Since the OP focuses on Gates’ wealth, I guess we’re supposing some kind of “Day of the Jackal” scenario where Gates hires a super-assassin to do the job. I see at least two problems.
The first is locating such a person. I don’t doubt that he could do it, but I think it would be difficult for him to do it without attracting unwanted attention, as others have noted. And in this case, “unwanted attention” could have very harsh consequences, even for a guy who’s extremely wealthy.
The second problem, I would think, is convincing such a person to take the job. A hired assassin who tries to kill the President (successfully or unsuccessfully) will literally have an army of people after him, with unlimited resources and very few restraints on their behavior. I suppose it would be possible to pull off the job so cleanly that the authorities are simply baffled about who did it, but that seems like a long shot. And if they know who you are, your only shot at survival is to find some really desolate place and adopt Osama bin Laden’s lifestyle for the rest of your days. A religious fanatic might put up with that, but an assassin for hire would presumably not be interested. What good is a billion dollars if you can’t ever spend it?
Actually, getting paid might be another problem. Any kind of electronic payment will most likely get traced and taken away. (I don’t care how confidential banking is supposed to be in the Seychelles or the Isle of Man; when Delta Force crashes through the door, your banker’s going to give it up.) And good luck carting around 5000 cubic feet of cash while you’re hiding in the Gobi desert.
You’re right, that would be the best way to do it. (Better yet, no shank, just study some martial arts, quick-kill-with-the-bare-hands moves.) Not much chance of escaping unscathed, though.
Ok, I’ve got it. The reality show can be one trying to find the best assassin. Their reward for winning would officially be to be one of Gate’s body guards. Then, all electronic transactions wouldn’t be suspect. He’d have a new salary.
Bill Gates could have Microsoft programmers alter the presedential speech writers’ computers so that they do a search and replace on specific text whenever the documents are closed.
For instance, Bush’s State of the Union Address could be altered so that he reads something completely different on the teleprompter.
Original:
Good evening America, today is a blessed day in American history. I am pleased to announce my program of sweeping tax cuts to the nation.
Search and Replace version:
Good evening Muslims, today is a tragic day in Islamic history. I am pleased to announce my program of sweeping genocide to the Arab world.
Bill Gates doesn’t need to look very hard to find someone willing to do this. All he has to do is fly his personal jet down to Kabul, talk to a few Imams, strap some C4 to a few locals, and fly back to the next Republican Convention with a small squad of martyr-bots.
Why are we only thinking about hiring assassins? I bet Bill could buy a cruise missile or something if he wanted to. Just blow up the White House, easy peasy.
I dunno. He may be a geek, but with his fame and his obscurity from the public eye, he may very well have met some powerful people with the right connects somewhere along his journey. And you never know just who someone might have gone to high school with or whatever. For example, I’ve never been the criminal type (the only laws I’ve broken are drug laws and computer software laws), but my close friend has another close friend who owes him “a favor”. My friend says he’s never cashed it in and he doesn’t plan to, but he could–so presumably, I could too, if I had enough money or I could convince my friend to use up his favor. Not bloody likely, and I wouldn’t, but it’s possible in the strictest sense of the word. And if I can do it, Billy can too.
(Of more immediate concern is Billy’s fragile ticker. The President could probably off him by paying Steve Ballmer to jump out from behind a bush and scream.)
Locating an assassin? Seriously? Go pick up an issue of “Soldier of Fortune” and flip to the classifieds. 99% of the guys advertising in there are just waiting for someone to call them to do something like that.
I don’t even know if “super assassins” exist outside of movies. Is there a stable and thriving market for this sort of work? I’m sure there are lots of people who would like to become super assassins but who’s paying for these people to gain the experience necessary by conducting regular kills?
How many people with significant security detail have been killed by assassins?
I think the Secret Service has said in the past that if a person wants to kill the President bad enough, they won’t be able to stop them, but that the shooter would certainly not get away with the crime.
If that is the case, then how much money would you take to spend the rest of your short life in a cell in Terra Haute, IN waiting for your lethal injection?
But it makes sense, the President is probably the most well-protected man in the world, and if you are smart enough to get near him with a gun or a bomb, you will immediately be surrounded by scores of armed men.
I remember ten years ago when Clinton came to my small community in West Virginia. He landed at the local airport and the motorcade travelled four miles to give a speech at a local school.
The entire route from the airport was cleared 12 hours ahead of time and closed 5 hours ahead of time.
A couple of kids threw a package of black cat firecrackers as a prank along the motorcade route 3 hours before Clinton came through. The three kids were cuffed and stuffed and questioned extensively.
They removed every trash can and mailbox along the way.
I had a VIP pass to meet with Clinton in the VIP tent and was vouched for by local DEM leaders. I still had to go through a metal detector and a hand wanding.
This was in 1997, before 9/11.
I would DEFY anyone to be able to kill the President, but I’m sure a crazy and determined person could at least put himself in a position to do it.
Getting away with it? Absolutely no way in ten hells.
I don’t really think so. There are people out there with more resources than Gate who have really good reasons to want Bush dead, and Bush is still alive.
Gates is on again/off again the richest man in the world (I think Carlos Slim is currently number one, but all the top few are so rich as to be barely distinguishable) but Saddam Hussein pre-invasion had access to more resources. Saddam’s personal wealth was only estimated at “under 10 billion” or so, but he had an entire army, training facilities, et cetera. As a leader of a Muslim country if Saddam wanted to he easily could have cultivated ties with pretty much any of the best trained assassins you can find (think of all the well trained Islamic terrorists who have a serious hate-on for the west.) We know for a fact Saddam wanted George H.W. Bush assassinated and it never happened. Hell, pretty much any world leader could theoretically get this done easier than Gates did-and none have.
Ahmadenijad likewise may not have as much “personal wealth” as Bill Gates, but the resources of Iran are far greater than that of any individual person, and Ahmadenijad has a lot of the decision making power in Iran. If a big payout is all it takes to get someone to kill the President I honestly think that Iran, pre-war Iraq, North Korea, and especially the U.S.S.R during the Cold War would have offed at least one of our Presidents.
I was grabbed by a friend in college to go to a Clinton rally in New Orleans before he was elected to his first term as president. We got there 3 hours ahead of time to put up posters and things. During that time, I saw the Secret Service prepping as well. They were everywhere and I personally saw a “homeless” man in an ally doing a radio check as well as a sniper station in a nearby building going through a threat check. One hour before the motorcade was scheduled to arrive, the Secret Service assembled a huge group college students and asked who wanted to be the mome back (“Come on back, come on back”) for the motorcade. Everyone raised their hands and they they selected me for some reason. The Secret Service interviewed me and prepped me extensively. I was the only one allowed past the lines in a huge area. It was a cool experience and I did photo ops with Bill Clinton, Tipper Gore, and the entire congressional black caucus. I also got to go back stage after the speeches but I always had a Secret Service agent by my side. This is for someone not even elected yet.
I actually know a former Secret Service agent who spent most of his career on Presidential detail including protecting Reagan when he got shot. Those aren’t normal people. His son is completely screwed up by having his father on Presidential detail. I have asked Jim about it a few times but it is clearly a sensitive and mostly forbidden topic. Sometimes Jim just likes to ramble about how it took a toll on his childhood and how his father was always so cold and calculating all the time because of it. Presidential assassination attempts are much more common than most people realize. All presidents since LBJ have had assassination attempts that made the news and that only scratches the surface.
The Secret Service gets more and more paranoid as time goes on and I wouldn’t want to screw with them in any capacity.
