队的选拔。但凡他枪法稍微好一点，美国大选现在就会是完全不同的局面。但克鲁克斯究竟是如何能爬上一个可以看到特朗普的屋顶，还有足够的时间瞄准他并开火的呢？现在看来，这个问题可能会引发对总统安保的大规模审查。

The law creating the Secret Service was signed by Abraham Lincoln on April 14th 1865. Unfortunately its original purpose was to take on counterfeiters, not presidential assassins, or else it might have come in handy on that first day—that evening an out-of-work actor shot the president. In fact it turned to protecting presidents only in 1901, after the assassination of William McKinley. Its success has been patchy. Since then, three presidents have been shot: Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Franklin Roosevelt was also almost killed in 1933, and a shooter missed Gerald Ford by inches in 1975. In recent decades, however, the force has grown to 8,000 agents, and no attempt has come so close in 43 years.

1865年4月14日，亚伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln）签署了设立特勤局的法律。不幸的是，特勤局设立之初是为了应对假币制造者，而非总统暗杀者，否则特勤局可能在设立当日就派上用场了，因为当晚一名失业演员就枪杀了林肯总统。事实上，直到1901年总统威廉·麦金利（William McKinley）遇刺后，特勤局的职能才转变为保护总统，只不过时而成功时而失败。从那以后，共有三位总统遭遇枪击，包括西奥多·罗斯福（Theodore Roosevelt）、约翰·F·肯尼迪（John F. Kennedy）和罗纳德·里根（Ronald Reagan）。1933年，富兰克林·罗斯福（Franklin Roosevelt）也差点因枪击丧命。1975年，一名枪手差点击中杰拉尔德·福特（Gerald Ford）。几十年后，这一组织已拥有8000名特工，且过去43年中不曾有杀手如此接近得逞。

As the aftermath of the shooting in Butler, a town north of Pittsburgh, is revealing, that may not be enough. “In a perfect world at that site in Pennsylvania, there would have been 500 agents and 30 counter-sniper teams,” says Bill Gage, another former Secret Service agent, who now works for a private security firm. But in reality, he says, “the Secret Service is stretched so thin.” These days it is not only presidents who have details. Even Joe Biden’s grandchildren have them. To secure large rallies of the sort that Mr Trump loves, the service relies on the support of local police agencies. In this case, police officers from Butler County and from two neighbouring counties were assisting. But poor communications and co-ordination seem to have limited their effectiveness.

不过，此次匹兹堡北部巴特勒县枪击案的后续影响表明，特勤局所做的可能还不够。特工比尔·盖奇（Bill Gage）之前隶属特勤局，目前就职于一家私人安保公司。他透露：“在理想情况下，宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒小镇本该部署500名特工和30个反狙击小组。但实际上，特勤局已经捉襟见肘，所安排人手远远不够。” 如今，不仅总统需要安保特遣队，连拜登的孙子孙女都配备了安保人员。对于特朗普钟爱的这类大型集会，为确保安全，特勤局要依赖当地警察机构的支援。此次案件中，巴特勒县本地和两个邻近县的警察均提供了协助，然而似乎因沟通协调不畅，各路警力的行动效率受限。

Crooks was in fact spotted and reported as a suspicious presence by police officers from Butler County nearly 30 minutes before he fired his gun. Between then and the shooting, multiple people in the crowd also spotted him climbing onto the roof with his rifle and reported it. Minutes before, a Butler County police officer was being hoisted onto the roof Crooks was perched on and was confronted by his rifle muzzle. “Rightfully and smartly, the officer let go,” the county sheriff, Michael Slupe, toldcbs. Yet snipers still did not shoot until after Crooks fired. One reason may be that, because of the panoply of agencies involved, all in different uniforms, they did not realise that the man in their sights was not a colleague.

实际上，在克鲁克斯射击前约30分钟，他就已经暴露了自己。巴特勒县警察已发现他，并将其标记为可疑对象。这30分钟内，群众中也有多位目击者报告他手持步枪爬上屋顶。发生枪击数分钟前，一位巴特勒县警官还借助升降设备查看克鲁克斯潜伏的屋顶，迎面撞上了他的步枪枪口。“这位警官并未选择继续与其对峙，这是合理且明智的决定。” 本县治安官迈克尔·斯卢普（Michael Slupe）向哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）表示。然而，直到克鲁克斯先扣动扳机，狙击手才对其开枪射击。原因之一可能是因为所涉部门较多且各部门制服不同，警方并未发觉现眼前的人并非同事。

Why wasn’t somebody on the roof in the first place? In an interview withabc News on July 16th Kimberley Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, seemed to suggest that health-and-safety regulations were the reason. “There’s a safety factor that would be considered...we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building from inside,” she said.

那为何一开始没有警方驻守在屋顶上呢？在7月16 日接受美国广播公司（ABC）采访时，特勤局局长金伯利·切特尔（Kimberley Cheatl）似乎暗示，之所以这样做是出于健康和安全法规的考虑。她说，“毕竟要考虑安全隐患......我们不想在倾斜的屋顶上部署警力。因此，我们便决定从内部进行安保。”

That admission seems likely to haunt her. Ms Cheatle is expected to testify in front of a House committee on July 22nd. For now she has the “100%” confidence of Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, and she says she is staying in post. Republicans are exerting pressure on her to resign. The idea that safety rules might have prevented an agent being placed on a roof will not help her.

这一声明似乎让她陷入了某种困境。切特尔预计将于7月22号在众议院委员会作证。到目前为止，国土安全部部长亚历杭德罗·马约卡斯（Alejandro Mayorkas）对她依然“百分之百”信任，切特尔也声称自己将会留任。共和党人正在对她施压，要求她辞职。为确保特工安全而未在屋顶部署安保的的说辞，可能帮不到她。

Other criticisms she has faced seem more cynical. “One thing I’ve seen is massive dei hires,” said Cory Mills, a Republican congressman from Florida, on Fox News. dei means “diversity, equity and inclusion”, and the accusation seems to be that hiring women has weakened the Secret Service. Three female agents were in the crowd who surrounded Mr Trump immediately after the shooting, and one seemed to briefly struggle with her holster. But former members of the service do not see fault in that part. “My initial response was that the agents in and around the president there did a pretty good job,” says Robert McDonald, who now teaches at the University of New Haven.

她面临的其他批评似乎更具讽刺意味。“我看到大量的‘DEI’类雇员。”佛罗里达州共和党议员科里·米尔斯（Cory Mills）在接受福克斯新闻采访时表示。“DEI”即“多元（diversity），公平（equity ）和包容（inclusion）”，这一指控似乎暗示雇佣女性削弱了美国的特勤系统。枪击事件发生后，三名安插在人群中的女性特工立即用身体围住特朗普，其中一位似乎在把手枪放回枪套时有过短暂的手忙脚乱。但前特勤局队员似乎并不认为这有什么不妥。“我的第一反应是总统周围的特工完美地完成了任务。” 现任教于纽黑文大学的罗伯特·麦克唐纳（Robert McDonald）说。

Diversityhiring refers to a process of recruitment that is not hindered byspecific biases. These include factors like gender, age, religion, race, sexualpreferences, and other attributes of candidates.

Whatever Ms Cheatle’s fate, the size of the Secret Service seems sure to grow. Its budget is already $3bn, an amount equivalent to half the entire budget of the New York City Police Department. But America is a country awash with high-powered rifles and men who know how to use them. In many places, carrying them around in public is completely legal. A shooter only has to get through once. The most important Americans will get more protection. Everyone else takes their chances.

尽管切特尔去留未定，但可以肯定的是，美国特勤局的规模将持续扩大。该局预算已高达30亿美元，相当于全纽约市警察局预算的一半。然而美国是一个高能步枪俯拾即是的国家，懂得如何使用这种武器的人也绝不在少数。在多地公开携带这些武器已经完全合法。枪手只需要成功一次，就能射杀一条性命，而如此一来，美国的政府要员将得到更多保护，而布衣黔首只能听天由命。

备注：最后一句感谢准大学新鲜人Anol

翻译组：

Jessie，女，翻译界林黛玉，想被人叫大佬

Forest，爱树的人，精神小花园持续耕耘中

Cassie，ECNU口译小菜鸡，体制内摸爬滚打教书匠

Dossver，谁人定我去或留，定我心中的宇宙

风筝，热爱生活 热爱翻译 热爱搞钱 热爱猫咪

Octavia，键盘手和古风爵士，逃离舒适圈，有只英短叫八爷

打造

独立思考 | 国际视野 | 英文学习

小组

01  第十九期写作精品课 

写作课共四位老师

全部雅思8+且单项写作7.5+

雅思、学术英语写作，不知如何下笔如有神？

写作精品课带你谋篇布局

带你预习-精读-写作-答疑

从输入到输出写出高质量英语作文

点击下图，即可了解写作课详情！

02 经济学人打卡营 

每周一到周六阅读经济学人

并在群里以及小鹅通内写分享

分享是文章的总结或者观点或者语音打卡

字数不少于100字，中英文都可以

群里每周免费分享最新外刊合集

点击下图，即可了解打卡营详情！

03 早起打卡营 

两年以来，小编已经带着25000多人早起打卡

早起倒逼自己早睡，戒掉夜宵，戒掉手机

让你成为更好的自己，创造早睡早起的奇迹！

早起是最简单的自律！

早起打卡营

欢迎你的加入！

点击下图，即可了解打卡营详情！