Blaine uses a "misfit" as a source; Kennedy Detail agents lied or were "misquoted"? Boring's words are ironic
[thanks to Donna Morel for sending the following article]
Retired agents fire at Hersh, each other
[City Edition]
Boston Globe - Boston, Mass.
Author:
Chris Black, Globe Staff
Date:
Nov 22, 1997
Start Page:
A.3
Section:
NATIONAL/FOREIGN
Text Word Count:
663
Document Text
WASHINGTON NOTEBOOK / CHRIS BLACK
One of the retired Secret Service agents used as a primary source in Seymour N. Hersh's new book, "The Dark Side of Camelot" said yesterday that the Pulitzer Prize-winning author misquoted him and exaggerated the things he told Hersh.
Joseph Paolella, a private investigator in Los Angeles, one of four retired Secret Service agents Hersh cites as sources for some of the most titillating allegations about President John F. Kennedy's sexual behavior, said, "There were so many misquotes. He used literary license in what he has done. When the book was sent to me I almost fainted. I was so embarrassed." [if these were misquotes, WHY DID THE AGENTS REPEAT WHAT THEY SAID ON A MAJOR ABC DOCUMENTARY THAT MADE IT TO HOME VIDEO? WHY DIDN'T THEY SUE HERSH? Why, indeed...]
Another agent, though not a Hersh source, also rebutted the book. Floyd Boring, the number two agent at the White House during the Kennedy administration, said the book's allegations are false. He said that Larry Newman and Paolella, the main sources, had reasons to be vengeful because both were transferred off the prestigious White House assignment after relatively short stints. Boring said Newman badmouthed the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and Paolella was "a misfit . . . we had to unload him after a very short term."
"These guys are trying to get a little bit of fame as they wander off the scene. They take lot of people down with them," said Boring, now 82, who protected five presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Lyndon B. Johnson. "These people wait until everybody dies off and then they attack people."
Newman, reached at his home in Colorado, stood by his allegations. He said Boring "was never where these things took place. So what he says and what I say are two different things."
He declined to explain the reasons for his transfer.
MY 7 BOOKS + DVDs/BLU RAY
MY 7 BOOKS + DVDs/BLU RAY
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Merletti/ Merletti
For Indianapolis Colts safety Matt Merletti, protecting U.S.
11:09 AM, Aug. 24, 2012
Matt Merletti can’t land a job with the Indianapolis Colts, the undrafted rookie safety might try a more dangerous line of defense: the U.S. Secret Service.
It’s not just a backup plan. It’s the family business.
His father, Lew, spent 25 years in the Secret Service, the last two as its 19th director. He helped protect presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and was Special Agent in Charge onClinton
Matt’s brother, Mike, has been accepted into the Secret Service and is waiting out a hiring freeze. Cousin Chris Funk, who grew up in the Merletti household, has been with the Secret Service for 16 years. Lew Merletti’s cousin, Rob, just left President Obama’s detail.
“It would be an interesting career if I would want to pursue that,” Matt Merletti, 24. “It’s definitely on the table for me.”
The NFL is pressure-packed, but not like this.
“There would be a lot more stress guarding the president, having to put your life on the line and step in front of a bullet,” he said.
As a kid, Merletti dressed up as a football player or an Army soldier. For now, the former Cleveland Browns ballboy is chasing his football dream. His dad, who left the Secret Service directorship in 1999 for the Browns, is the team’s senior vice president of security.
“Ask him about Osama bin Laden,” Matt said of his father.
Lew doesn’t need much prompting to talk about the terrorist mastermind behind 9/11. As someone who had studied bin Laden and other terrorists, he warned about the threat years before 9/11. When the firstWorld Trade Center
His father, Lew, spent 25 years in the Secret Service, the last two as its 19th director. He helped protect presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and was Special Agent in Charge on
Matt’s brother, Mike, has been accepted into the Secret Service and is waiting out a hiring freeze. Cousin Chris Funk, who grew up in the Merletti household, has been with the Secret Service for 16 years. Lew Merletti’s cousin, Rob, just left President Obama’s detail.
“It would be an interesting career if I would want to pursue that,” Matt Merletti, 24. “It’s definitely on the table for me.”
The NFL is pressure-packed, but not like this.
“There would be a lot more stress guarding the president, having to put your life on the line and step in front of a bullet,” he said.
As a kid, Merletti dressed up as a football player or an Army soldier. For now, the former Cleveland Browns ballboy is chasing his football dream. His dad, who left the Secret Service directorship in 1999 for the Browns, is the team’s senior vice president of security.
“Ask him about Osama bin Laden,” Matt said of his father.
Lew doesn’t need much prompting to talk about the terrorist mastermind behind 9/11. As someone who had studied bin Laden and other terrorists, he warned about the threat years before 9/11. When the first
“When it happened, as soon as the first one went in, I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s bin Laden,’” said Lew, 64. “I had worked so hard when I was in the Secret Service to try to warn Congress, everyone, that this guy is for real. We had to stop this guy.”
Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, the Browns’ secondary coach in 2001, recalled watching the attacks on TV at the team facility with Lew.
“Right off the bat, Lew said, ‘I’ll bet Osama bin Laden is behind this,’” Pagano said. “He knew.”
Matt and his brother were aware, growing up, how scary the world could be. He was just 7 when the boys were taken to Secret Service headquarters and taught how to shoot guns.
That was in response to a terrorist who said on an intercepted radio communication that he wanted to learn everything possible about Lew, his family, his residence.
“I remember it, but I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Matt said. “We had to learn how to shoot guns. They hid guns in our house.”
That was another part of growing up in the Merletti home — knowing where the guns were hidden for protection.
Anybody who meets Matt or Mike makes the connection to Lew. They look alike. When told of Pagano’s assessment that Matt is a “chip off the old block,” both father and son laugh.
It was Lew’s commitment to his family, the recognition of the risk involved, that eventually led to his Secret Service departure. That and the loss of a close friend and colleague killed in the 1995Oklahoma City
When Browns owner Al Lerner promised to make Lew “an offer you can’t refuse,” the father talked it over with his sons. The boys loved football. They wanted him to take the job with the Browns.
Pagano has known Matt since those ballboy days inCleveland and coached him for a year in college at North Carolina
“He’s a bright, young man, loves football, he’s got all the traits you’re looking for in a person,” Pagano said.
The Colts coach can relate to family bloodlines. Pagano’s father, Sam, was a successful high school football coach. His brother, John, isSan Diego
“When Matt had the opportunity to go to the Colts, it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is where you belong. This is your niche, Matt. This is the perfect leader for you,’” Lew said, referring to Pagano.
Undrafted players are typically longshots to make the final roster. The first round of cuts are Monday, with the final trim to 53 on Aug. 31.
“We’re hoping for the best,” Lew said. “The one thing we’re going to do is what we’ve done our whole life: We’re going to try our very hardest.”
Matt credits his father for instilling a dedicated work ethic. Lew attributes some of that to a tip he received in the Soviet Union while protecting President Reagan on a 1988 visit toMoscow
“The last count I had on Matt’s pull-ups was in excess of 43,000, as of his sophomore year in college,” the elder Merletti said.
While Secret Service legacies are typically successful because the next generation knows what to expect, Matt and Lew aren’t thinking too far ahead. It’s all about football, at least for now.
Lew eagerly awaited his son’s NFL preseason debut on Aug. 12 at Lucas Oil Stadium when his phone buzzed at 1:14 p.m., about 15 minutes before kickoff.
Just before leaving the locker room, Matt sent the text message: “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be here without you. I love you.”
The father beamed.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Lew said, “I sat in the stands with tears in my eyes.”
Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, the Browns’ secondary coach in 2001, recalled watching the attacks on TV at the team facility with Lew.
“Right off the bat, Lew said, ‘I’ll bet Osama bin Laden is behind this,’” Pagano said. “He knew.”
Matt and his brother were aware, growing up, how scary the world could be. He was just 7 when the boys were taken to Secret Service headquarters and taught how to shoot guns.
That was in response to a terrorist who said on an intercepted radio communication that he wanted to learn everything possible about Lew, his family, his residence.
“I remember it, but I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Matt said. “We had to learn how to shoot guns. They hid guns in our house.”
That was another part of growing up in the Merletti home — knowing where the guns were hidden for protection.
Anybody who meets Matt or Mike makes the connection to Lew. They look alike. When told of Pagano’s assessment that Matt is a “chip off the old block,” both father and son laugh.
It was Lew’s commitment to his family, the recognition of the risk involved, that eventually led to his Secret Service departure. That and the loss of a close friend and colleague killed in the 1995
When Browns owner Al Lerner promised to make Lew “an offer you can’t refuse,” the father talked it over with his sons. The boys loved football. They wanted him to take the job with the Browns.
Pagano has known Matt since those ballboy days in
“He’s a bright, young man, loves football, he’s got all the traits you’re looking for in a person,” Pagano said.
The Colts coach can relate to family bloodlines. Pagano’s father, Sam, was a successful high school football coach. His brother, John, is
“When Matt had the opportunity to go to the Colts, it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is where you belong. This is your niche, Matt. This is the perfect leader for you,’” Lew said, referring to Pagano.
Undrafted players are typically longshots to make the final roster. The first round of cuts are Monday, with the final trim to 53 on Aug. 31.
“We’re hoping for the best,” Lew said. “The one thing we’re going to do is what we’ve done our whole life: We’re going to try our very hardest.”
Matt credits his father for instilling a dedicated work ethic. Lew attributes some of that to a tip he received in the Soviet Union while protecting President Reagan on a 1988 visit to
“The last count I had on Matt’s pull-ups was in excess of 43,000, as of his sophomore year in college,” the elder Merletti said.
While Secret Service legacies are typically successful because the next generation knows what to expect, Matt and Lew aren’t thinking too far ahead. It’s all about football, at least for now.
Lew eagerly awaited his son’s NFL preseason debut on Aug. 12 at Lucas Oil Stadium when his phone buzzed at 1:14 p.m., about 15 minutes before kickoff.
Just before leaving the locker room, Matt sent the text message: “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be here without you. I love you.”
The father beamed.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Lew said, “I sat in the stands with tears in my eyes.”
Monday, June 25, 2012
LEM JOHNS
A life of Secret Service
By RICK WATSON
On November 22, 1963, four shots rang out at Daley Plaza in Dallas, the shots that were heard around the world.
Former Secret Service agent Lem Johns of Inverness remembers all too well where he was on that fateful day – less than 150 feet behind John F. Kennedy’s Lincoln Limosine.
“I was in the right rear seat of the car following the vice president’s limo, and I heard a shot that came from the right,” he said. Johns was riding in the third car in the motorcade with his door cracked, and the instant he heard the shot, he bolted from the vehicle and raced toward Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson’s limo.
Johns’ primary responsibility was protecting Johnson, and he needed to be in the car with him.
Film taken at the time of the assassination showed that Johns and his boss Rufus Youngblood both reacted instantly to protect the vice president when the first shot was fired.
But even with the lightning reflexes of the Secret Service, it was too late for Kennedy, the target of the bullet.
In a historic photograph taken later that evening, Lem Johns stands just behind Jacqueline Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One as he took the oath of office to become the thirty-sixth president of the United States.
After the assassination, Johns continued his role as Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAIC) but his duty station moved to the White House. He already had experience in the White House protecting President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the late 1950s.
“Being in the White House with Eisenhower gave me a chance to learn how things were done there,” said Johns.
The Secret Service had been understaffed for years, but after the Kennedy assassination, the organization ramped up its protection of high-level government officials as well as candidates for the presidency.
As the role of the Secret Service expanded, Johns became ASAIC for not only the presidential detail but for all the Secret Service. His role as ASAIC put him in a position to implement a number of initiatives that helped the Service to be more effective.
For example, he made presidential drivers and mechanics part of the Service. The drivers helped with advance team preparation whenever the president traveled. Johns also upgraded the weapons used by agents and acquired a bulletproof limousine, even though the president was hesitant to approve the expenditure.
During Johns’ time at the White House, President Johnson ushered a law through Congress that gave the Secret Service more power to coordinate with the military and other security organizations. Once enacted, the law was useful when the Service needed additional resources.
Another example of Johns’ creative problem solving came during the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami. The Secret Service needed 500 rooms to house the agents necessary to provide security for the convention. He soon learned there were so many candidates, delegates and media personnel at the event that there were no rooms available for the Secret Service.
Johns phoned the Joint Chiefs of Staff and requisitioned a naval ship to serve as lodging for agents. The ship was in dry dock in Norfolk, Va., undergoing renovation, but it was the only ship large enough to fit the bill.
“I asked them to double the work crews and complete the renovations on the voyage to Miami,” he remembered. And his strategy worked.
Hoover-based filmmaker John Jenkins took interest in Johns’ remarkable experience with the Secret Service and recently produced a documentary about his life that aired on Alabama Public Television.
Still, his life was not all the glamour worthy of films. Civil unrest of the 1960s made the job of the Secret Service even more stressful. There were a lot of divorces because of the demands on the agents, according to Johns.
“I always said, being an agent requires a team of two: the agent and his wife,” he said.
Johns and his wife, Nita, have been married 65 years, and his service must have made an impression on his family. His son, Jeff, became a Secret Service agent for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and his grandson Michael has served as a Secret Service agent for the George W. Bush and Obama administrations.
Perhaps they were inspired by how Johns never regretted the stress and risks in his work.
“At any given moment, an agent is a foot away from history, but I’ve always considered it a great honor to serve.”
Inverness resident and former Secret Service agent Lem Johns holds a photo of himself standing behind President Lyndon Johnson and Jacqueline Kennedy as Johnson took the oath of office following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Photo by Rick Watson.
Former Secret Service agent Lem Johns of Inverness remembers all too well where he was on that fateful day – less than 150 feet behind John F. Kennedy’s Lincoln Limosine.
“I was in the right rear seat of the car following the vice president’s limo, and I heard a shot that came from the right,” he said. Johns was riding in the third car in the motorcade with his door cracked, and the instant he heard the shot, he bolted from the vehicle and raced toward Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson’s limo.
Johns’ primary responsibility was protecting Johnson, and he needed to be in the car with him.
Film taken at the time of the assassination showed that Johns and his boss Rufus Youngblood both reacted instantly to protect the vice president when the first shot was fired.
But even with the lightning reflexes of the Secret Service, it was too late for Kennedy, the target of the bullet.
In a historic photograph taken later that evening, Lem Johns stands just behind Jacqueline Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One as he took the oath of office to become the thirty-sixth president of the United States.
After the assassination, Johns continued his role as Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAIC) but his duty station moved to the White House. He already had experience in the White House protecting President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the late 1950s.
“Being in the White House with Eisenhower gave me a chance to learn how things were done there,” said Johns.
The Secret Service had been understaffed for years, but after the Kennedy assassination, the organization ramped up its protection of high-level government officials as well as candidates for the presidency.
As the role of the Secret Service expanded, Johns became ASAIC for not only the presidential detail but for all the Secret Service. His role as ASAIC put him in a position to implement a number of initiatives that helped the Service to be more effective.
For example, he made presidential drivers and mechanics part of the Service. The drivers helped with advance team preparation whenever the president traveled. Johns also upgraded the weapons used by agents and acquired a bulletproof limousine, even though the president was hesitant to approve the expenditure.
During Johns’ time at the White House, President Johnson ushered a law through Congress that gave the Secret Service more power to coordinate with the military and other security organizations. Once enacted, the law was useful when the Service needed additional resources.
Another example of Johns’ creative problem solving came during the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami. The Secret Service needed 500 rooms to house the agents necessary to provide security for the convention. He soon learned there were so many candidates, delegates and media personnel at the event that there were no rooms available for the Secret Service.
Johns phoned the Joint Chiefs of Staff and requisitioned a naval ship to serve as lodging for agents. The ship was in dry dock in Norfolk, Va., undergoing renovation, but it was the only ship large enough to fit the bill.
“I asked them to double the work crews and complete the renovations on the voyage to Miami,” he remembered. And his strategy worked.
Hoover-based filmmaker John Jenkins took interest in Johns’ remarkable experience with the Secret Service and recently produced a documentary about his life that aired on Alabama Public Television.
Still, his life was not all the glamour worthy of films. Civil unrest of the 1960s made the job of the Secret Service even more stressful. There were a lot of divorces because of the demands on the agents, according to Johns.
“I always said, being an agent requires a team of two: the agent and his wife,” he said.
Johns and his wife, Nita, have been married 65 years, and his service must have made an impression on his family. His son, Jeff, became a Secret Service agent for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and his grandson Michael has served as a Secret Service agent for the George W. Bush and Obama administrations.
Perhaps they were inspired by how Johns never regretted the stress and risks in his work.
“At any given moment, an agent is a foot away from history, but I’ve always considered it a great honor to serve.”
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
CLINT HILL RE: VINCE PALAMARA
I am honored that, for the second time on C-SPAN (2 for 2), CEO Brian Lamb and Clint Hill (last time, with Gerald Blaine included) talked about me. 47:03
Clint talks about the JFK autopsy, burning his notes in 2005, nine OTHER agents who drank on a presidential trip (he was one of nine who drank the night before JFK was killed), and Vince Palamara
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
SAIC Eddie Marinzel
PITTSBURGH —
For Pittsburgh native Eddie Marinzel, Sept. 11, 2001, started with a morning jog on a golf course in Sarasota, Fla., with the president of the United States.Marinzel was the deputy special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division for the Secret Service on the day of the attacks. He said as he was escorting President George W. Bush into a nearby elementary school, he knew the rest of the day would be anything but normal.
"As we were walking in, Karl Rove actually mentioned to the president that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers," Marinzel said.
Marinzel said 15 minutes later President Bush's chief of staff reported more bad news.
"When I saw the look on the president's face I knew there was a problem, a bad problem. Andy Card then came over and whispered the same thing into my year and that was that we were under an attack," Marinzel said. "Right then and there things completely changed. We needed to figure out what we were going to do with the president."
Marinzel said after a few brief words to the audience at the school, President Bush was back in his motorcade en route to Air Force One when they got word that the Pentagon had also been attacked.
At that point, Marinzel said the crew had to make a quick decision on where the president would be the most safe. He said the group decided on Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana because of the exceptional communications department located there. But Marinzel said that was not where the president wanted to go.
"He was adamant that he wanted to back to D.C. We could not take him to an unsecured area. The greatest thing for the terrorist would be to kill the president of the United States," said Marinzel.
The president recorded a message that was aired after he left the base in Louisiana and traveled to an Air Force base in Nebraska, where Marinzel said President Bush made it clear that it was time to return to the capital.
"I was seated behind the president. He turned to me and said, 'Eddie, let's go. We are going back to Washington.' At that point I knew it wasn't the time to argue or try to change his mind. I knew it was over," said Marinzel.
On 9/11 Marinzel said President Bush remained calm in front of his staff and he saw little change afterward.
"He was always very principled and hardworking. None of that changes. I do feel that he was determined that this would never happen on American soil again. Use all the assets the U.S. had to offer to make sure that we would never be attacked in the homeland again and he made that kind of hallmark on his job," Marinzel said.
Marinzel said the events of 9/11 didn't change the way the Secret Service operated either; it just made them work even harder.
"One lasting thing from 9/11: Our hearts still go out to the victims and the families affected and every time we think of that, you have more resolve that you are going to do your job to the best of your ability," said Marinzel.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Excellent Dan Emmett article+
Episdode 51, with guest Dan Emmett, retired Special Agent of the U.S. Secret Service
By Josh King, on March 31st, 2012
http://www.polioptics.com/2012/03/episdode-51-with-guest-dan-emmett-retired-special-agent-of-the-u-s-secret-service/
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
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
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