Not-So-Secret Service Alarms Foreign Leader

The Secret Service says a foreign government leader might reconsider how he interacts with agency bodyguards on visits to the United States in light of a judge’s ruling that agents can be forced to testify in a grand jury investigation of President Clinton.

The leader told agency director Lewis Merletti that he fears his privacy could be jeopardized if agents can be ordered to reveal in court what they witness while doing their jobs, Secret Service spokesman Arnette Heintze said Sunday.

Heintze would not identify the leader, except to say he is “head of a G-7 country,” or leader of one of the world’s richest industrialized nations. Newsweek magazine reports in its issues on newsstands today that the man in question is Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Citing unidentified sources, the magazine said a top aide relayed Chretien’s concerns to Merletti at a January meeting. An affidavit Merletti filed in independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s investigation of Clinton’s alleged affair with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky said unsolicited concerns about privacy had been raised by an unidentified foreign head of government.

Heintze declined to speculate on whether other world leaders might have similar reactions, but said, “Somebody has to weigh this issue very cautiously, because political assassinations are a way of life.”

The complaint comes after Clinton predicted last week’s ruling would have “a chilling effect” on the way presidents conduct themselves around their bodyguards. In the ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson said Secret Service agents could not remain silent about the president’s activities if called to testify.

The Secret Service was called on to protect foreign dignitaries during 1,480 visits last year.