Accordingly, he has just announced the removal of Secret Service protection from Joe Biden’s children, Hunter and Ashley. This sparked predictable outrage from the US liberal media. The New York Times called it part of an “animus-filled revenge tour”. The Bulwark branded it vindictive. (The Bulwark, staffed by forlorn Trump-hating ex-Republicans who once held sway, believes one more thundering article will awaken the masses. Ten years and many articles later, they resemble a Japanese soldier in the jungle, still fighting a war everyone else has abandoned.) Media attention has zeroed in on stripping protection from Joe Biden’s wayward son, Hunter. In his memoir, he described a severe drug addiction that drove him to roam homeless encampments and spend months in luxury hotels in Los Angeles and New York, seeking and using drugs. Hunter also documented – and filmed – numerous interactions with prostitutes, all while under Secret Service protection, whose agents apparently never noticed his lawbreaking. As a journalist who lives in the same city as Hunter Biden, I have written extensively about him and produced a biopic about the First Son. As such I’ve met his Secret Service detail in some rather sticky journalistic situations. They were pleasant enough, though some didn’t grasp that protecting his safety isn’t the same as shielding him from a journalist’s questions. The former is their sworn duty; the latter is not. Yet, amid outrage over Hunter now being “defenseless,” no one asks: Is the Secret Service any good? Do they enhance safety, or are they just an armed chauffeur service masquerading as security? Their record over recent decades is appalling, a Washington taboo few dare address. Candidate Trump narrowly survived two assassination attempts within weeks – one bullet missed him by an inch in Butler, Pennsylvania; weeks later, an armed assassin waited hours for him on a Florida golf course. The more you examine it, the clearer it becomes that luck, not competence, has been the agency's greatest asset. Their failures are exhausting and almost comical. After JFK’s assassination, you’d expect humility, but five years later, the Secret Service didn’t even think to give protection to his brother Robert who was a Democratic nominee frontrunner. He was assassinated in 1968. Perhaps it wouldn’t have mattered – four years later, Alabama Governor George Wallace, under Secret Service protection, was shot and paralyzed. In 1975, Manson cultist Lynette Fromme got within two feet of President Gerald Ford in Sacramento and fired; he survived only because she didn’t know how to load the gun. Weeks later in San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore – previously assessed by the Secret Service as “not a threat” – shot at Ford, missing his head by five inches. In 1981, the Secret Service couldn’t stop John Hinckley Jr from shooting President Ronald Reagan, nearly killing him and wounding three aides. On 9/11, their unpreparedness left Vice President Dick Cheney stranded outside the White House bunker as a hijacked plane neared – no one had given the detail a key. The failures continued. In 2002 a high-ranking agent’s informant overdosed in his bathroom after sex, another gave drugs to a 16-year-old he slept with, and another left vice-presidential security plans behind while buying a snowboard. Early in Obama’s presidency, a reality TV couple gatecrashed a state dinner. In 2012, eight agents were fired after hiring prostitutes in Colombia before a presidential visit, exposed only when the women protested nonpayment. In 2013, a criminal posed as a sign language interpreter near Obama in South Africa. In 2014 and 2017, “jumpers” scaled the White House fence and entered—one with a knife. Then came Trump’s attempted assassinations. Conspiracy theories swirl of course, but the Secret Service’s issues likely stem from bureaucratic inertia, incompetence and arrogance sprinkled with a diversity hire inspired dislike of Trump at the upper levels. In Butler, Pennsylvania, a sloped roof was deemed too dangerous to secure. The assassin loved it. Given the Secret Service record, Butler was an assassination waiting to happen. Under Joe Biden, an already inept Secret Service prioritized diversity. Director Kimberly Cheatle said: “I’m very conscious… of ensuring we attract diverse candidates and give opportunities to everyone, particularly women.” An organisation needing security focus instead chased race, sex, and trendy identities. They were never serious about safety and never will be. So don’t worry, Hunter. You shouldn’t feel too nervous driving yourself for the first time in nearly a decade although I’ll admit the traffic in LA can be quite nerve-wracking. Let me know if you need a lift - I have a few questions. Phelim McAleer is from Beragh, Co Tyrone. He is a journalist/producer based in Los Angeles. @PhelimMcAleer