Basic Information:
Author: Carol Leonnig
Edition: epub on Libby from the Mountain View Public Library
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 9780399589010 (ISBN10: 0399589015)
Start Date: January 18, 2023
Read Date: February 15, 2023
560 pages
Genre: History, Osher
Language Warning: Moderate-Some violence, some language
Rated Overall:3 ½ out of 5
History: 3 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
This story of the Secret Service is told in five parts. There is a brief history of how the Secret Service got into the protecting the President business. Then the author talks about how both Kennedy and the Secret Service failed each other, the relationship which Johnson had and how Nixon used the Secret Service. Then the second part goes from Ford to Clinton. She pays particular attention to when Reagan was shot. Then there is a part for the younger Bush and a separate one for Obama. She finally concludes with how Trump bent the Secret Service for his own ends. Each part has how the Service failed each President.
Cast of Characters:
- Tim McCarthy-agent who saved Reagan’s life when John Hinkley tried to kill Reagan.
- Larry Cockell-Agent who helped Leonnig put together the book.
- Win Lawson-agent who was one of Kennedy’s guards
- James Joseph Rowley, Jr-Secret Service chief when Kennedy was shot
- Bobby DeProspero-second in command.
- Jerry Parr-In charge of Reagan’s presidential detail.
- Dennis McCarthy-agent who took a bullet for Reagan
- John Simpson-became the new director under Reagan
- Joe Petro-Replaced DeProspero
- John Magaw-Became director during Bush, Sr last year in office.
- Eljay Bowron-Became directory during Clinton’s first year
- Lew Merletti-Became directory about five years into Clinton’s time
- Brian Stafford-Became director during the Lewinsky time
- Larry Cockell-Black agent who was considered for director.
- Ralph Basham-Replaced Stafford as director
- Charles Baserap-new agent in 2005 who was asked for ideas on improving security
- Mark Sullivan-another director in 2006
- Julia Pierson-head of HR and then director. Short time when she became a fall person.
- Keith Prewitt-Black, became Sullivan’s deputy director.
- Vic Erevia-Atlanta field office agent in charge of it. Then got tapped for being the special agent in charge of the Presidential detail.
- Dave Chaney-About to retire when he gets a chance to go to Columbia to prepare for Obama’s visit.
- Greg Stokes-fellow supervisor with Chaney. On Columbia trip.
- Prieto-agent who was an an affair with a foreign national
- Robin DeProspero-Phipot-ran the Security Clearance Division
- Rachel Weaver-staffer for Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson
- Joseph Clancy-takes over as director after Pierson
- Kerry O’Grady-she had trouble with candidate Trump and spoke out.
- Billy Callahan-acting director during Trump.
- Randolph “Tex” Alles-director under Trump
- James Murray-replaced Alles as director.
- Recommendation: Osher Book Club
- When: November 28, 2022
- Date Became Aware of Book: November 28, 2022
- How come do I want to read this book: Because it is a book the Osher Book Club is reading
- What do I think I will get out of it? History of the Secret Service
Thoughts:
Several articles caught my eye about President Biden’s relationship with the Secret Service. A book by is the source of these articles. The British magazine called The Independent has a representative article: Biden won’t speak freely near Secret Service and thinks agents lied about dog bite incident, book reveals. There is a level of distrust that Biden has, fearing that some agents affinity for former President Trump may have a higher place to them than serving the office and country.
Author's Note
She started writing about the Secret Service in 2012 when several agents were involved with prostitution and heavy drinking in South America. This tarnished the image of the Service and started Leonnig on the path to see how the Service operated and who were the agents.
As she developed this book, some of the agents, leaders and alumni felt threatened. But it was Leonnig’s purpose to write for the Secret Service’s front line and its future that I write these hard truths.
Those who cooperated with her, most did it under the condition of anonymity.
Some scenes are reconstructed from first hand accounts, based upon interviews, internal government reports and memos. Dialogue is based upon people’s memories and checked against other people’s memories.
Prologue
Starts with a current agent, Brad Gable-a fake name, talking about why he became an agent. He was impressed by Tim McCarthy’s dedication to saving Reagan during Hinckley’s attack.
Counter Assault Team-most dangerous assignment. Their motto about an attacker is Dead or Arrested.
After a training session, Gable tried to get feedback on how good the CAT group was. The instructor. The instructor said that they could not stop a real attack. Outdated weapons and tactics. Increasingly, the Secret Service was fulfilling its Zero Fail mission based not on its skills, people, training, or technology, but on dumb luck. This has been collaborated by many agents to the author. They describe an organization stretched too thin, drowning in new missions, and fraught with security risks brought on by a fundamental mistrust between rank-and-file agents and leadership.
Leonnig has found a rich history of bravery, heroism and incompetence. She takes us through the last sixty years: Kennedy through Trump. This is a concern for us as they keep us common citizens protected: by protecting the president, they protect democracy.
In 60 years, the agency has grown from 300 agents to 7,000 and a budget from $5 million to $2.2 billion. They have been tasked with protecting the president to now protecting family members, deputies and political opponents.
How did the Secret Service go from an elite, hardworking band of patriots vowing to do whatever it takes to protect future presidents in the wake of JFK’s assassination, to a frat boy culture of infighting, indulgence, and obsolescence?
for three years running had recently been ranked as the most hated place to work in the federal government
Leonnig notes this is not a one administration problem, but one which has been created over the 60 years.
the Secret Service was born out of a fundamental tension that lies at the heart of American democracy: symbolism versus security. Even after two presidential assassinations, there was a reluctance to have a presidential security force-too much like the English “royals”. America, its presidents and its citizens, have taken the Secret Service for granted in the past, too often with tragic results.
1 The Tragedy that Birthed a New Secret Service Kennedy to Nixon (1963-1974)
Chapter 1 Protecting Lancer
Describes a Kennedy rally in upstate New York through the eyes of Win Lawson, an agent. Kennedy received three times as many threatening letters than his predecessor. Kennedy was a very popular president. Who could be against him? In private, Kennedy’s Secret Service agents saw a man courting danger…. He was also extremely reckless with his own personal safety.
Typically, the agents worked in six man teams, rotating eight hour shifts.
New agents were always sent first to a field office, but “keepers” were summoned to the White House for a tryout on the detail within one or two years. The Secret Service had a deal which bypassed normal hiring requirements. As part of the agreement, the Secret Service had to put these relatively junior agents on the president’s detail within two years if the Service wanted to keep them on the job.
There is a yin and yang of being an agent on the President’s guard. One hand, it could be boring and uncomfortable. The other is that you would see people whom you would only read about or see in a movie up close.
Talks about why the Secret Service started guarding Presidents-the McKinley assassination in Buffalo. This was on top of duties to deter counterfeiting. Talks about Lincoln’s death.
Chapter 2 Tempting the Devil
Kennedy traveled and made many appearances. This stretched the Secret Services abilities greatly. Hours stretched to being 16 hour days. Requests for increases in personnel fell on deaf ears.
And then there was Kennedy trying to elude his guards. For anyone who cared to look more closely, the incident highlighted a recklessness in Kennedy that some in the Secret Service had been trying to discreetly contain.
Kennedy had a wild private side. As one agent said, if we can’t trust the Secret Service to keep secrets, who can we trust? Our current president, Biden, has some doubts about the Secret Service keeping secrets.
Kennedy would leave the White House in an unmarked car with a friend or brother, without any agents. Nobody knew where he was. The agents had mixed feelings about Kennedy. He was truly a special guy,” said Paolella. “Whether it was the queen of England or the housemaid, he would treat them the same way.” But with his dalliances, they were repulsed by it. Besides the morality question, the concern was if the President was risking his life or blackmail, wasn’t that their concern?
Win Lawson headed to Dallas to do the advance preparation for Kennedy’s Dallas trip. Kennedy would be making 22 stops in 9 states in less than a week.
Service’s Protective Research Section (PRS) an index of individuals who might be a threat to the President.
When Lawson checked the PRS, twice, there were no individual flagged in the area. Later there was. It was a Georgia KKK man who was planning something.
In 1962, at Kennedy’s request, Bouck installed a secret tape recording system in the Oval Office. There is a book, Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy which has his tapes transcribed.
Chapter 3 Three Shots in Dallas
The advance group would try to do what they could do with limited staff for the 22 cities being visited.
Kennedy sided with less protection so that he would be more open to people. In the agents eyes this left him more vulnerable.
Talks about the trip through Texas. Also talked about the heavy drinking at a bar. The team at Dallas was lean in personnel.
Describes the reactions to the sound of rifle shots. It was over in a matter of seconds. This was the first time in history which the Secret Service lost a President.
Johnson is now the President and is now the Secret Services chief concern.
Chapter 4 No Time to Grieve
The scene at the airport when Air Force One comes in with President Johnson and Kennedy’s body. Leonnig goes through and talks about how the request for additional funding was met with contempt. Vice-President Johnson had always felt like a back row player. And Now, after nearly four hours as president, Johnson still felt second string. This moment would bother him for a long time.
Rowley determined he would protect his agents and, to be sure, himself. He would protect his beloved Secret Service by making a stronger one.
Gives a brief biography of Rowley.
The funeral was a protection nightmare. Jacquie Kennedy wanted to walk it all, which would have forced both Johnson and other nation dignitaries to also walk the route. She was convinced to shorten the walk to eight blocks.
Story came out that the agents had been drinking the night before. This will be a pattern Leonnig follows throughout her book.
Rowley instituted a couple of changes after the killing. He brought in agents from other localities and mandated that buildings be checked along the route before a President is on it. Second, they updated how the PRS was done.
Funding for additional hires and updating equipment was allowed by Congress.
Johnson and the Secret Service did not have a good relationship. He threatened to turn over security to the FBI. Which was ironics since President Theodore Roosevelt, furious at Congress meddling with federal investigations, permanently transferred eight Secret Service agents to a new unit, which eventually became the FBI. Johnson micromanaged the Secret Service.
Rowley was interrogated about the late night drinking before the Kennedy assassination. To the agents he was a hero since he took the blunt part of the commission's targeting. I’m firing these guys. They completely failed.’ He never fired anyone. He could have taken the low road and he didn’t. He protected the agents without lying.
Rowley proposed a plan to upgrade the Service-which was like the plan before Kennedy’s death. Johnson was not a fan of the plan. Congress approved of the plan.
Chapter 5 One Last Day on the Trail
The death of Robert Kennedy caused Johnson to include candidates for President to be part of the Secret Services responsibility. Four years later, George Wallace is running again and has agents assigned to him.
Bremer, who shot Wallace said “I want to do SOMETHING BOLD AND DRAMATIC, FORCEFUL & DYNAMIC, A STATEMENT of my manhood for the world to see.” Bremer tried to kill Nixon, but security was too tight. So he went after Wallace.Described the Secret Service’s tactics to scout out crowds. Wallace would not have been shot if he had followed the agents instructions to go to the car, instead he went to the barrier to shake hands. Bremer shot him there, making Wallace a handicap for the rest of his life.
Chapter 6 The President's Spies
When Nixon heard about the shooting of Wallace, he had two goals: to spy on his opponents and to pin the blame on the left. To the first, he wanted agents to “protect Edward Kennedy, the last remaining Kennedy brothers, even though Kennedy was not running. Kennedy accepted as a temporary measure. This lasted three weeks.
To the second goal, Nixon did not care what was being shown about Bremer. “Screw the record,” Nixon interrupted. “Just say he was a supporter of ‘that’ and ‘that’ and put it out. Rowley’s agent got to the apartment first and had inventoried the contents. Nixon was furious that the FBI had not gotten there first or even better yet, Colson’s man had not been able to plant evidence.
The Secret Service felt this was another failure and tried to learn what went wrong. It was realized that agents did not stay with the candidate throughout the campaign and did not know how the candidate worked.
Nixon wanted to use agents to spy on the candidates. He had a mole in one of the agents who they wanted to spy on Kennedy. Hill, who had guarded Jacqueline Kennedy, was suspicious of the request.
the episode also highlighted the way a president’s behavior can shape and taint the Secret Service. It is easy for a President to think he can override an agent or an agency’s basic duties. In this case, the need for confidentiality is paramount to the Secret Service.
Nixon also put improvements to his residence in San Clemente on the Secret Service’s tab. He also used the Secret Service to stifle free speech at his campaign rallies. Larry Newman, an agent working on the advance preparations, listened incredulously in the hotel bar as a White House aide described the plan to bring in “dummy” demonstrators to appear violent and damage property. “ In San Jose he purposely confronted and stirred up protesters. They also tried to get the protesters to beat up the news personnel following Nixon.
Then Watergate exploded. Rowley was ordered to appear before the Watergate Committee. Rowley resigned. He hadn’t been able to fully stop Nixon from making the Secret Service his tool. His replacement Stuart Knight promised to close the gap between reality and the ideal.
The Secret Service had installed a recording system on Nixon’s order.
2 Meeting the Test Ford to Clinton (1974-1999)
Chapter 7 A Casual Walk to Church
A couple of months into his presidency, Reagan decides to walk across the street to church, giving the Secret Service both a half an hour notice and heartburn. To the Reagans, this was a breath of freedom. They felt they were a bird in a gilded cage. Mike Deavers, who was Reagan's right hand man and DeProsero argued back and forth on this.
Before Reagan came along, there was both Ford and Carter. The Nixon years had divided the ranks and emboldened Nixon detail agents to form a secretive ring about the president and adopt his model of distrust and arrogance with outsiders. This started turf snobbery with the White House agents claiming superiority. Ford worked on tampering down the tension.
Knight brought in non-cop/non-military people into the Service.
Two incidents during Ford’s time came close to having a repeat of Kennedy. Lynette Fromme tried to take a shot at him, but was unable to because of an agent. Within three weeks, Sara Jane Moore tried to kill Ford. New rules on presidential security were drawn up to tighten access.
Carter did not have any serious attempts on him. But he was cold to the agents.
On a routine stop at the Hilton, Parr took the place of another agent to get a better feel for how Reagan operated. The Hilton was a place Presidents went to about once a month. Everything was choreographed. As Reagan was emerging from the Hotel, Hinckley shot him, along with another agent, McCarthy. The chaos of when anybody important is shot, or for that matter when gunfire is involved with anybody.
After seven hours (?) of activity, Parr had a chance to stop, get a bite to eat. A former agent said he thought that Parr saved the President’s life. Parr had agonized in little fitful moments in the hospital about what he might have done wrong. He hadn’t stopped to think about all he had done right.
Chapter 8 Battening Down the Hatches
What saved Reagan was how the agents reacted. Their repetitive training snapped into play and became a reflex action. The Secret Service has a practice of analyzing every threat to figure out what they could do better. The big question was, how did someone with a gun get that close to the President and how to stop the next person? Bobby DeProspero was charged with coming up with the answer.
Gives background on Bobby DeProspero.
DeProspero came up with 34 recommendations for improving security. Some of these recommendations went against what Reagan's PR people wanted. When the Pope was shot, it sealed the recommendations DeProspero wanted. The Secret Service’s best methods, agents often say, are developed in the wake of a crisis, a teachable moment that exposes a weakness .
After Kennedy was shot and killed, agents adopted a raft of changes and after Wallace, a similar thing. This seems to me that there is a sense of being reactive instead of constantly evaluating the current status and upgrading.
Chapter 9 Night of the Long Knives
A power struggle between those who wanted to go beyond strength and manliness to using intelligence to prevent harm to a President, vs the more traditional way the Service operated. Knight was the one which appreciated tradition, but wanted to include more modern ways of protecting the President.
Knight commissioned a study of agents. He found professionalism and dedication. He also found a high degree of stress.
Knight’s rival got promoted to being his boss. Knight retired and Simpson took his place. This led to the purge of some supervisors and promotion of friends of Powis and Simpson. This was known as the Night of the Long Knives.
The Secret Service was then put into small camps. How Reagan chose these people put him favoring one camp over the other. He probably was just choosing who he felt comfortable with.
A training center for agents opened. It was named after Rowley.
OF ALL THE people who lived through the Hilton shooting, Reagan seemed the least fazed by the attack.
Chapter 10 A Happy Service, A Rising Threat
During Bush’s time, it was felt he had the best relationship with the Secret Service. His father, who became a U.S. senator, had instilled in his son the creed of well-off WASPs: “Of those to whom much is given, much is expected.” Agents were treated like family. Their own families were invited to events. That’s unbelievable, that the most powerful man in the world would think enough of other people to delay his vacation by twenty-four or forty-eight hours just so other people could be with their families,”
Talks about Bush’s background.
With the fall of Communist Poland, Bush was going to a place in northern New York which had a large concentration of Polish people. But it was terrible from a security perspective. Too many ways he could be targeted from and no clean line of escape. He was being followed by an Army veteran who would try to kill him. But he could not get beyond the magnetometers.
The Secret Service commissioned a study called the Exceptional Case Study Project to help understand the type of people who would try to kill a President.
The Secret Service’s main way of protecting the President, even at the start of the 1990’s was seat and muscle. “Let’s throw bodies at the problem,’ ” explained a former senior agent. “No strategy. Just reaction.”
Chapter 11 A Rook Star President
Agents were now assigned to Clinton. They noticed there were times he was not to have an agent with him. This caused a similar anguish which Kennedy caused the Service. Clinton was meeting women.
Magaw was not trusted by the Clintons. When Clinton was elected, the Secret Service restricted his movements. Magaw was dumped to a Treasury job and Eljay Bowron was brought in.
Bill Clinton was eventually liked; Hilary CLinton was detested. Mrs. Clinton became the Secret Service’s least popular First Lady on record…. She was the person in that crew who would cut a person’s heart out. On the other hand, when an agent mistook her for a staffer, Clinton was OK with that.
Clinton’s frequent womanizing was demoralizing the agents. They felt uncomfortable covering for him.
A plane crashed at the White House-Clinton was away. There was no warning of this. There was no plane in place if aircraft ignored the rules about flying in the restricted airspace around the White House.
Another close call is when a convicted felon fired 29 shots from an automatic rifle at the White House. Clinton was not in danger.
A group between the White House and the Secret Service came up with recommendations to upgrade, including monitoring the FAA radar.
Chapter 12 The Intern
Monica Lewinsky. Enough said. Secret Service agents were questioned about what they saw/knew.
3 Terror and Politics The Bush Years (2000-2007)
Chapter 13 Scrambling on 9/11
Shows what happened on 9/11 to President Bush. One thing, the Secret Service got the warning about incoming planes to the Washington area. But the message never made it to those in command. Bush was in Florida with a class of second graders. White House staffers wanted a few more minutes to wrap up. Agents were thinking of seconds.
At the White House, when it was learned of the planes heading towards Washington, the White House was calmly evacuated. Some agents with rifles were told and did go to the roof-possibly their last assignment. There was a hole in the plan. The Vice President’s detail did not have authorization to go into the secure bunker at the White House. It took a minute to get that rectified. It came close to being a minute where Cheney could have been killed.
There is a line of demarcation in the Service: before and after 9/11. Before it was unimaginable that a jetliner could crash into the White House. Now it was something or something like it to be planned for. They now plan to get the President airborne as soon as possible and that no staffer can override them. It comes back to the fact that the policies and procedures of the Secret Service are born out of blood,” he [Jonathan Wackrow] said. “The Service will get better once it’s tested. Every time it is tested, it gets better.
9/11 day ended for the President when an unidentified plane was in the White House vicinity. Turned out it was an F16 returning to base.
Chapter 14 "You Don't Belong Here"
Analysis of what went wrong on 9/11. Senator Lieberman recommended and pushed for a new department which would encompass all of the country’s federal intelligence and protective power, except for the military. Eventually this came into being as the Department of Homeland Security. The Secret Service was put under this umbrella.
A news report published an article on Secret Service bad behavior. This behavior could make an agent susceptible to blackmail. In the meantime, Black agents had filed a lawsuit claiming that Blacks were being passed over for promotion. Stafford was forced out as director. But his recommendations for his replacement were not heeded. Ralph Basham was selected as his replacement.
Chapter 15 "He Predicted All of it"
Charles Baserap who guarded the White House, was asked for suggestions on improving security. He came up with several pages of recommendations. Julia Pierson talked with him about it. But the higher ups felt it was completely out of line. But the memo was spread throughout the force. It got an unofficial name: Uniformed Division Officer’s Manifesto.
Baserap was now a marked man. Instead of backing down, he went further. He did a survey of all 136 White House officers on their thoughts on the complex’s protocols and weaknesses. He called it The Secret Service State of the Union. It basically agreed with his manifesto. Just a day or two before he was to become permanent, he was let go for a sick leave violation.
It is evident that the leadership only wanted their own ideas. Also they did not want at some later date an investigation to show they were told and did not follow through.
4 The Wheels Come Off The Obama Years (2008-2015)
Chapter 16 "He'll Be Shot Sure As Hell"
Obama as candidate and President. There were strong concerns for his safety. Leonnig said that Obama was the most endangered president in history. The reason: racism. So you know, you can’t…you know, you can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen - Michelle Obama. She was putting on a brave face in front of her fears.
There were people who wanted to kill him. But the politics of it were that The idea that some people want to do harm to Barack Obama, that cuts against our narrative. But even before the primaries and caucuses started, there were threats mailed to his Senate email and talk on the Internet.In May 2007 Obama got Secret Service protection due to Harry Reid’s and Dick Durbin’s intervention.
There were outside threats. But there was also a question of how racist the Secret Service was. Black agents found a noose in the training facility. Then there was the Black officers' lawsuit. And then the jokes at Black’s expense. And then when a plot was discovered, it was dismissed as not being serious.
Chapter 17 Sullivan's Drew
The reign of Director Mark Sullivan. Leonnig’s conclusion is that his seven years as Director left the Service weaker than he started with.
Talks about who Sullivan was. He seemed focused on the next promotions. That guy will act like your friend to your face, but behind your back, he’ll be talking about you so he can help himself. Basham recommended that Sullivan become the next Director when he took on the Border Patrol. The issue with Sullivan is that he did not build a strong second level, the “bench”. Sullivan did promote a Black, Prewitt. But he also promoted two men who were “good Ol’ boys” who had been flagged as engaging with porn.
The message which Sullivan sent was that loyalty and connections were more important than competency or morality. On the other hand, Pierson was pushed aside because she had flagged some of Sullivan’s people’s issues.
Another issue was the Service keeping up with the technology. Despite the Service’s image as a James Bond operation, the Service was sputtering along on ancient technologies, storing some of its most important information in 1980s-era computers.
AFTER THE DIRECTOR, the most powerful embodiment of the Secret Service is the special agent in charge of the president’s detail. Erevia was chosen and became personal friends with Obama. A lot of times this position becomes the Director. It gets down to, does the President like this person? They aren’t considering management skills, or the ability to craft a strategic vision. Instead, they all inevitably ask themselves the same question: Who makes me most comfortable.
Michelle Obama changed how the Secret Service covered the First Lady. People responded to her. Her security came to a head when a homeless guy was able to get to her door in a hotel in Los Angeles. Nothing happened. But the guy got too close for comfort.
Chapter 18 The Night Bullets Hit the White House
A gunman fired at the White House. The Obama’s were out, but the children and Michelle Obama’s mother were there. The Secret Service was responding, then was told to stand down, they heard a car backfiring. But people on the street heard and knew it was gun fire.
The response from the Secret Service was confusion about what was happening and what the car involved was. Even the next morning, the Secret Service did not know that the White House was the target. When the Service started realizing there could have been a shooting and that the target was the White House, they tried to keep it quiet, even from their own staff. It was a couple of days later did the Secret Service realize it was an assassination. Michelle Obama was not told and was furious when she found out. The President was right behind her in being upset, both how it was handled and how the First Family found out. Sullivan survived.
Chapter 19 "I Woke Up to a Nightmare"
Talks about Chaney and then the partying going on in preparation for a visit by Obama. He and another supervisor got involved with prostitutes. One of the agents who was also in Columbia stiffed a prostitute. This led to an incident which exploded. Because the prostitute got the police involved, Columbia notified the American embassy. This led to implicating a whole group of people.
On top of that, the conference which Obama was going to, one of the topics was sexplotation. There were 22 men involved after counting the Secret Service, Special Forces and explosive ordnance teams. The Secret Service personnel were sent back to the States.
Chaney told his wife what had happened.
Note: This is the story which Leonnig first covered on the Secret Service.
Chapter 20 Sullivan's Struggles
Sullivan was in trouble over Columbia, Hookergate. He was in damage control. The image of an honorable agency versus the actuality of something along the lines of a frat boy house was exposed. It was decided those who paid prostitutes would be fired and those who had one night stands would be disciplined.
Chaney was given a date, just after his retirement date to quit. He took it. His partner, Stokes had four years. Stokes tried blackmailing the Service by saying he knew where the skeletons were who acted just as bad or worse than him.
Sullivan was warned by Congress not to hide other embarrassing information as it would be worse later on. There were other incidents, numerous ones which the Director did not allude to and did try to hide.
Chapter 21 Outed
Stokes’ hearing on if he was going to be fired. He felt he knew where the skeletons were buried and would expose them. Stokes was looking for consistency in how punishment was given.
This led to an agent, Prieto, updating his security clearance form to show he was in a relationship with a foreign national-Prieto was also married. DeProspero-Philpot whose job it was to screen security clearances felt this needed to be investigated. With a polygraph test, Prieto showed he was hiding information. Prieto committed suicide.
Management felt that Prieto’s death was Stokes fault, not theirs. It turned out that Prieto had more than one lover and had been taking trips out of the country without reporting it.
Stokes was terminated.
files synchronized between devices-I do not know how this works. But from the book, there were encrypted photos found on Prieto’s phone. When they compared it to other devices they were able to see what the photos were.
Chapter 22 A New Sheriff in Town
Rachel Weaver, staff from Senator Johnson’s office, started looking into what was going on with the Secret Service. The Inspector General was to issue a report. But after five months, the investigators had not been allowed to look at some of the basic documents, such as billings or been able to interview staff in Columbia. Even in the report, there were red flags starting on page two. It cited misbehavior in other countries as well. Johnson released the information in a press conference.
What is the difference between lying and not telling the full truth?
Sullivan was retiring and recommended David O’Connor to replace him. Pierson was second choice. But an old email where O’Connor made a racist remark torpedoed him. Pierson was then named director.
Chapter 23 A Listing Ship
Pierson was the first female director. The country’s leadership hoped she could reform the Secret Service. But there were those who felt they had been shorted and hamstrung her. But her first task was to get money as the Service was down 600 positions and was losing a hundred each year. She caught the attention of the White House budget director and he was able to find another $37 million dollars in short term funds.
Within a couple of months, another episode of bad-boy behavior came to confront her. And then another. And then another.
Now that she had funds, she was set on hiring and training new agents. But she was only getting half of the people hired? Why? A new hiring system did not work. And people were being stretched to their limits.
She started to transfer managers out. This caused resentment. People started working on taking her down.
And then Rachel Weaver was still investigating. She got the report on Columbia published and showed the inspector general watered down the report. He retired. She then changed jobs and worked for a congressman who was interested in the Secret Service escapades. Timing is everything in life, and something unfathomable was about to happen in downtown Washington
Chapter 24 "He's in the House"
A lone man entered the White House grounds and even got inside the White House. The President and his family had left for the weekend.
With the President gone, there was a relaxed air to the remaining agents. In this case, everything which could go wrong, did. Leonnig goes through what went wrong: communications, positioning, the person hit a seam between stations, the canines who were to tackle intruders did not, and officers who were in position to stop the intruder did not. Within 30 seconds the intruder made it into the White House.
But this was not the end of the issues for Pierson. A couple of days before, a security guard had not been screened and was in an elevator with a gun. Pierson did not tell the President and did not come clean with a Congressional panel.
Pierson was forced to resign. Clancy took over. Her boss knew it was some of her senior staff who failed her.
5 Sliding Backward The Trump Years (2016-2021)
Chapter 25 Clancy's Turn
From his old job as counsel in the Defense Department, Johnson had come to value the leadership presence that generals exuded. Not only were they able to command action from their subordinates, the best ones were able to build an esprit de corps that made soldiers race to follow them into battle and seek to prove their worth.
Clancy had Obama’s ear and wanted the job. He was clean, but had not held an administrative job. Would he be able to clean up the Secret Service?
Within two weeks, the first episode of things went bad.Two high level officers had been drinking and came back to the White House to pick up their car. They ran a blockade. This eventually got leaked to Leonnig. But Clancey had not been told.When questioned by Congress, Clancey would not let his senior officials testify nor would he talk about the details. This infuriated Congress. They noted that President Obama’s life was in danger thanks to “an agency at war with itself.
And then things got worse. One of the agents typed in a Congressman’s name into a master index. It popped up Then the rumor made its rounds at the Secret Service how the Congressman was rejected as an agent and was getting his revenge. This should have been confidential information. This embarrassed not only the Secret Service but Homeland Security.He barely remembered applying, but he wondered what else the Secret Service was capable of.
Clancy was hired to clean up the agency. Instead he was either incompetent in the director role or lying to Congress. Father Joe’s attempts to restore honor to the Service weren’t working
Chapter 26 Chaos Candidate
Trump, the candidate.Trump instigated confrontation. Since the Secret Service was there, when protesters were being attacked, what was the agent’s role?
Then to complicate things, many agents were privately cheering on Trump. Remember, he was running against Hilary Clinton, the most disliked First Lady in Secret Service history.
Talks about agent O’Grady who spoke out against Trump. She was met with hostility within the Service. This included her being investigated. She was demoted. When other agents were disgusted by Clinton, there was not a similar treatment.
Chaos within the administration, particularly the Secret Service. Trump’s habits and desires stretched the agency thing, such as designating Trump Towers his home, guarding it and updating security was costly. Then Trump was trying to cut the US budget, including the Secret Service. But he did not want any lessening of security.
But being stretched thin led to security lapses.One person made it onto the grounds and was able to make his way almost to the building before being apprehended. General Kelly, head of Homeland, found out about it through the early morning news. The Service was not giving Kelly any answers. The fence is the same size, technology is obviously failing, the training must not be working. It’s a fundamental failure on every level.
Two agents took selfies of Trump’s grandson. Another embarrassment.
Trump wanted good looking agents on his team.
Chapter 27 Taking a Hit for Trump
Trump failed on his campaign promise. He promised that he would not have time to play golf like Obama had. Trump had traveled more often for pleasure and played golf more often than Obama had. Trump’s travel caused the Secret Service to rack up bills.
A new director was needed. Trump resisted naming one, being content to have an acting one. Kelly wanted Alles, a retired Marine general. Being an outsider, the agents did not embrace him.
Trump made decisions without consideration for expense.
Then there was a Russian woman in the Moscow embassy who may have been spying on the embassy. Alles was not kept up to date. The deputy director and [assistant directors] withhold a lot of information from the director to sabotage his agenda, just like they did to former director Julia Pierson.
Epilogue
Trump and his family wanted Alles out. Also they wanted to Kelly out as well because of denying Kushner Top Secret clearance.But as had been the case in previous administrations, President Trump and his family weren’t looking for an executive to be a steward for the Secret Service and chart its strategic mission. They were looking for the comfort of someone with proven loyalty to them.
Alles was making progress in hiring. But when Kelly left, his replacement, Nielsen was told that Alles should be let go. This marked another failed try to reform the Secret Service. He got the hiring system to start working. Also he tried to get them from survival to strategic thinking. They hired James Murray.
A former agent commented on the current status of the Service: It was a lack of strategic, professional management of an agency whose mission knows no pause. Most directly, the selection of supervisors and senior agency leadership has been disastrous.
Agents are rewarded for loyalty, not competence. Even as their management reached retirement age, there is a race to capitalize on the Secret Service name and get a high paying job in a Fortune 500 company.
The Service reflects the President which they service, to some extent. You could see it in the Bush’s, Clintons and Obama’s. But with Trump, it became evident that he was bending them in a way to conform with his sense of power. They were being used not only to protect his image, but also to increase his wealth. For example, every time he played golf, the government spent money at his properties for food and lodging. But not only for him, but all of his entourage.
There was a place where Trump crossed a line. When there was a protest and some of the protesters crossed into the White House grounds, Trump and his family were moved to a secure room. Next day, Trump said the next time, the Secret Service would use vicious dogs and ominous weapons to hurt them and that the agents were just waiting to use them. Many agents wanted nothing to do with this. They noted that they were there to protect democracy and our government, not to attack protesters.
When Trump used NPS and the Secret Service to forcibly clear Trump’s way to a church, this raised a divide among the agents. One wanted to use a fire house like in the 1960’s race protests in the South. This got a large and vocal response from other agents.
Later when Biden was President-elect, there was a refusal by the Service to give Biden full protection as past President-elects had been given. “It appears the Service for some reason is picking a side. I don’t know how the Service recovers from crossing this line
This led to Biden having doubts about how non-partisan the Secret Service was/is.
Leonnig’s conclusion was that the Secret Service has not kept up with technology. That it has been short changed for the past 20+ years or more. And that they have been used by Presidents to further their own Presidencies rather than being non-partisan.
Evaluation:
Carol Leonnig is a writer for the Washington Post. Part of her beat was to cover the Secret Service. Over time, she built up contacts who would feed her inside information about the Secret Service. This included both its screw-ups and its internal in-fighting. While her initial articles were on HookerGate, the fiasco in Columbia during Obama’s time, the book really starts 60 years before with Kennedy. She walks us through each President’s relationship and how the Secret Service both protected them and failed them.
One of the things which Leonnig brings up is how stretched the Service is. She talks about how a few agents were assigned to Roosevelt on the sly after McKinley’s killing to now covering the President full time, his family, his extended family, major Presidential candidates, foreign heads of state, and not to mention the White House grounds and places these people will be going to. Their staff and budget has not grown in proportion to the tasks assigned. This has stretched the agency, causing agents to work at least half of their days off.
But there are also failures where the Services metaphorically shoots itself. This is what Leonnig brings up over and over and over again. HookerGate was more of a culmination of culture than a one off. The author goes through many episodes of heavy drinking a few hours before these agents are to protect the President. She goes over how agents covet an overseas assignment as a time to be wild frat boys.
But mostly, Leonnig shows us that this insular culture of the Secret Service has a hard time being reformed, either on the inside or front he outside. When you have the ear of the most powerful person on the planet, it is easy to tell your story and make your case.
The one last concern which is laid out is how easily the Secret Service can be politicalized. This came to a head during the Trump years. But I suspect all Presidents have used the agency to some extent. It is almost impossible. It is just that with Trump, it was more pronounced.
And this is where I think the book lacks a bit. The author, after laying out the problems and failings of the Secret Service, really does not address how it can return to its sterling reputation. How to reform it is not discussed. She talks about Obama saying more diversity is needed. I do not think that really solves the core issues of agents being disrespectful of their position, shortage of funds, politicization of the agency, falling behind in technology, and turf wars.
Read the book and understand that the Secret Service is fallible. It is a long book, but written so that you will want to read it and be aware of the people who guard our leaders.
Notes from my book group:
Leonnig says that the Secret Service was born out of a fundamental tension that lies at the heart of American democracy: symbolism versus security. What does she mean by symbolism versus security?
America, its presidents and its citizens, have taken the Secret Service for granted in the past. What do you think about the Secret Service? What functions did you see them performing before reading this book? Afterwards?
When the President travels, the Presidential detail also goes with the President. Describe the benefits and negatives of traveling with a President.
Presidents travel for many reasons. What security considerations are there when a President travels? How can Presidents help alleviate security concerns? How can they circumvent the security?
One agent said, if we can’t trust the Secret Service to keep secrets, who can we trust? To what extent did the various Presidents trust their agents? Are there situations where agents should reveal what the President said or did?
Many agents were heavy drinkers and/or took advantage of travel to be with women. Why do you think this happened? Was it the stress on the job? The type of person who was attracted to being in the Secret Service? … Do you think the agent’s behavior affected their ability to protect the person whom they were assigned to? Do you think they thought it affected their job performance?
How did directors and/or managers in the Secret Service try to reign in bad behavior? How successful were they? Why did they fail in many cases? What changes would you have made? Did their managers try that? What was the result?
The Secret Service’s best methods, agents often say, are developed in the wake of a crisis, a teachable moment that exposes a weakness. Discuss this statement. How could the agency be more proactive in their changes? What kind of culture is needed for an organization to be proactive?
How can Presidents bend the Secret Service to their own purposes? What stops them from doing that?
Can the Secret Service always stop a determined person from killing a President?
How do you want your life to change because you read this book?
Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why the title of Zero Fail?
Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying?
Every book has a world view. Were you able to identify this book’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the book?
Why do you think the author wrote this book?
What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What “takeaways” did you have from this book?
Are there solutions which the author presents?
Do they seem workable? Practicable?
How would you implement them?
Describe the culture talked about in the book.
What economic or political situations are described?
Does the author examine economics and politic?
How did this book affect your view of the world?
What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What was memorable?
- The Day Lincoln Was Shot by James Bishop
- The Making of the President 2016 by Roger Stone
Good Quotes:
- First Line: When I began reporting on the United States Secret Service in 2012, this unique law enforcement agency was rocked by what seemed like the most humiliating scandal in its modern history: A dozen agents and officers stood accused of turning a presidential trip to a South American resort town into a kind of Vegas bachelor party, complete with heavy drinking and prostitutes.
- Last Line: It should haunt us all.
- you can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen. Michelle Obama, Newsweek, November 17, 2008. How He Did It
- Author's Note ix
- Prologue xiii
- 1 The Tragedy that Birthed a New Secret Service Kennedy to Nixon (1963-1974)
- Chapter 1 Protecting Lancer 3
- Chapter 2 Tempting the Devil 27
- Chapter 3 Three Shots in Dallas 46
- Chapter 4 No Time to Grieve 75
- Chapter 5 One Last Day on the Trail 106
- Chapter 6 The President's Spies 130
- 2 Meeting the Test Ford to Clinton (1974-1999)
- Chapter 7 A Casual Walk to Church 163
- Chapter 8 Battening Down the Hatches 203
- Chapter 9 Night of the Long Knives 221
- Chapter 10 A Happy Service, A Rising Threat 240
- Chapter 11 A Rook Star President 262
- Chapter 12 The Intern 308
- 3 Terror and Politics The Bush Years (2000-2007)
- Chapter 13 Scrambling on 9/11 339
- Chapter 14 "You Don't Belong Here" 369
- Chapter 15 "He Predicted All of it" 389
- 4 The Wheels Come Off The Obama Years (2008-2015)
- Chapter 16 "He'll Be Shot Sure As Hell" 409
- Chapter 17 Sullivan's Drew 430
- Chapter 18 The Night Bullets Hit the White House 447
- Chapter 19 "I Woke Up to a Nightmare" 466
- Chapter 20 Sullivan's Struggles 493
- Chapter 21 Outed 513
- Chapter 22 A New Sheriff in Town 536
- Chapter 23 A Listing Ship 552
- Chapter 24 "He's in the House" 581
- 5 Sliding Backward The Trump Years (2016-2021)
- Chapter 25 Clancy's Turn 621
- Chapter 26 Chaos Candidate 650
- Chapter 27 Taking a Hit for Trump 686
- Epilogue 709
- Acknowledgments 735
- Notes 741
- Index 783
References:
- Publisher's Web Site for Book
- Wikipedia-Author
- Amazon-Book
- Amazon-Author
- Barnes and Noble
- GoodReads-Book
- GoodReads-Author
- New York Times Review - by Chris Whipple who wrote his own book which touches on Biden and the Secret Service
- Washington Post Review
- Rutgers University review
- The Guardian’s Review
- NPR Review
- Kirkus Review
- Deadline
- YouTube
- White House Historical Association-YouTube
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