Would a 10-20 person fully armed/armored assassination team actually be able to take out Trump/Clinton?

[bilby]

Isn't Kim Jong-un working on this very task?

I think he has more than 10-20 people helping though - more like 25 million.

 

[beero1000]

Isn't Kim Jong-un working on this very task?

I doubt they are really working on it. They put on a show of defiance for propaganda, but actually starting a war with the US would get NK obliterated.

As for assassination, it all depends on the kind of funding they have access to, and their willingness to get caught or die (or do mass damage). A team supplied by a nation-state with the means and desire could probably get it done. Do they have access to nuclear materials, chemical, or biological weapons? That would make it almost too easy.

If it's just a group on their own, what about some botulinum or ricin on a needle. Go up to shake hands, and poke.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I would imagine that this is what the Secret Service really plans for and with Trump it is not out of the realm of possibility. There is no way any of the team would get away without dying or going to prison, so it would take a heavy commitment like ISIS or some crazy lefties.

Just getting that many people together and not having one being a snitch or agent would be the hard part.

It would make a great movie.

They might succeed in killing them. But they'll get caught/get shot.

It's impossible to defend against every conceivable type of attack. A lot political leaders were assassinated by their own bodyguards. It's impossible to defend against that.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Hack into the controls for the ISS or any really large satellite, and crash it into the Whitehouse.

1) It probably doesn't have the delta-v to re-enter.

2) It certainly doesn't have the requisite accuracy. Hitting Washington would be a lot of luck.

3) Few parts would survive the fire anyway.

Bonus points for instead launching a rocket to bump an asteroid of suitable size into a collision course with Washington DC; or for constructing your own purpose built satellite to do the job. It need not be complex - just as heavy as you can afford to launch. Mass of the projectile to be scaled based on the acceptable level of collateral damage. This may require a fairly large number of conspirators, and a vast amount of cash; although both requirements could be reduced by contracting a commercial launching outfit, and disguising the payload as something innocuous - a TV satellite, for example.

4) (It's applicable to both your answers) There's enough leadtime that your target won't be there.

 

[bilby]

1) It probably doesn't have the delta-v to re-enter.

2) It certainly doesn't have the requisite accuracy. Hitting Washington would be a lot of luck.

3) Few parts would survive the fire anyway.

Bonus points for instead launching a rocket to bump an asteroid of suitable size into a collision course with Washington DC; or for constructing your own purpose built satellite to do the job. It need not be complex - just as heavy as you can afford to launch. Mass of the projectile to be scaled based on the acceptable level of collateral damage. This may require a fairly large number of conspirators, and a vast amount of cash; although both requirements could be reduced by contracting a commercial launching outfit, and disguising the payload as something innocuous - a TV satellite, for example.

4) (It's applicable to both your answers) There's enough leadtime that your target won't be there.

Really? You think that we would know about a smallish asteroid that was going to hit DC before the impact?

You have more faith in our ability to track NEOs than I.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

1) It probably doesn't have the delta-v to re-enter.

2) It certainly doesn't have the requisite accuracy. Hitting Washington would be a lot of luck.

3) Few parts would survive the fire anyway.



4) (It's applicable to both your answers) There's enough leadtime that your target won't be there.

Really? You think that we would know about a smallish asteroid that was going to hit DC before the impact?

You have more faith in our ability to track NEOs than I.

It's going to be a slow approach because you had to match orbits with it in the first place. The wild rocks that get through undetected have high closing velocities, something that you're not going to be able to impart.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

WTF? Is repoman trying to get TF on the no-fly list?

The difficulty of targeting well protected people is that the level of protection is most likely layered... ie the protection you see and the protection you don't see. The protection that may cast nets 20 miles from where the candidates would be.

LP's post is a bit comical because he seems to think that 1) movies are accurate regarding skill of people from serious distances and 2) the secret service hasn't thought of it. Some think you just need the will to get it done, but the truth is, you need a lot more than that, which likely why the President and people running for President haven't really been in harms way since the late 80s. The idea of either Trump or Clinton being attacked is horrific.

 

[Treedbear]

Armed UAV

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

For Trump, all you need is a mirror at the bottom of a body of water.

Tricking Clinton into being honest about how she truly feels, in public, may make her head pop.

 

[repoman]

For Trump, all you need is a mirror at the bottom of a body of water.

Tricking Clinton into being honest about how she truly feels, in public, may make her head pop.

That took me a minute to get, a Narcissus freezing.

 

[bilby]

Really? You think that we would know about a smallish asteroid that was going to hit DC before the impact?

You have more faith in our ability to track NEOs than I.

It's going to be a slow approach because you had to match orbits with it in the first place. The wild rocks that get through undetected have high closing velocities, something that you're not going to be able to impart.

Sure - but who is pointing a radar at it? Space is a big place.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

WTF? Is repoman trying to get TF on the no-fly list?

The difficulty of targeting well protected people is that the level of protection is most likely layered... ie the protection you see and the protection you don't see. The protection that may cast nets 20 miles from where the candidates would be.

LP's post is a bit comical because he seems to think that 1) movies are accurate regarding skill of people from serious distances and 2) the secret service hasn't thought of it. Some think you just need the will to get it done, but the truth is, you need a lot more than that, which likely why the President and people running for President haven't really been in harms way since the late 80s. The idea of either Trump or Clinton being attacked is horrific.

The reason it hasn't happened is there's nobody out there with both the ability and the desire. While groups like ISIS have planners that are good enough they don't have the people who could actually execute such a plan properly.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Armed UAV

They would note the drone where it wasn't supposed to be and get the target out of there before it could attack. About the only way you could pull it off is with something like Predator/Hellfire doing an over-the-horizon shot--and that's at modern nation-state level, not at terrorist level.

In a sufficiently built-up area you might be able to do something with a ground-launched missile, though. To do it stealthily, though, will require that the booster burn out before it clears the shadow of the buildings and the warhead must be traveling well above the speed of sound so it outraces the roar of the booster. While such boosters exist (I'm thinking of the engine that propelled the Sprint ABM) they're not something the terrorists could make. I don't know if anything of that power is available commercially, I do know that it's far enough up there that the companies that could possibly make them aren't going to sell to unknowns and an ultra-high-g booster is certainly going to cause questions. (The industry self-regulates enough that there aren't issues that cause the government to regulate.)

(Look at Mythbusters--while they played with the little rockets on their own all the heavy stuff was done by either professionals or hobbyists with the certification to deal with the big motors. While sometimes they pushed the ignition button when the rocket was peacefully sitting there on a launcher that's as much as they did with the big birds.)

- - - Updated - - -

For Trump, all you need is a mirror at the bottom of a body of water.

Good one!

 

[Loren Pechtel]

It's going to be a slow approach because you had to match orbits with it in the first place. The wild rocks that get through undetected have high closing velocities, something that you're not going to be able to impart.

Sure - but who is pointing a radar at it? Space is a big place.

The slow ones are generally picked up a few days out. The ones that blindside us are coming like a bat out of hell, often from the direction of the sun. Stuff in space is tracked to see what other nations might be up to and to see if there's anything dangerous. (The ISS on occasion has to dodge because of such tracking reports.)

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

WTF? Is repoman trying to get TF on the no-fly list?

The difficulty of targeting well protected people is that the level of protection is most likely layered... ie the protection you see and the protection you don't see. The protection that may cast nets 20 miles from where the candidates would be.

LP's post is a bit comical because he seems to think that 1) movies are accurate regarding skill of people from serious distances and 2) the secret service hasn't thought of it. Some think you just need the will to get it done, but the truth is, you need a lot more than that, which likely why the President and people running for President haven't really been in harms way since the late 80s. The idea of either Trump or Clinton being attacked is horrific.

The reason it hasn't happened is there's nobody out there with both the ability and the desire. While groups like ISIS have planners that are good enough they don't have the people, equipment, or resources who could actually execute such a plan properly.

Planners? It is a little bit more than "planning", you actually have to develop a way to infiltrate and then put into action or a very broad brute force method that can cover the area.

We haven't even seen people pull off an attempt since Reagan.

 

[barbos]

I remember reading about guided bullet rifle which can hit a target from a very long distance.
You can remote control it too, so getting caught is not assured.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I remember reading about guided bullet rifle which can hit a target from a very long distance.
You can remote control it too, so getting caught is not assured.

Oi! The person would still need to be a great, one of the world's best shooters.

 

[barbos]

I remember reading about guided bullet rifle which can hit a target from a very long distance.
You can remote control it too, so getting caught is not assured.

Oi! The person would still need to be a great, one of the world's best shooters.

No. You select a target on a screen and computer does the rest.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Oi! The person would still need to be a great, one of the world's best shooters.

No. You select a target on a screen and computer does the rest.

AFIAK this is only at a prototype stage and you still need to shoot reasonably well, the bullet has limited maneuvering ability. It's more for coping with the wind (of which the shooter can never have a perfect picture) than making marksmen out of novices.

What there is is a gun where you designate the target, pull the trigger but the gun only fires when it thinks the round will actually hit. Novice shooters can expect to hit at 1000 yards. Since the gun will only fire with the trigger depressed it's legal. I seem to recall a 5-figure pricetag.

You still have to pull off hiding your snipers until the instant they do their coordinated fire, though.

 

[none]

Drone, camera and weapon