The unbelievably thankless hard work, family sacrifices, and brutal life of the uniformed and dressed Secret Service should be admired, respected, and treated fairly.
My mini encounters with the United States Secret Service have sometimes left me dumbfounded. Having worked closely with the Secret Service during 55 events for Senator Barack Obama in 2007-2008, I witnessed firsthand the high-stakes nature of their work. One moment at the Iowa caucus still stands out. Over 1,000 people flooded into an arena in Des Moines, many carrying backpacks and wearing trench coats as Senator Obama prepared to speak.
The sheer number of people and the lack of visible security checks were alarming. I asked a Secret Service field officer if we were safe, and his blunt response still haunts me: “We are not safe.” At that moment, I went to the front row, right in front of where Senator Obama was going to speak, and turned and faced the crowd. I had good intentions (but no training) and scanned the crowd for a gun. Regardless, it wouldn’t have mattered if one of the backpacks had a bomb in it.
The threats to presidents, politicians, and people in power are constant and very real – something we have been made extremely aware of during the 2024 election as two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump have been made. Now, it’s impossible to overlook the pressure on the Secret Service to protect our nation’s leaders. “Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carol Leonnig offers an amazing account of the rise, struggles, and shortcomings of this critical agency.
Leonnig traces the agency’s transformation from its origins after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to its wake-up call following the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963. This once-sleepy agency was propelled into elite status, redeeming itself in 1981 by successfully preventing an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. However, by the time Barack Obama’s presidency began, the Secret Service was already running on fumes.
This book is a must-read in today’s political climate, as Leonnig highlights why these agents are frequently put in danger with outdated equipment and incredibly poor management. A particularly striking chapter examines the immense difficulties in protecting Donald Trump. Leonnig paints a troubling picture of how Trump’s frequent disregard for Secret Service protocols and his constant weekend golf trips strained the agency’s resources to the breaking point. Over $1 billion in taxpayer money was spent on Secret Service operations during Trump’s term, largely due to these trips, all while vital reforms to improve the agency were sidelined. This is the epitome of hypocrisy, as Trump heavily criticized President Obama for playing golf and said he would never play while in office.
Ultimately, Leonnig’s reporting reveals a pattern of leadership prioritizing the agency’s public image over addressing its more profound flaws. Current and former agents and whistleblowers provided detailed insights into the inner workings of a broken system. The 2012 Cartagena prostitution scandal, break-ins at the White House, and gunmen approaching the president without detection all point to a dire need for change.
My own experiences echo Leonnig’s findings. I came face to face with this issue when an unscreened individual who was carrying a 45-automatic firearm entered an elevator with President Obama in Atlanta. This instance heavily underscored the agency’s various vulnerabilities – and our own. “Zero Fail” brings these problems into sharp focus, showing just how much is at stake when critical agencies are left underfunded and overstretched.
This book provides an incredible account of the numerous close calls and failures of the Secret Service, attributing them to a toxic culture, poor leadership, and a lack of political will from their superiors to secure necessary funding. With no proper structure or strategic planning in place, the team is left using smoke and mirrors to protect some of the nation’s most vital leaders. I highly recommend reading “Zero Fail” to gain a deeper understanding of how the stressed-out Secret Service is doing God’s work.
