Monday, April 27, 1998

Secret Service no protection against felony

The Secret Service, no less than any other federal law enforcement agency, should not be immune from questioning by a prosecutor or testifying in court or before a grand jury.

But the Secret Service does have a point when it argues that its mission of protecting the president and other top officials would be jeopardized if its agents and uniformed officers could be freely compelled to tell what they have seen and heard.

A president who felt that Secret Service could not respect his privacy and confidentiality would not allow its bodyguards close enough to do their job.

Former President Bush, no friend of President Clinton, took this position in a letter filed as part of the administration's efforts to block independent counsel Kenneth Starr's efforts to question the Secret Service about Clinton's relationship with former White House aide Monica Lewinsky.

However, the Justice and Treasury departments go too far when they cite a new and untested privilege that would bar agents from testifying. A blanket privilege smacks too much of a private praetorian guard. The Secret Service is there to protect a president's life, not to protect his privacy while committing a felony.

However, a prosecutor should have to satisfy a court that the offense being investigated is serious enough to outweigh the president's presumption of confidentiality and that the evidence in question is vital and available in no other way.