Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed during his Caribbean vacation. Surprisingly, the criminal could walk into Justice Breyer’s residence without security protection. The crime stirs up discussion whether top security should be offered to all high-ranking government officials (New York Times).
It is a trend that top American officials receive heavier protection as time progresses. The article raises the examples that President Obama was encircled by security agents as he floated in Hawaii and that White House advisers have Secret Service agents. However, the article also mentions that keeping low-profile is a way to stay safe.
Even though I think it is very important to protect officials from the executive branch, I do not think it is necessary that high-ranking officials should all be offered security protection because of individual incidents. There is a fairly big amount of important officials and chances that their houses are intruded are random. Some security offense is not as deadly, such as Justice Breyer’s experience as he is not the target of criminals but his belongings. Although justices lecture frequently at law schools so that they appear in front of the public often, whether top security is necessary should depends on what type of occasion they usually attend. I think it is more important to have personal freedom to walk around the city than being encircled if one mainly appears in places such as academia.
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