Q: How long must a president serve before the United States is obligated to provide security for life?
–Creighton Fujii, Kapaa, Hawaii
A: When the Former Presidents Act was passed in 1958, it established lifetime Secret Service protection for presidents after they leave office. It did not stipulate how long the president had to serve before becoming eligible. It only defined a former president as a person "who shall have held the office of president of the United States of America; whose service in such office shall have terminated other than by removal pursuant to Section 4 of Article II of the Constitution of the United States of America; and who does not then currently hold such office."
Article II, Section 4 describes removal from office by impeachment and conviction. So any president who has served for any amount of time, as long as he is not removed from office as the result of impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives and conviction by the U.S. Senate, appears to be eligible for Secret Service protection for life.
Congress later capped the lifetime security detail for presidents who took office after Jan. 1, 1997, limiting the protection to 10 years after a president left office in an effort to save money. However, in the post-9/11 world, Congress reconsidered the cap, and President Barack Obama signed a law reinstating the lifetime provision in January 2013.
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column; Keith Still contributed. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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