(Dan Tri) - Lieutenant Colonel Le Ba Hang, the officer who approached and protected Mr. Donald Trump, commented that this US President is close and friendly, far from initial impressions.
Since Vietnam and the US normalized diplomatic relations, there have been 4 US Presidents officially visiting Vietnam. In particular, in the 10 years since Vietnam and the US established a Comprehensive Partnership, Vietnam has welcomed 2 US Presidents 3 times, namely Mr. Barack Obama and Mr. Donald Trump.
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Mr. Joe Biden in his capacity as US Vice President, during a meeting in the US in 2015 (Photo: US Embassy in Hanoi ).
In addition to its diplomatic success, Vietnam has also made a strong impression on regional and international friends about its safety. The image of Mr. Obama simply eating bun cha in a restaurant, surrounded by Hanoians; or the fact that Hanoi was chosen as the venue for the 2nd US-North Korea Summit has proven the absolute safety in Vietnam.
The above success has a particularly important contribution from the Guard Command - Ministry of Public Security . This is the core force, the main force in ensuring security and safety for heads of state visiting and working in Vietnam.
Dan Tri newspaper reporter had an interview with Colonel Tran Xuan Thinh (Head of the Security Department for Special Important Events and International Guests of the Guard Command) and some security officers who approached President Obama and President Donald Trump to hear stories about the work of ensuring security for these two special politicians.
US security requirements are very high
According to Colonel Tran Xuan Thinh, to ensure security and safety for foreign politicians visiting and working in Vietnam, the Guard Command must proactively coordinate with functional agencies and professional units of the Police and Army, thereby developing specific plans and strategies; assigning clear tasks to each force participating in the work of ensuring security and safety during the time the guarded subjects are operating in Vietnam.
However, based on the actual situation, each delegation will have different preparations. Regarding the delegation of the US President, Colonel Thinh emphasized that this delegation is "special" in nature and ensuring security is "extremely important".
This was demonstrated right from the preparation stage, when a few months before the visit, the host country sent advance delegations including security forces and White House receptionists to work with the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to unify the US President's activities in Vietnam; and worked with Vietnamese security agencies to discuss protection plans and options.
Before the visit took place, the US sent many advance delegations to Vietnam, bringing with them a lot of equipment (Photo: Tien Tuan).
"The two sides work in a spirit of mutual support, in which the Vietnamese Guard force and units of the Ministry of Public Security are primarily responsible for ensuring the security and safety of the President during his stay in Vietnam, while the US security force is the coordinating force...
To ensure this mission requires the forces to carefully survey the routes the President is expected to travel, and choose the hotel where the President will stay...", Colonel Thinh shared.
During the working process, the Guard Command will receive information, requests, and conditions regarding security assurance from the US Secret Service. From there, the Vietnamese security force will review, research, and evaluate to have a suitable protection plan, "matching" the most with the host country's forces, avoiding conflicts while still ensuring the common goal of the President's safety.
The organization of road bans must be suitable to Vietnam's conditions (Illustration: Manh Quan).
For example, Colonel Thinh said that the US side has very high requirements, one of which is traffic. The security of the neighboring country requested that all vehicles on the route the President passes through, both in the up and down directions, be banned.
However, this request was rejected, because the viewpoint of the Guard Command is "to ensure security but minimize disruption to people's social activities". Therefore, organizing road closures must be suitable to Vietnam's conditions.
One of the especially important principles of security forces and target protection, according to Colonel Thinh, is to proactively grasp the situation, forecast possible situations, and from there develop a plan to handle and resolve them.
"We have to anticipate many situations, situations on the road, situations at hotels... For example, the traffic infrastructure in Vietnam is not really good, the traffic volume and density are high.
If the main road is congested, we must calculate plans for backup routes to ensure the delegation's route is on time," said the leader of the Department of Security for Special Important Events and International Visitors.
"Ensuring security for the US President is the core responsibility of the security force, providing direct protection. However, many other forces from the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense also participate in this work. The units participate according to their functions and tasks, performing the necessary tasks to detect and eliminate all risks and factors that cause unsafety for the visit," said Colonel Tran Xuan Thinh.
"Obama vermicelli with grilled pork"
During President Obama’s visit in May 2016, at the end of his first working day, President Obama dined at the Huong Lien Bun Cha restaurant (Le Van Huu Street, Hanoi) with chef Anthony Bourdain. The menu at that time was a full serving of Bun Cha, accompanied by a bottle of Hanoi beer. Around him, there were about 10 other Vietnamese diners, and all activities of the people were still going on as usual.
After chef Anthony Bourdain paid $6 for dinner, President Obama stepped out onto the street, shaking hands and waving to dozens of Vietnamese people in a friendly, relaxed manner.
The above image makes a strong impression on international friends about the hospitality and safety of Vietnam.
Lieutenant Colonel Ha Van Minh (standing behind wearing a gray vest and tie) protects Mr. Obama after the President leaves the bun cha restaurant (Photo: Hong Phu).
"That is an incidental program," said Lieutenant Colonel Ha Van Minh (the officer who met with President Obama). Explaining further, Lieutenant Colonel Minh said that in addition to the main activities that have a specific schedule and plan, there will be many incidental activities that require an incidental officer like him to proactively coordinate with the security of the neighboring country to grasp them while performing his duties.
"In addition to carrying out assigned tasks according to plan, I also have to always grasp the situation to promptly know about activities arising outside the President's official program. From there, promptly report to the unit commander and the Command leader to have a protection plan. President Obama's activity of eating bun cha on Le Van Huu street is one of such situations," Lieutenant Colonel Minh said.
President Obama had dinner at Lien Huong Bun Cha restaurant (Photo: AP).
"When I got the information that President Obama would have dinner at Huong Lien Bun Cha restaurant, I quickly reported to the Department leaders and the Command leaders to have a protection plan. Based on the information, the Guard Command directed professional units; at the same time, proactively coordinated with Hanoi City Police and many other functional units to urgently deploy protection measures.
The US President's dinner was very comfortable and safe. The US security team highly appreciated the protection work of the Guard force at this activity," said Lieutenant Colonel Minh.
"From the time he landed at Noi Bai airport (Hanoi), starting his official visit to Vietnam until the end of his visit and returning to the US at Tan Son Nhat airport (HCMC), President Obama was especially impressed by the peaceful country and the friendliness and hospitality of the Vietnamese people. This is very different from other countries.
Therefore, before boarding the plane to return home, President Obama also expressed his wish to return to Vietnam to enjoy milk coffee and listen to Son Tung MTP's music," Colonel Tran Xuan Thinh shared.
President Donald Trump's unexpected handshake
Among all the US presidents, only Mr. Donald Trump has visited Vietnam twice. The first time was to attend the 2017 APEC Summit in Da Nang in November 2017 and then the US-North Korea Summit in February 2019.
Talking about Mr. Trump's second visit, Lieutenant Colonel Le Ba Hang (access protection officer) said that this event has raised Vietnam's position in the international arena.
During this event, the Vietnamese security force had to simultaneously protect the American and North Korean delegations. "The security level of the two delegations was equal. We had to ensure absolute safety for both delegations," said Lieutenant Colonel Hang.
Lieutenant Colonel Le Ba Hang (pink tie) protects President Trump during his visit in 2019 (Photo: NVCC).
Assigned as the officer in charge of protecting President Trump in 2019, Lieutenant Colonel Le Ba Hang had the opportunity to work directly with a US security officer protecting Mr. Trump. The two officers coordinated and discussed, held a "meeting" at the end of the day, and learned about President Trump's interests, strengths, and movements in order to have flexible and reasonable protection measures.
With professionalism, Lieutenant Colonel Le Ba Hang always maintains an absolutely "equal" attitude and concentration among all "protection subjects", whether it is the US President or any other politician.
Lieutenant Colonel Hang took a souvenir photo with President Trump (Photo: NVCC).
However, Lieutenant Colonel Hang still has his own impressions of President Donald Trump. According to the officer, during the task of protecting Mr. Trump, he realized the friendliness, affection, and closeness of the President of a powerful country, far different from his initial feelings.
"Before the end of the visit, Mr. Trump took the initiative to shake my hand and invited me to take a commemorative photo together in a warm and friendly manner," Lieutenant Colonel Hang said, adding that he was very happy and surprised at that time. That was also one of the beautiful memories in his military career.
Comment (0)