WEBVTT - How the Secret Service Works 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.600 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.840 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.639 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry Rowland that 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:22.119 makes this stuff you should know. Continuing Law Enforcements saga, 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.960 this has got to be it. It's you say that 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.360 every time. I don't think this is it. Well, this 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.480 is the one that I U is one of my picks. 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:35.800 And I stressed up until like an hour ago that 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.600 we had done this, even though I looked like twenty times. Yeah, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:40.559 I know, I I. Um, I thought that too when 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.920 I first saw it, but the article so new, there's 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.800 no way we did. And then, um, I think what 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.360 it was Chuck was probably the counterfeiting episode. Yeah, you 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.720 probably got that one really crossed over a lot. I 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:53.600 think you're right. We did do a good one for 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.880 everybody who's not familiar on counterfeiting. I don't remember exactly when, 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.600 but go check it out because it was good. Um. 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.360 And the reason why the two things would have crossed 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:06.039 over is because when most people think of Chuck the 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.880 Secret Service, which we're talking about today, they think of, 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:14.360 you know, dudes, big dudes in suits stark suits, sunglasses, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:15.960 got the wire in their ear. Every once a while 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.520 they put their finger in the ear to look cool. 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:20.920 You know, I thought that's just if they had, you know, 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:25.600 your wax building up. Maybe that's the other ear. Um, 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.160 And that they're usually running alongside the president as he 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:34.480 or eventually she um is driving down the road, right, Yeah. Sure, 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.160 But the Secret Services test with doing way more than that, 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:41.280 and that's actually protecting the president or the vice president 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.480 of the first Lady or certain other people. That's actually 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.400 secondary to their main role. And that role actually came 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:53.240 decades after the Secret Service was first established. Yeah, I 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.240 mean I think secondary. I took issue in the article 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.280 when I read that, But I think secondary in terms 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:08.440 of allocated uh personnel, right, but for sure primary and importance. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:09.959 for sure, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, I 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.000 think protecting the president's life is more important than catching counterfeiters, right, 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:17.520 But a much much smaller allocation of people are actually 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:19.880 on that protection force. Yeah, and I think that's I 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:24.720 get the impression that that's the glamorous um assignment, you know, 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:29.200 like protecting the president specifically. It's probably pretty pretty plumb. 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:33.080 But um, that that again, that's that's not what the 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.200 bulk of people in the Secret Service are doing at 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.600 any given point in time. All right, So should we 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.160 go back in time a bit? Yeah? Two, Uh the 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:45.840 close of the Civil War, of the American Civil War specifically, uh, 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.399 and this was an eighteen sixty five and very with 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.480 a great deal of keeping irony. Uh. I did not 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.320 know this. This maybe the fact of the show. President 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:00.960 Abraham Lincoln um officially signed the legislation to create the 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:07.920 Secret Service, um the evening that he was killed dead, Yes, 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.040 that day, right, he signed it and then went to 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.720 the Ford Theater, I believe. Yeah. So ironic in one 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.160 sense that you know, obviously you can't look at that 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.680 and say, you know, it has no irony whatsoever. But 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.480 not ironic when you look at what he was signing 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.040 at the time, which was not hey, we need somebody 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.359 to protect presidents, because that didn't come along until uh 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:33.520 well just um, like less than thirty years later, is 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:38.440 that right? Twenty nine? Yeah. Um, informal protection started with 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:43.760 Grover Cleveland, but after McKinley's assassination nineteen o one was 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.720 when they said, hey, maybe we need to really just 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:51.080 codify this agency and I'll tell you about irony. It 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:55.520 turns out that when McKinley was assassinated, there were three 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.600 Secret Service agents flanking him at the time. Yeah, I 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:01.480 read up about that one. That's one I wasn't too 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.120 familiar with. I wasn't either, but it was pretty fascinating. Um. 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:10.840 And then it was an anarchist, correct, an anarchist in Buffalo, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:15.320 New York, who said who came for the assassination and 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:20.360 stayed for the hot wings? I also read about Garfield. 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:23.919 Garfield didn't get any mentioned in here. Um, he he was. 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.279 He definitely served to make the Secret Service kind of 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:33.800 become part of presidential protection, and that he was the 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:38.640 second of three sitting presidents to be assassinated technically while 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.280 the Secret Service was in existence. So when that that 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.280 assassination plot against Grover Cleveland was uncovered, they were like, 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.000 all right, oh right, we really need to do something 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.280 about this. Yeah, I think we should cover assassination and 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.840 assassination attempts in full, because they're just far more than 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:58.960 I Then I thought, like, once I was looking into this, 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.080 I forgot that Clinton had a couple of of not 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.640 so serious attempts. The one guy that you know, shot 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.760 at the White House. And then the other dude tried 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.680 to fly a stole a Cessna, remember that, and tried 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.560 to fly it into White House. I forgot about that, 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.240 and both of them, by all accounts, were assassination attempts. 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:24.680 Just I would call them clumsy, that's yeah. But yeah, 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.520 there's been a lot more than I thought. So maybe 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.159 we should just knock that out one day. Let's do it. 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:34.680 I can't believe we haven't already. But today, if we're 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:39.599 talking Secret Service, just by the numbers, about six hundred 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:45.599 people work there. About those or special agents. Another hundred 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:50.440 are what's called uniform division officers, and then a couple 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:55.719 of thousand plus and change of admin types, tech support, 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:01.560 just people who keep the agency running and UM there 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:05.240 apparently there have been women there since nine so I 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.800 thought was somewhat progressive. UM. And then as of today, 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:14.200 there's the first outsider in the the hundred year history, 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.360 or no, in about a hundred years. I guess there 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.200 have been outsiders previously, but the first non Secret Service 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:26.800 agent to to rise to UM director level has been 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:31.520 appointed by Trump. Actually a guy named text text Als 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.400 General former Marine Corps General Randolph Texts. Owls is it 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:40.720 als al's ales Alice alice is another way to say it. Uh. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.520 And you mentioned women, and of course, very famously Julia 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.000 Pearson briefly lead the agency when Obama was in there. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.800 But as we'll see later on, there were quite a 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.440 number of kind of things that happened in a row 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:57.400 that we're very embarrassing for the Secret Service Agency. So 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.760 she she forced out or resigned or kind of what's 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.520 the difference. I think what's the difference is the impression 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:10.720 I have so UM, I think her tenure kind of 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:13.280 coincide at she kind of takes the brunt from what 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:17.280 I understand, of the blame for something that that was 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:21.000 part of a culture that has long been around part 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:25.520 of your Secret Service, UM. And apparently one of the 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:31.200 big problems is that it is in a thoroughly understaffed 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.440 executive branch agency, like the the people who are at 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.760 tasked with protecting the president and the president's family and 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:44.280 the vice president vice president's family. UM, they are thoroughly overworked, 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.800 and they also have a long standing party culture too, 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.960 and as a result, you have a lot of burnout 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.000 and very low morale. Apparently chucked. There was a survey 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.080 done of three hundred and five federal agencies and two 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.960 thousand and sixteen and the Secret Service rated dead last 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:07.000 for employee satisfaction. Yeah, I mean that that says at all. 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.520 They're not somewhere in the middle. They were number three 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.880 oh five, right, So apparently at the time of this 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.680 survey they were hot. They were operating with five hundred 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:20.560 fewer people than they were authorized to hire, so they 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.840 were there. It's clearly an overwork department, yes, very much. So. 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:30.560 Apparently they've added several people since several Yeah, like seven 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.720 I think seven people, yeah, seven or eight hundred people. Uh. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.440 And I think that's partially because they just were woefully 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:43.560 and understaffed, and partially because the current president has more 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:48.520 family than um past presidents for sure, um more adult 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:52.280 children and their kids, and more travel going on to 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.160 weekend places all over the country. So that's just gonna 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:00.320 require more staffing, right, which is you know, probably good 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.560 they needed to higher up anyway. So you want to 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.160 talk history, chuck history the Service. I know, we kind 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.680 of went back to eighteen sixty five, so let's stay there. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:11.360 We've been doing all this from eighteen sixty five the 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.360 whole time. It turns out that's right. So that what 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.200 the reason why the Secret Service was initially created was 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.920 to combat counterfeiting, right, And I think we said in 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:24.720 our our Counterfeiting episode, UM, there was just a ton 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.240 of counterfeit bank notes in circulation in the States at 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:31.600 the time, because if you were a bank or if 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.200 you were just some guy who had a bunch of 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.440 money and could gain the trust of people, you could 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.920 issue your own currency there for a while, so it 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.640 was really easy to print money at the time. Yeah, 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:42.960 it's um, the stat here is hard to believe, but 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.800 of all the money was fake, all the money. That's 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.880 just ridiculous. Yeah, so Lincoln knew that was a problem. 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.720 UM started up the service in eighteen sixty five, and 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.440 just a couple of years after that. So you know what, 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:05.280 why don't we expand your duties UM to like fraud, smuggling, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:10.040 UM mail robbery and stuff like that, and and we'll 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.080 stick around for some of the older stuff. But since 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.480 then it's just sort of been expanded. It seems like 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:21.000 a lot to me to include other things. But I 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.439 don't know how the government runs sometimes as far as 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:28.960 like well we need someone to monitor like fishing scams online, 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.440 so it seems like the Secret Service is kind of like, 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.000 let's just give it to them. But I'm sure that's 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.720 not correct. You know, I thought the designation of stuff 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.480 was pretty odd as well, for sure, But um, that 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.200 is kind of how it's gone. It's they there as 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.400 long as it has to do with law enforcement. The 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.760 Secret Service feels pretty good about giving a crack at it. 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.880 Yeah for sure. So, Um, besides the counterfeiting and all 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.800 that stuff today, Uh, not only do they have to 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.840 protect the president and vice president, they have to protect 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.440 their families, um, all the former presidents and there are 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.040 a lot more living former presidents now, which is another 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.960 reason they need more people. Um. Medical science is fault 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:15.520 from all the spouses, um, all the children under sixteen 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:19.079 when you're a candidate running for president, like a major one, 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.640 I doubt if well, I'm not going to make fun 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:27.480 of anyone on the campaign trail that. I don't know 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:29.680 if Jeff Busch had had a detail or he actually 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.320 he may have. Jeff Bush is probably born with the detail, yeah, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.920 because he's he's linked twice over to the presidency, but 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:42.440 not where accounted. Um. And then uh, all the spouses um, 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:46.600 foreign heads of state while they visit and basically from 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.760 what I gather, they can be assigned to protect anyone 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.480 at any time if someone thinks it's necessary. So I 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:56.679 think you're right about that last part that if a 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.520 president says, hey, I want you guys to protect this 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.439 person while they're here, that's fine. But from what I saw, 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:06.199 I think it was a New York Times rundown based 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.000 on um budgets. They they seem to say, No, it's 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.200 basically like the Secret Service protects the president, the vice president, 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.719 of their families, um, former presidents, that kind of thing, 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.199 and that things like a foreign head of state would 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.680 be covered by the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Compartment. 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:27.840 That there's a ton of other federal security agencies that 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:32.199 are running around Washington that people confuse for the Secret Service, 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.640 but the secior Service, their mission is actually pretty pretty 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.760 um uh narrow as far as protection goes. Yeah, and 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.360 imagine they all are in touch with one another two 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.600 just to make sure everyone butts, everyone's butts are covered. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.200 They're probably like, hey, how far can you pee? Oh no, 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.840 let's see how far you compete, or they like, you know, 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.320 we got a lot of dignitaries coming in and you 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.840 guys got over a Secret Service and like, man, uh, 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.800 all we have left is Ronnie and you don't want 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.199 any guarding anybody. You know. He's good with phishing scams 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.800 and that's it. Uh So the other thing it kind 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.679 of surprised me is, um, big events. They are these 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:14.240 things called National Special Security Events and uh they're under 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.000 Department of Homeland Security. Now, so this can cover things 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.520 like the Super Bowl. If there are enough you know, 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.760 uh important people at an event like this, then the 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:29.040 Secret Service might be there. Yeah, which I mean makes sense. 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:31.959 And I'm sure like the local law enforcement just loves 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.560 the Secret Service coming in and bossing them around, you know, 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.680 but they do because it's the Super Bowl a k a. 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:43.280 The Big Game, that's right. Um, And then you were saying, 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.640 also it seemed like give it to the Secret Service 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.080 whenever you look at their history. A couple of good 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:53.240 examples of that are the Treasury Police. The revenuers basically 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.320 got folded into the Secret Service, and I think nineteen 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.600 seven and um, they took over the White how Police 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:07.240 Force in right, So there's a lot of law enforcement 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:12.959 underneath this this uh the title of Secret Service. Uh yeah. 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.240 Another thing that I had never even heard of Electronic 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.800 Crimes Tasks Forces. Yeah, I think that's kind of new. Yeah, 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.200 the e C t fs. And this is after eleven 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.160 and the Patriot Act, and they said, hey, you know what, 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.400 we need to create these e C t fs UM 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:36.000 basically to prevent attacks on America UM through cybercrime. Yea. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.080 So these are I mean think they're what thirty nine 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.160 of them all over America and Europe, working together with 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:46.840 other countries, other financial Crimes task forces. And this is 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.720 the stuff that you know, doesn't get any of the glory, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.080 you know, huh, it's all supposed to be pretty This 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.880 is kind of hush hush to begin with. UM, I think, 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.400 unless it goes wrong, right, But they seemed I looked 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:03.240 into they see to kind of focus on UM forensics 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:08.840 like going over computers or devices for evidence or whatever. UM. 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:15.920 They investigate data breaches and network intrusions. They do cyber intelligence, 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.920 so I guess they gather intelligence from networks, but also 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.520 from like some of those devices they're doing forensic work on. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.720 It's probably some of the more important work being done, 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.600 to be honest, it really is. They're basically tasked with 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.760 guarding the financial sector of the US, and I assume 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.760 probably some of foreign countries, especially in Europe too. But 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.280 then they're also doing real like low level stuff too, 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.520 like credit card theft, identity theft um. So they're basically 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.120 anything any crime that can be done using a computer 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.560 or computer network. They seem to be fighting with the 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.920 e C t f S. Yeah. Should we take a break, Yeah, 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:52.880 all right, let's do that, and we're gonna talk a 0:15:52.880 --> 0:16:21.360 little bit about the sexiest assignment of the mall. Alright, 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.960 Chuck you uh, you said the we would hear about 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:29.200 the sexiest position of the mall. What is that? The 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:33.560 PPD the Presidential Protection Division, So this is the one 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.840 that everyone thinks of a secret service when you see 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.600 Ronald Reagan being covered up and shoved in the back 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:47.440 of a limo when Jerry Ford moved to Springfield. Yeah, 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.760 or like you mentioned, jogging alongside the limousine, we're jogging 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:57.880 alongside a tubby blow Bill Clinton, yeah, or riding horseback 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.400 alongside Ronald Reagan. Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot he 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.680 used to do that sometimes. That's one of the things 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.280 this article points out is you gotta you gotta take 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.119 up the hobbies of the president and Clinton very famously, 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:16.399 you know, trotted along various wooded paths, and then Reagan 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.720 would have the Secret Service round up union organizers and 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.800 then he'd ride over him with his horse. Well, apparently 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:24.880 there's a lot of horseback riding that goes on, but 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:30.160 Reagan's was pretty intense. Like he was a real horse guy. 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.840 The guy was a cowboy movie cowboy come to life. Yeah, 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.280 so he apparently you had to really learn to ride 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.360 if you're on Reagan's team, I got you know, it's 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.160 not just like trotting along like Clinton probably liked to do. Right. Yeah. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:45.520 Do you remember that Saturday Night Live when Clinton was 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.600 first elected and it was Phil Hartman playing him. He 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.360 was out jogging and he just he kept stopping into 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:55.960 McDonald's on his jogging. It's a big joke. But wouldn't 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.360 you wouldn't you, like, as a Secret Service agent, want 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.399 to just be like, you know, be a lot safer 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.160 and easier for everybody if you just hit the treadmill. 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:08.560 Yeah right, and watch television as your as your main hobby. Right, Well, 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.760 I think that's kind of going on now. Um, all right, 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:13.440 so this is the one that you talked about having 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:17.520 a really high burnout rate because it's um. Well, first 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.640 of all, there's the stress of I can die and 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:25.560 am willing to die for on my on my job. Yeah, 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.120 and apparently there's like this, did you hear that there's 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.520 a myth that they have to take an oath to 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.280 take a bullet for the president? I had never heard 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.840 that as specifically an oath, and I was glad to 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:43.240 know that that was true or untrue? Right, it was untrue. Yes, 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.840 there is no such out right. No, it's apparently if 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.400 you are a secret service agent, you just know that 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.440 that might be part of the job, and you're when 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:54.920 you show up that day, you're willing to do it. Correct, 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.680 it's supposedly, um. But beyond all the stresses of dying 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.960 on the job like that, um, the the schedule itself 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.679 is just really tough. Um. And I've seen a lot 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.760 of different breakdowns of the on and off schedules. So 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.359 I don't know if this one is the gospel truth. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.040 But the one in our article at least says two 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.560 weeks of a day shift, two weeks of a midnight shift, 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.359 two weeks of an evening shift, and then two weeks 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.919 of training. So I guess training is just continuous. Yeah. 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.480 What's weird though, is I had seen, at least back 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:29.080 in the sixties, training was code for fill out these 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.360 forms that say you did all this physical fitness. So 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.720 if there was like, uh, if there was two weeks 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.159 of training, it seems like that. It's almost like, I 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:39.800 don't know if it is anymore, but that would have 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.600 been like a two week break, which frankly, I don't 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.040 really blame them for that kind of schedule. Yeah, they 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.760 go and they undergo the same training regiment as Major 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:51.919 League Baseball umpires. Right. But the thing is, Chuck, is 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:56.479 it's like, if you're tasked with protecting the president, everyone knows, 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.800 like any organizational psychologist, anybody can tell you that when 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:07.360 you do different shift work, you're going to mentally suffer foundly. Right, 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.720 So why are we putting the people who are protecting 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.639 the president and and um, you know, the first Lady 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.520 and and the vice president. Why are we putting them 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.240 through that kind of mental torture that doesn't make any sense? 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:21.800 Is it really just a staffing thing? Well, I mean, 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.760 what's the answer. Then someone's got to take the midnight shift, sure, 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.400 but that person should be like you got the midnight 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:33.240 shift for a year. Yeah, so you can your sleep 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.719 pattern can change, and then you could be like you know, 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:38.959 when you when you rotate out to the to the 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:41.760 day shift or the morning shift or whatever, you might 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.120 have a two week transition period or so who knows, 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:46.240 maybe you get two weeks off or something between. I 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:48.160 don't know. There's gotta be a better way than this. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:50.879 This just is grueling. Well, I do know too, that 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:55.520 that permanent midnight shifts can um leave the weirdness. Oh yeah, 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.520 Like that's what they did with Ronnie, right, That's why 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.960 Ronnie's so unreliable, because you know, on the fourth month 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:04.520 of his midnight shift, things got strange, he got kind 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:07.400 of pasty. I should I shouldn't have said Ronnie, because 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:11.720 now Ee's gonna think I'm thinking Reagan. No, everybody knows, 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:17.200 we call him Gepper. Um. So you if you are 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:22.440 on that detail of the sitting president, like you're the 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.679 cream of the crop of the PPD. Yeah, which is 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:28.960 kind of a double edged sword because you want somebody 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.560 with a lot of experience who's proven himself for herself, 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.760 um over the years. But at the same time you're 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:42.440 also starting to run up against age and slower reflexes. Um. 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.240 And so if you if you look at some of 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:48.560 the agents who are around the president, you're gonna see 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:53.320 somebody who's probably in their forties, if not over forty. 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.400 Uh And that's that's just you know, if you could 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:01.320 have a guy or girl who's like twenty seven thirty even, 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.560 they're probably going to be faster on the draw than 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:07.359 that forty year old five year old. But they also 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:09.760 might not know to notice certain things that the forty 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:13.200 five year old would, right, because they're on Snapchat exactly. 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:15.919 They're like l O L president just fell over for 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:21.360 some reason. Uh b r b he needs help. Um, 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:22.960 if you are, you can still be on the pp 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.719 D though, and not actually be on the detail of 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:30.399 protecting the president in that moment, Like if you can 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:35.480 be on the pp D and be on the assessment team, 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.119 like any any sort of well, first of all, anyone 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.920 who's ever made a threat on the president in any way, 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:44.119 whether it's Twitter or like a letter that shows up 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:47.560 at the White House, they are thoroughly investigated in person. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:54.160 Oh yeah, for sure, I hadn't realized. Uh. And any 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:57.560 any kind of advance um work they have to do, 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.879 like if the president's traveling UM, which you know happens 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:04.440 all the time. There's always some sort of advance um 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:08.679 intelligence going on about where the president's going, the town, 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.560 if they're visiting a restaurant, if they're staying in a hotel, um, 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:15.359 all kinds of like background checks are going on with 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:17.800 every employee that works there. Yeah, and like if the 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:20.480 president follows a bit of a pattern, you know, like 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.560 going to the same place like a win or White 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:25.399 House or a Western white House or something like that, 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:28.680 like that place is covered, it's checked out, it's probably 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:32.240 guarded all the time. So they'll do advance once and 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:36.199 then maybe updated here or there. But what's post is 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:39.119 the real headache and nightmare for the Secret Service is 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:41.359 when they're going to places they haven't been before or 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:43.919 haven't been in a while, and so they've got to 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:49.280 do all of this incredible analysis and planning. They've got 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:51.399 to figure out, Okay, well, this is the route the 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:54.280 president is going to take through the hotel. Uh, and 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:57.119 then if this happens, then here's the escape route. If 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.720 an incident happens, you know, in the next corridor, here's 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:02.679 the scape route. Here are two alternate routes to the 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:05.680 original route. Um. And look, there's a pretty good place 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:07.760 for a sniper to be, so we need to keep 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:09.880 our eyes up there. If there's a fire, we need 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:13.600 to leave here. Um. This that's just like one place. 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:16.240 And then like you said, they also do background checks too, 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:19.480 so that any employee apparently who has any kind of 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:22.919 criminal record, um. At say like a hotel that the 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:24.879 president is going to be staying and they're not allowed 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:27.440