What It's Really Like in the Secret Service

What It's Really Like in the Secret Service

 A former Secret Service agent shares his experience on the Presidential Protective Division

 By Dan Emmett in the Wall Street Journal

 Many people have asked me throughout the years what it is like to be on the Secret Service's Presidential Protective Division [PPD], where I protected three presidents: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. (It has been a particular topic of interest since a man breached White House security earlier this month.) In terms of the actual physical experience, imagine something like this: Forgo sleep for 24 hours, skip lunch and dinner, stand outside of a house in the rain at 3 a.m. for several hours, take a cab to the airport and finally board a plane to a large city for a four-hour flight. Repeat this regimen for several days in a row. To make the simulation complete, you also need to fail to attend a child's birthday or graduation and miss the holidays or your wedding anniversary.

The job comes with plenty of challenges. (Single agents fare much better in this assignment than those with families.) Yet those of us who have survived the experience will all say it was worth it. I have never heard former PPD agents say they wished they had done anything different.

The routine is essentially shift work: Each agent assigned to the president works for a two-week period during the day, followed by two weeks on midnight shift and two weeks on the evening shift. At the end of this six-week cycle the agent goes into a two-week training phase, after which the cycle begins again. The continual changing of shifts, combined with constant travel to different time zones, is, of course, very hard on the body. Agents often burn out after four or five years.

Secret Service agents have an odd position in the White House. Agents are so physically close to the president that they hear and see almost everything the president sees and hears. Yet, unlike the presidential staff, agents stand silently and seldom offer input into situations other than those that are security-related. If asked by POTUS about a situation, especially political, the agent should be brief and friendly yet noncommittal. In most cases, any conversation between POTUS and agent should be over within seconds after its beginning.

I joined the PPD in 1992 after 10 years working as a Secret Service agent in other divisions. (I was with the division until 1994, and then returned as a supervisor in 2003.) One morning when I was still learning some of my duties, I was posted on the ground floor of the White House when the elevator light came on indicating that "Eagle," the call sign for Mr. Clinton, was on the way down in the elevator. He exited and off

As we reached the Oval Office, I opened the colonnade door leading inside, with Eagle close behind. As we entered, I did a quick look-see to make sure all was in order and then exited through what I thought was the door leading to the hallway between the Oval and the Roosevelt rooms. It was not. Instead I exited through the door leading into the private dining room of the Oval Office, which was located next to the door I was supposed to use. I stood in the small dining room trying to decide what to do next. Then I made the wrong decision. I turned and re-entered the Oval Office to find a surprised and somewhat annoyed-looking Mr. Clinton. I tried to look as though this were all somehow planned, as I said, "Good morning, sir, all clear," and then exited through the correct door, leaving behind a puzzled POTUS.

The job has changed over time—in sometimes unusual ways. During his '92 campaign, Bill Clinton began to run as a form of exercise and as a way to meet voters. One way to do this was to run in public places, where the people were. This habit, which he continued after he became president, presented a big challenge to the Secret Service. Up until this time, the job had been largely a gentleman's assignment, where looking the part combined with good instincts and reactions was almost all that was needed. Agents would now be required to run as far as 3 to 4 miles with the president, while holding a pistol and a radio. All had to possess not just the endurance to finish but also enough reserve energy for responding to an emergency during or at the end of the run.

The next president, George W. Bush, was not a jogger but an honest-to-God runner. He ran at a six-minute-per-mile pace normally for 3 miles, and there were even fewer agents who could run with him than with President Clinton. Fortunately, President Bush never ran in public but rather at Camp David or the Secret Service training center in Beltsville, where it was much easier to protect him.

Was the job tough? Yes. But after my time in the PPD, I can say with certainty that being president of the United States is the most difficult job in the world.

—Mr. Emmett is the author of "Within Arm's Length: A Secret Service Agent's Definitive Inside Account of Protecting the President" (St. Martin's Press).