Protecting the President by Dan Bongino

Author:Dan Bongino
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WND Books

9

TEMPORARY PROTECTION AGENTS, THE “WOW” FACTOR, AND WHITE HOUSE STAFF ASS-KISSING

THE SPECIAL AGENT MANPOWER CRISIS in the Secret Service has caused a cascade of problems throughout the agency. One of those problems became headline news in March 2017 when it was widely reported that two Secret Service agents, while transporting President Trump’s eight-year-old grandson, Donald Trump III, snapped a selfie with him while he was sleeping in the back of a vehicle the agents were driving. Trump’s grandson awoke in the middle of the photo, and his parents, Donald Trump Jr. and Vanessa Trump, were understandably disturbed by the incident. I was employed as an agent for over a decade, and I’ve taken many photos with protectees – some at their request, some as a courtesy to PPD agents, and some taken by members of the media – but I cannot fathom why two adults trained as Secret Service agents and charged with securing the life of an eight-year-old boy, would think it was appropriate to snap a selfie with a sleeping child. The creepy factor in this story is extraordinary, and when the story became public, a number of current agents I keep in contact with relayed to me that even the most forgiving agents were repulsed by the story. Most Secret Service agents are parents first, and many of them felt that this wasn’t only an abdication of the agent’s official duties; it was an embarrassment to the agency and the people working within it. But with the manpower crisis in the Secret Service, this event, however creepy, is explainable.

The Secret Service’s two largest permanent protection details, the Presidential Protective Division (PPD) and the Vice Presidential Protective Division (VPPD), are difficult assignments for agents to get. Contrary to public perception, most of the Secret Service’s special agents are not assigned to these protection details. Most Secret Service agent staff are assigned to investigative field offices. Due to their preference for experienced agents only, it takes a Secret Service agent anywhere from seven to ten years of above-average performance in his or her investigative field office assignment before that agent is eligible for reassignment to either the PPD or VPPD protection detail. This limits the pool of agents eligible for these assignments for a couple of reasons. First, not every agent assigned to a field office will be an above-average performer. “Above-average” would obviously be meaningless if there weren’t an accompanying group of below-average performers in the field offices. Many of these below-average performing agents will be assigned to positions in intelligence, on the Dignitary Protective Division, or they will remain in the field office throughout their careers because no other division of the Secret Service will accept them. Second, the manpower crisis on both the Uniformed Division side of the Secret Service and on the special agent side has caused the Secret Service to hemorrhage mid-career officers and agents. This phenomenon is especially prevalent during the busy presidential election campaign seasons where younger agents, hired in the years

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