Life Inside the Bubble: Why a Top-Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away From It All by Dan Bongino

Author:Dan Bongino [Bongino, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9781938067365
Amazon: 1938067363
Barnesnoble: 1938067363
Goodreads: 18389145
Publisher: WND Books
Published: 2013-11-18T23:00:00+00:00

13

OIL SPILLS, INDONESIA AGAIN, AND MAKING A WAR ZONE “SAFE”

ARRIVING HOME AFTER THE SECOND CANCELLATION of the Indonesia trip, I resolved to myself that my time on the detail was coming to an end and the trip was just not meant to happen. I hated that we worked tirelessly on a plan that would never be implemented and the international law-enforcement relationships between us and the Indonesians were left to wither.

I was not home for more than a few hours when PPD operations called me about assisting another agent during his first lead advance assignment. The agent was Tim, my good friend from our time together at the training center and the PPD transportation section. I was honored to do it and, although Paula was upset at my having to leave again, she and Tim were friends, and she understood what needed to be done. Tim and I were sent to Dauphin Island, Alabama, with the president to search for signs of the oil spill. It appeared that the White House staff was desperate to have the president appear as if he were “doing something” and wanted some photo ops of him on an oily beach looking concerned. The public generally sees through this type of thing, but every presidential administration I worked for used this strategy regardless of how obviously orchestrated it appears.

We met the staff on Dauphin Island and got started quickly getting to know the area. It was obvious in a short amount of time that there did not appear to be significant damage to the beachfront. The White House staff could not have the president on a relatively clean beach giving statements to the press about the devastation. In presidential politics this is a “no-go.”

After a few days of looking and finding only small tar balls, the staff decided that it would be better to put the president on a boat and to ensure the press shots were of him looking into the ocean. It was an unusual request and the Secret Service, in general, prefers to avoid open ocean adventures with the president. But Tim was a skilled agent and he put together a very workable plan, although he ruffled some staff feathers in the process. Tim had no time for weakness or indecision and had no problem letting the White House staff know. This made him a hero to the advance team but a foe to the staff. Despite the personal disagreements, the visit went smoothly, with no unusual issues, and I took pages of mental notes on what was becoming a growing frustration with political leaders, their spin machines, and what seemed to me to be a premium placed on the style and not the substance of leadership.

After the successful completion of our Dauphin Island advance, I became one of a few agents that operations would select on a regular basis to serve as a “lead advisor.” These were cherished assignments because the energy was high but the workload was dramatically reduced. The lead advance agent would rely on me for assistance but generally did most of the work himself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.