The people of the U.S are more determined than any other to effect change sometimes by whatever means necessary to what we percieve as a greater good.

In so far as we live in and support a "Democracy", and not a Military Regime, relatively close access to our Leaders is assured. Try to participate in politics, or an election without a "Meet and Greet", or ocassions to "press the flesh", and see how far you get. Despite that, The SS has a good track record. Many "crazies" are often weeded out prior to events by intense neighborhood canvases and guest/attendee/subcontractor list investigations and research by the SS agents who work 24/7 behind the scenes on this task. The Presidents daily / weekly / monthly itinerary is planned way in advance and "forward teams" go into an area that is to be "Host" to the President, and relentlessly prepare for all possible eventualities. As a volunteer fireman, my commanding officer once directed me ( at the insistence of the Secret Service) to park our Fire Apparatus on an Airport Apron (awaiting the arival of Marine 1) in a position that was of no obvious benefit in the event of a problem wth the landing. (The ostensible reason for our presence). In reality it was obvious that the placement of the 30' long, fully equipped Fire Truck, was actually a "shield". As our position blocked a clear line of sight between some woodlands and the proposed landing site of Marine 1. Well maybe we were warned by the SS but didn't understand what they meant when they said they wanted us to provide "Fire" protection for the President.

The fact that there have only ever been 4 successful assassinations, out of many more attempts, proves that the secret service does not suck. They do their job well. As for why so many assassination attempts are made at U.S. presidents, I think it has a lot to do with the amount of press coverage that presidents receive compared to leaders of other countries. People all over the world are inundated with news about presidents constantly, and it seeps into their brains. This doesn't happen with many other countries. I guarantee you that most people outside of the UK have no idea who the current Prime Minister of the UK is. If they do have an answer, they'd probably say Tony Blair because of the amount of press coverage he received.