Great Dan Emmett interview

Q&A with Dan Emmett, former Secret Service agent, author of 'Within Arm's Length' By Josh Fatzick - 03/26/12 07:33 PM ET Dan Emmett knew from the time he was 8 years old that he wanted to be a Secret Service agent; he made that determination right after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Emmett, a former Marine Corps captain, spent 21 years protecting three different presidents as a Secret Service special agent. Six of those years he worked in the elite Presidential Protective Division, always within arm’s length — which is also the title of his new book. Emmett spoke with The Hill about his desire to provide an accurate account of the life of a Secret Service agent and to clear up some misunderstandings about their work. Q: What made you decide to write this book? Most of the books that are out there right now about the Secret Service don’t really deal with the organization in a fair way, in my opinion. I thought people might enjoy a book written by an agent describing what it’s like to have a 21-year career as an agent, without any sensitive information, without any embarrassing information about people we’ve protected. That seems to be what most people have written about of late. So I thought I’d try and provide an honest, up-front account of being an agent. Q: You write in your book that President Kennedy’s assassination inspired you to join the Secret Service. Did that make you want to protect the president, specifically? Specifically, right, because when I decided at the age of 8 that I wanted to be a Secret Service agent, I didn’t know they did anything but protect the president. Of course, they do a lot of other things, and I did quite a few things when I was an agent, but the six years I spent on the presidential detail were the most rewarding of all the time I spent in the Secret Service. Q: Did you ever have any close calls or scary moments when protecting the president? I would have to say that any time you leave the White House with the president of the United States, it’s apprehensive. You know, when you say “scary,” it was never in that way. We were never afraid — we were never scared — but we were apprehensive at times. Certain situations when you know you’re going to go up, you are a lot more alert. Other times you’re not quite so much so. But any time you leave the White House, it’s a tense experience. Q: Did you ever get the chance to relax while you were on the job, or were you always on alert? Some trips you went on, there was some downtime where you could actually go out and see parts of the country you were in, if it was a foreign trip. But for the most part, you were working. As I point out in the book, when you’re a new agent, you look forward to going to all these exotic places. And when you get there, you find out that you are working so much and you’re so tired, it doesn’t matter where you are. It’s just another place. Q: You guys have to do some odd things with the presidents. Did you ever have to help George Bush clear brush at his Texas ranch, or walk any of the presidents’ dogs? No, let me put a kibosh on that right away. Secret Service agents do not walk dogs. Ever. Under any set of circumstances. That is a myth that has been attributed to the service in the past. The people who walk the White House pets are actually full-time paid custodial personnel of the White House. An agent will die for the president, but he will not walk his dog. Q: You served on the presidential detail under both George Bushes and Bill Clinton. Did you ever have a favorite, or was it just part of your job? Secret Service agents look at presidents on two levels. One is a political level, like everyone else does. We all have our political beliefs. Then we also look at them on a personal level. Are they difficult to deal with? And the three presidents I worked with on the presidential detail, all of them were very good to deal with — very easy. I can’t really say I liked one any more than the other. Q: What is the biggest misconception you think people have about the work of Secret Service agents? People think it’s a glamorous job. It’s a very difficult job. You’re working shift work. For two weeks you’re working eight [four-hour shifts]. The next two weeks you’re working midnight shifts. Two weeks later you’re working four [twelve-hour shifts]. Then you go into a two-week training cycle. Then it starts all over again, and that goes on forever — the entire time you’re on the presidential detail. So, for every moment you spend with the president, with the media, flying on Air Force One, for every hour you do that, there are 100 hours you spend standing somewhere being uncomfortable. Q: What do you think is the toughest thing you had to deal with personally while you were in the Secret Service? The hardest part of being on the detail was probably just the hours. Constant travel, constant time away from home, your body clock never really gets used to any one time zone. Sleep is almost impossible because you travel so much. You’re constantly in a state of sleep deprivation and jet lag and malnourishment, almost, at times. But … you learn that you can’t really be at the peak of your game all the time, or you burn out. You have to understand when it’s time to ramp it up and when it’s permissible to back down a little bit. But you learn that with experience; it comes with time. Q: During campaign season, presidents have to go a lot of places and get close to a lot of different people. Is that a particularly stressful time for you all to deal with? Campaign year is a very difficult time because there are so many stops along the way. And of course, back when I was on the presidential detail, the president would frequently go into crowds that had not been through security checks. They had not been through magnetometers, they had not been through X-rays, and so on. So it was real protection. You didn’t know who was in the crowd. It’s a lot different today, though. We’re talking about the mid-’90s. Today there are a lot more 
precautions in place, and presidents are not nearly as reachable to the public, I think, as they once were. http://thehill.com/capital-living/cover-stories/218275-qaa-with-dan-emmett-former-secret-service-agent-author-of-within-arms-length

KINDLE edition of Dan Emmett's spectacular new book NOW available!

KINDLE edition of Dan Emmett's spectacular new book NOW available!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007L5PSRC/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img


The BEST book ever written on the Secret Service! Outstanding! Buy this asap!, March 21, 2012
By Vince Palamara "SECRET SERVICE/JFK/STEELERS/M... (South Park/Bethel Park, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: Within Arm's Length (Kindle Edition)
Former Secret Service agent Dan Emmett, author of "Within Arm's Length", is to be commended on putting together a refreshing take on a well-worn subject as of late: the United States Secret Service. While many of the books written by former agents are ghost-written, dry, dull, and are often dated, Emmett's is exciting, never boring, compelling, and employed no co-author or ghost-writer; this work is solely his own. After the recent debacle of best-selling author Ronald Kessler's dubious tome "In The President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect", a book that seemingly betrayed the trust of the agents, past and present, that the author took into his confidence, littering the literary landscape with dubious tawdry tales of presidential sex, alleged agency incompetence, or worse, Emmett's book will be embraced by scholars, the public and, perhaps most important of all, his colleagues.

Someone needed to take up the mantle and do away with all the controversy, poor writing, myopic outlook, and compromising information out there on the Secret Service and write a book the agency would be proud of AND that would also appeal to the lay public, as well. Dan Emmett took up the quest and succeeded admirably. In short, "Within Arm's Length" is the antidote to Kessler, McCarthy, and all the silly and overwrought books and television specials that violate the agency's code of being Worthy of Trust and Confidence. If there was a literary Medal of Valor the Secret Service could award Emmett for his book, they should hold the ceremony tomorrow. Emmett's book truly reads like he had this epiphany: "I have had enough with Kessler, the hero worship, the gossip, the untruths, and all the crap---here is the TRUE story of an agent without the junk... and no compromising information, dammit!" Mission accomplished.

In short, Dan Emmett provides the reader with the nuts and bolts without giving away the game, so to speak.

"Within Arm's Length" grabs the reader from the very first sentence and doesn't ever let up.

"Within Arm's Length" is, without question, the best book ever written about the Secret Service: current, well-written, classy, very informative, but, most importantly, does not indulge in hero worship of presidents or reveal "inside secrets" or other compromising details. In short, "WITHIN ARM'S LENGTH" makes you feel like you are THERE! Emmett is a great guy with an impressive background who truly represents the valor of the Secret Service. Emmett has given a blueprint for all agents---past, present, and future---to follow and admire. Worthy of Trust & Confidence indeed! Dan Emmett is an example of a great American.

Vince Palamara, literary Secret Service expert
NOTE: Dan Emmett is a true patriot and first-class gentleman. His book is fantastic. That said, the various recent news articles that the book are allegedly based on have taken things way out of context, leaving the false impression that Dan has attacked the Clintons, which is patently false. Please READ the book before taking things out of context...and kudos to Mr Emmett for the BEST book ever on the Secret Service (1865-2012)

New from "The Guardian" UK

also:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/19/mitt-romney-illinois-us-elections-live?newsfeed=true

4.55pm: Former Secret Service agent Dan Emmett has a new book out, "Within Arm's Length," about what it's like to be a president's first and last line of defense. The most harrowing moments of his career, Emmett tells ABC News' Jake Tapper, were when President Clinton would go jogging around Capitol Hill.
President Clinton was the first president to run on a regular basis, and he was the first one to run in the open public areas... It was not uncommon, three days, four days of the week to come out of the White House during morning rush hour and take President Clinton for a run up Pennsylvania Avenue, or over at the Reflecting Pool or perhaps over at the Mall. ...
We were definitely an attack waiting to happen.

Dan Emmett's great book climbing once again + great new review

Dan Emmett's great book climbing once again + great new review

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#32 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Memoirs



5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, March 20, 2012
By
TimothyHill - See all my reviews
This review is from: Within Arm's Length: The Extraordinary Life and Career of a Special Agent in the United States Secret Service (Paperback)
i wasnt going to read this book for all the reasons i didnt other secret service books, they were cheap tawdry attempts to make money by betraying supposed scandals, but the comments by people who knew him and said this book was different changed my mind and im glad they did, excellent!!!!

GREAT new review of Dan Emmett's new book

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars This guy is a great writer and this a great story!, March 18, 2012
By Rough Customer (on your six) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Within Arm's Length: The Extraordinary Life and Career of a Special Agent in the United States Secret Service (Hardcover)
This book is really wonderful if you any curiosity at all about the work of the Secret Service and what they do, how they do it, what kind of man/woman it takes to make a Secret Service agent. I know it is an overused cliche, but this book is really hard to put down once you start it. This author writes no boring parts, there is no chapters of "self promotion" or boring backgrounds that many books on Navy SEALs, and Army snipers have. Also delightfully, this book indicates no political agenda, no hammering one political party, rather the author is repectful to men/women of both parties, and I found that to be very refreshing. I was shocked at how little the new SS agent made as starting salary back in the early 80s and how much this man wanted to get into the work and for the right reasons. Great book, really enjoyed it and glad he shared his experiences.

Great response to the rare so-so review of Emmett's great book (THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE REVIEWS ARE TERRIFIC)

Avoid "totally, totally" idiotic reviews, January 20, 2012
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Within Arm's Length: The Extraordinary Life and Career of a Special Agent in the United States Secret Service (Paperback)
There seems to be one solid truism in life: death, taxes...and at least a few moronic reviews of products online. I'll bet even The Bible would receive one and two star reviews from some folks, if given the chance! I have read Dan Emmett's excellent book four times and I come away very impressed every time with how it is written, put together, and the content (like, "totally", dude). And, using the venacular of the time, "it is what it is": gee, if he spent a large part of his time with CAT and PPD in the Service protecting President Clinton, it should naturally follow that the majority of the agency commentary would be related to Clinton (elected in 1992; served as President January 1993-January 2001). Criticism of Emmett's book for focusing "too much" on the Clinton days would be tantamount to scolding former agent Gerald Blaine for "obsessing" about the JFK years in "The Kennedy Detail"!

It's one thing to castigate Clinton for seemingly being reckless with his decision-making in public, with regard to his security...but don't "kill the messenger" (author Dan Emmett) for delivering the bad news. Memoirs are always at the perogative of the AUTHOR: if he/ she chooses to cover---or NOT cover---a certain topic, either in depth or not at all, that is (using that word again) their perogative. Now, it is one thing if an author purposely avoids or suspiciously downplays an important event; that is fair game for criticism. However, with regard to both the JFK assassination AND 9/11, there have been many forests killed for the millions of pages of prose---good, bad, and ugly---about those events. Emmett's book is NOT about those events---it is the story of his LIFE. Those events, albeit very important, in and of themselves, are almost ancillary to the big picture.

As someone who has read many agency books, memoirs, etc., it is refreshing to read a book that is concise and not long-winded. Quite often, many, if not hundreds, of pages could be excised from many overwrought volumes in the publishing world. And, contrary to the bad reporting of the media, Emmett's book is free of gossip, state secrets, confidential agency security details, or any kind of bashing of the Clintons in any way, shape, or form.

I highly recommend this book---MOST people agree; totally.

Ex-agent says girls go wild for Secret Service studs

Ex-agent says girls go wild for Secret Service studs

Popular in Most Read

Former President Bill Clinton wasn’t the only one in the White House hit on by amorous groupies.

A former U.S. Secret Service agent reveals that "attractive" women were so “intoxicated” by the “celebrity-like status” of the presidential security force that it was “paradise” for single agents--and so tempting to married agents that divorce is common.

“For the single agent it was paradise; for many married agents, it was a constant struggle between good and evil, which was sometimes won and other times lost,” writes former Clinton-era agent Dan Emmett in the appendix of his book “Within Arm’s Reach.”

Apparently the battle was lost a lot, as he writes, “Constant separations due to traveling with the president can contribute to failed marriages at a higher rate than most professions. For [presidential protection] agents, there is a never ending string of temptations sometimes literally thrust into one’s face by women who are impressed by such things as men who protect the president,” writes the swaggering former agent.

Female agents, he says, “can also attract this type of attention, and I have seen our more attractive agents practically stalked by men seeking strong buy feminine women who protect the president and carry guns.”

Emmett has rubbed the service the wrong way with the book. They don’t like agents to write about their life in the security bubble, but there are no rules barring tell-alls.

Much of Emmett’s book dishes on his life as an agent and his years with Clinton, but the appendix addresses the myths of the agency and their sex appeal, he pens, isn't a myth. “Many women are attracted to Secret Service agents,” he writes. “It can be almost frightening at times when seated in a bar, and a woman recognizes an agent she has just seen on television with the president. On more than one occasion, my shift mates and I had phone numbers and hotel room keys shoved into our hands or thrown to us while working a rope line with the president.”

Finally, Emmett tells that the attractive women hitting on agents were from all ages. “This attention lavished on [presidential protection] agents came usually from both young and not-so-young, attractive women intoxicated with the excitement of being so close to the president and those protected him. It was wild beyond belief at times, and we enjoyed an almost celebrity-like status from the moment we walked down the steps of Air Force One...”

DAN EMMETT ON FOX TELEVISION 3/11/12+"INSIDE EDITION"+ ANOTHER TV APPEARANCE

EXCELLENT article about Dan Emmett's excellent "Within Arm's Length"

EXCELLENT article about Dan Emmett's excellent "Within Arm's Length"
Former Secret Service Agent Dishes On Clinton White House In Book

By Claire Gordon , Posted Mar 9th 2012 @ 6:43PM

A former Secret Service agent is stirring controversy with his new memoir that leaks details about former President Bill Clinton. News outlets, from the Washington Examiner to Fox News and The Washington Post, are abuzz over the following remarks Dan Emmett made in his self-published memoir:

• He describes Clinton's staff, which was much younger than that of predecessor George H.W. Bush, as immature and defiant. They treated their White House gigs as "a grand cool adventure," he writes, and agents like himself as the "hired help."

• On a 1993 trip, Clinton insisted on walking the "Bridge of No Return" that separates North and South Korea, endangering his own life and the fragile peace between the two nations for "a pointless photo op."

• He also implies that Hillary Clinton is aloof. At one point, he notes in his book that one time Bill and Chelsea said "thank you" after exiting the presidential limousine, while Hilary was "silent."

The Secret Service understandably isn't thrilled with the book.

"We do stress to all our employees the importance of not sharing anecdotes about the personal, private moments of the protectees," Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told the Washington Examiner. "It causes concern because we don't want to erode the trust we have with our protectees."

Emmett, who has protected three presidents over 21 years, says that's a "standard comment that they give to the media any time," and may be issued again soon, when John F. Kennedy's Secret Service agent and Emmett's personal hero, Clint Hill, releases his own memoir next month. In fact, Emmett says that he deliberately held back salacious detail.

"I sent President Clinton the book," he said. "I hope he's not offended by it."

Emmett admits that he bashed Clinton's staff. "It's characteristic of a lot of Democratic presidents to bring in a lot of young people and give them a chance, their friends, or their friends' kids," Emmett says. "They're not on time. They don't make meetings. They can be defiant."

But he also says that Clinton's staff matured over time, as they learned the workings of the White House and the value of the Secret Service. He also emphasizes that those comments weren't at all about Clinton himself. "These were his young staffers," he said. "A lot of the time the president doesn't even know who they are."

When it comes to that photo of Clinton on the border of North Korea, Emmett says that he didn't intend his remark as a criticism of Clinton. "His golly gee whiz staff probably thought it would be a good photo op."

More significant is what this so-called "tell all" doesn't tell. Emmett excluded hundreds of juicy anecdotes, because Secret Service agents "afford the president two courtesies," he says, "we'll sacrifice our lives for him, and we don't talk about that stuff."

Emmett, who ran with the president in the mornings and guarded his bedroom door at night, probably could have dished a lot about the man who supposedly recruited state troopers to arrange sexual liaisons. "If you want those kinds of anecdotes," he says, "read Kessler's book," referring to Ronald Kessler's controversial expose about the Secret Service.

"If the Clintons read my book, they'll probably think, 'Why is anyone even making a big deal about this?' I didn't talk about Monica, or Whitewater, or Paula Jones."

Emmett, who was raised on "academics, God, and patriotism," may not have agreed with Clinton's politics. But that would never affect his commitment to guarding him, if need be with his life. It wasn't really about the man at all, he says, but about preserving the office he occupied.

"If the president gets killed, it's damaging to the country," Emmett says. "It has ramifications throughout the world."

Emmett also didn't disclose a lot of inside details because he worried it would endanger national security. There's been a lot of media scrutiny into the Secret Service in recent years, including two TV series, "Secrets of the Secret Service" and "Secret Service Secrets."

"They showed motorcade tactics and the schematics of the president's limousine, and what kinds of weapons the armor could withstand," he said. "It's just totally insane in my mind."

While these details may not be a problem, he says, "if you collect enough pieces, and put them together, you have a plan," he said. "And these assassins, these terrorists, they plan."

He wasn't going to take any chances with his own book, which he's sure al Qaeda has already read.

Emmett never wanted to leak a secret or make a partisan jab, because he would never want to entangle himself in what he calls "the mess of Washington." He may have worked for the government for his entire career, but "I never thought I was working for the government," he says. "I was working for America."

MORE major coverage: FOX, National Enquirer, Tickle The Wire re: Emmett's great book (WARNING: the media grossly took Dan's statements out of context)

MORE major coverage: FOX, National Enquirer, Tickle The Wire re: Emmett's great book (WARNING: the media grossly took Dan's statements out of context)

Dan Emmett is a true patriot and first-class gentleman. His book is fantastic. That said, this article that the book is allegedly based on has taken things way out of context, leaving the false impression that Dan has attacked the Clintons, which is patently false. Please READ the book before taking things out of context...and kudos to Mr Emmett for the BEST book ever on the Secret Service (1865-2012)
- Vince Palamara, Pittsburgh, PA, 8/3/2012 7:36
Click to rate Rating 68



March 08, 2012

Secret Service Agent Spills Beans On 'Rude' Clintons



In a breach of tradition, a former U.S. Secret Service agent has self-published a book that savages the Clinton White House staff as arrogant and rude, suggests former first lady Hillary Clinton was aloof and charges that Bill Clinton endangered himself and agents for a “totally pointless photo op” on the South Korea-North Korea border.

In several anecdotes, former agent Dan Emmett revealed that Clinton’s young staff had “fundamental traits of rudeness and arrogance” that teetered on the verge of being dangerous at times. “Most of these youngsters were from wealthy families, and many viewed Secret Services agents as the hired help,” he writes in “Within Arms’s Length,” an autobiography that provides new details of the inner Secret Service.

In one case he told of an unnamed Clinton staffer who challenged a KGB agent during a 1993 presidential visit to Russia “as if he were dealing with a Wackenhut security officer in Toledo.”



Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/hillary-clinton/2012/03/08/secret-service-agent-spills-beans-rude-clintons#ixzz1oXx4TKLg

EX-SECRET SERVICE AGENT: CLINTON WHITE HOUSE TELL ALL
-A
+APublished on: March 8, 2012
by NATIONAL ENQUIRER staff
Photography by: Time & Life Pictures via Getty Images
In a shocking breach of national security a former SECRET SERVICE agent spills his guts in a book about the CLINTON presidency.

A former U.S. Secret Service agent Dan Emmett has self-published a book “Whithin Arm’s Length” reputedly savaging the Clinton White House staff as arrogant and rude. He also claims former first lady Hillary Clinton was aloof and Emmett charges that President Bill Clinton endangered not only himself but agents for a “totally pointless photo op” on the South Korea-North Korea border.

Writing in the book, the rogue agent revealed that Clinton’s young staff had “fundamental traits of rudeness and arrogance” that teetered on being dangerous.

“Most of these youngsters were from wealthy families, and many viewed Secret Services agents as the hired help,” he writes.

In the book, he writes that an unnamed Clinton staffer challenged a KGB agent during a 1993 presidential visit to Russia “as if he were dealing with a Wackenhut security officer in Toledo.”

Emmett also describes Hillary Clinton as aloof -- who didn’t say “thank you” to agents while the president and former first daughter Chelsea typically did.

“She was not as out-going or cordial,” he told The Washington Examiner.

Emmett, who also worked the White House Secret Service detail during both the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administration claims he’s not dishing any state secrets, although the Secret Service are urged not to write about the people they protect.

Emmett says he claimed he told the agency about the book. The Secret Service said they didn’t get a copy of the memoir.

“We do stress to all our employees the importance of not sharing anecdotes about the personal, private moments of the protectees,” Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said. “It causes concern because we don’t want to erode the trust that we have with our protectees.”

Ex-Secret Service Agent Trashes Hillary Clinton in Book; Calls Her Aloof
By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A tell-all book by an ex-Secret Service agent who worked the President Clinton detail is bound to ruffle some feathers inside the Beltway.

The Examiner newspaper reports that ex-Secret Service agent Dan Emmett has written a self-published book “Within Arms’s Length” that “savages the Clinton White House staff as arrogant and rude, suggests former first lady Hillary Clinton was aloof and charges that Bill Clinton endangered himself and agents for a ‘totally pointless photo op’ on the South Korea-North Korea border.”

Emmett also wrote that Clinton’s young staff was rude and arrogant, the Examiner wrote

“Most of these youngsters were from wealthy families, and many viewed Secret Services agents as the hired help,” Emmett writes in “Within Arms’s Length,” an autobiography that provides new details of the inner Secret Service.

Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service told the Examiner:

“We do stress to all our employees the importance of not sharing anecdotes about the personal, private moments of the protectees.It causes concern because we don’t want to erode the trust that we have with our protectees.”

Major Mail Online UK article re: Dan Emmett's great book [the article took things way out of context]

Major Mail Online UK article re: Dan Emmett's great book [the article took things way out of context]

vmp-Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#45 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Memoirs


Dan: Yes but at a cost. Badly out of context interview caused the spike





MAIL ONLINE UK

U.K. Thursday, Mar 08 2012 12PM
'They treated us like the hired help': Clinton bodyguard criticises 'aloof' Hillary and 'arrogant' staff
Dan Emmett savages White House personnel in controversial new book
Hillary Clinton never said 'thank you' unlike her husband and daughter
Young staff displayed 'fundamental traits of rudeness and arrogance'
Accuses Bill Clinton of endangering lives on North-South Korea border
Mr Clinton also dealt 'nightmare scenario' by insisting on running in public

By Simon Tomlinson

Last updated at 10:43 AM on 8th March 2012

Comments (2) Share

A former U.S. Secret Service agent has launched a stinging attack on the Clinton administration staff he used to protect - branding them arrogant and claiming that ex-First Lady Hillary Clinton was aloof.
Breaking from tradition, Dan Emmett has laid bare a series of anecdotes about the inner workings of the White House in a controversial book.
He tells how Mrs Clinton, now Secretary of State, never said 'thank you' to agents, unlike her husband, Bill, and their daughter, Chelsea.
Aloof: Hillary Clinton (pictured in 2008) would never say 'thank you' to the Secret Service agents who protected her during her husband's presidency, according to a former member of the protection unit
Ungrateful: Her demeanor was colder than that of Mr Clinton and their daughter Chelsea (centre)
This trait, he added, was found in even greater measure among the young White House personnel, whom he said displayed 'fundamental traits of rudeness and arrogance' which, at times, bordered on dangerous.
'Most of these youngsters were from wealthy families and many viewed Secret Service agents as the hired help,' he wrote in the autobiography Within Arm's Length.
More...What will Michelle say? Obama gets a VERY warm Southern welcome in North Carolina
'We hid this during the election': Obama ally confesses he covered up 'race' video Andrew Breitbart threatened to release before his death

One unnamed Clinton employee treated a Russian KGB agent on one presidential visit 'as if he were dealing with a Wackenhut security officer in Toledo.'
He also accuses Mr Clinton of putting his own life and those of his agents at risk by insisting on a 'totally pointless photo op' on the North Korea-South Korea border.
Dan Emmett's controversial book Within Arm's Length in which he criticises the Clinton administration
During the trip in 1993, he said the former President went too far along the bridge separating the two nations, according to the Washington Examiner.
'No-one seemed to know if President Clinton grasped how potentially dangerous this stop on the bridge was,' he writes.
'The Secret Service obviously believed this move unwise'
He added: 'Nevertheless, he was POTUS and he wanted to stand on the bridge, so stand on the bridge he would do.'
In another account, Emmett said Mr Clinton 'dealt us this nightmare' by insisting on jogging in public.
Agents tried to change his mind and even went as far as building a quarter-mile track inside the White House confines.
But Mr Clinton was unpersuaded and asked the presidential protective division to come up some routes outside the grounds, it was reported on Chicago Tribune News.
'The worst thing for the Secret Service is to take a sitting president into public when no one has been swept and anyone could be out there,' he said.
Emmett, who also served under George H.W. Bush and now works as a teacher, has been criticised by the service for publishing his tell-all.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told the Washington Examiner: 'It causes concern because we don’t want to erode the trust that we have with our protectees.'
Double jeopardy: President Clinton (left) greets troops at the 'Bridge of No Return' on the North-South Korea border in 1993 where, Dan Emmett claims, he put lives in danger by walking too far along the bridge for a 'pointless photo op', while his insistence on jogging in public proved a 'nightmare' situation for his agents

Comments (2)Here's what other readers have said. View all

God bless our secret service personnel...they do a job which is sometimes beyond human.... As far as Hillary and her ilk.....THEY have no idea how lucky they are that these people do this for the sake of the American VOTER.
- Sandra, Seminole, Florida, 08/3/2012 12:07
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Not surprising at all. It's a shame when people treat their employees like this.
- Roger C., Gary, IN, 08/3/2012 11:55
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#ixzz1oWla8OkT

Dan Emmett is a true patriot and first-class gentleman. His book is fantastic. That said, this article that the book is allegedly based on has taken things way out of context, leaving the false impression that Dan has attacked the Clintons, which is patently false. Please READ the book before taking things out of context...and kudos to Mr Emmett for the BEST book ever on the Secret Service (1865-2012)

Vince Palamara

variation on same article

Secret Service agent: Clinton’s staff rude, Hillary aloof
17 hours 19 min ago
Comments

U.S. Secret Service agents accompany Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., as she campaigns at the intersection of South Beaver and West Market streets in York, Pa., Saturday, April 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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31 Democrats accuse court Republicans of ethics violations
Wed, 2012-03-07 14:17
In a breach of tradition, a former U.S. Secret Service agent has self-published a book that savages the Clinton White House staff as arrogant and rude, suggests former first lady Hillary Clinton was aloof and charges that Bill Clinton endangered himself and agents for a “totally pointless photo op” on the South Korea-North Korea border.

In several anecdotes, former agent Dan Emmett revealed that Clinton’s young staff had “fundamental traits of rudeness and arrogance” that teetered on the verge of being dangerous at times. “Most of these youngsters were from wealthy families, and many viewed Secret Services agents as the hired help,” he writes in “Within Arms’s Length,” an autobiography that provides new details of the inner Secret Service.

In one case he told of an unnamed Clinton staffer who challenged a KGB agent during a 1993 presidential visit to Russia “as if he were dealing with a Wackenhut security officer in Toledo.”

In another, he wrote of a female staffer who wouldn’t listen to Emmett’s security advice. “She stared at me with a look as if her father had just told her she couldn’t go to the mall with her friends and get a tattoo or body piercing,” he wrote. “My patient attempts to reason were met with childlike emotion born of a past where no one in authority--probably beginning with her parents--had ever said no to her about anything.”

On the first lady, he describes her as aloof, someone who didn’t say “thank you” to agents while the president and former first daughter Chelsea typically did. He told Secrets, “she was not as out-going or cordial.”

He also wrote of how Clinton walked too far down the bridge separating the Koreas during another 1993 trip. “No one seemed to know if President Clinton grasped how potentially dangerous this stop on the bridge was,” he writes. “The Secret Service obviously believed this move unwise,” he penned, adding, “nevertheless, he was POTUS and he wanted to stand on the bridge, so stand on the bridge he would do.”

Emmett, who worked the White House detail during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administration and is now a teacher at Auburn University, told us that he wasn’t dishing any secrets, though agents are urged not to write about the people they protect. He informed the agency about his book, which said it didn’t get an advance copy.

Still, the service is not happy with the anecdotes in the book. “We do stress to all our employees the importance of not sharing anecdotes about the personal, private moments of the protectees,” said Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan. “It causes concern because we don’t want to erode the trust that we have with our protectees.”

Dan Emmett on Fox News 3/4/12

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1488497558001/protecting-the-president/