Introduction
The United States Secret Service is an agency shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Most people know them as the stern-faced men in dark suits who protect the president. But behind the scenes, the Secret Service has a long and complicated history filled with both heroic successes and shocking failures.
In her book "Zero Fail," Carol Leonnig pulls back the curtain on this elite agency, revealing a deeply flawed organization plagued by mismanagement, scandals, and dangerous incompetence. Through extensive research and interviews, Leonnig traces the Secret Service from its humble beginnings to its current state of crisis.
This eye-opening account exposes how an agency tasked with protecting the leader of the free world has repeatedly put presidents at risk through negligence, poor training, and a toxic internal culture. From drunken agents to security breaches at the White House, Leonnig details numerous incidents that call into question the Service's ability to fulfill its critical mission.
"Zero Fail" offers a stark warning about the vulnerabilities in presidential security and the urgent need for reform within the Secret Service. It's a shocking look at an agency in turmoil and the dangers that poses to the nation's highest office.
The Haphazard Origins of the Secret Service
The Secret Service was not originally created to protect the president. In fact, its initial purpose was far removed from presidential security. The agency was established in 1865 to combat rampant counterfeiting that was threatening the US economy after the Civil War.
It wasn't until 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley, that Congress officially tasked the Secret Service with protecting the president. This came in the wake of three presidential assassinations in just 36 years - Lincoln in 1865, Garfield in 1881, and McKinley in 1901.
Congress was both shocked by how easy it had been to kill presidents and embarrassed by the frequency of these assassinations. Looking for a quick solution, they turned to the existing Secret Service and expanded its duties. However, this new responsibility was simply tacked onto the agency's existing work. There was no coherent strategy or specialized training put in place for this critical new role.
This haphazard beginning set the tone for decades to come. The Secret Service muddled through, learning on the job how to protect presidents. But the lack of a clear mandate and purpose would come back to haunt them in later years.
Failure to Protect JFK
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 was a catastrophic failure for the Secret Service and exposed deep flaws in the agency. Kennedy presented unique challenges as a president - he was incredibly popular and drew massive crowds, but also polarizing. Threats against him tripled in his first six weeks in office compared to previous presidents.
The Secret Service struggled to adapt to Kennedy's more accessible style and constant public exposure. Agents were overworked, putting in long hours and extensive overtime to keep up with Kennedy's busy schedule. This led to exhaustion and corner-cutting when it came to security protocols.
On November 22, 1963, these issues came to a head with tragic consequences. The night before in Fort Worth, several off-duty agents had gone out drinking until the early morning hours, violating regulations. The next day in Dallas, many agents were sleep-deprived and nursing hangovers as they accompanied Kennedy's motorcade.
When shots rang out, the agents' reactions were slow and confused. The driver initially slowed down instead of speeding away. There was a delay in agents reaching the president's car. Within an hour, Kennedy was pronounced dead at a Dallas hospital.
This failure shook the Secret Service to its core. For decades after, agents agonized over what they could have done differently. The Kennedy assassination exposed how unprepared and disorganized the agency truly was in carrying out its most critical duty.
Nixon's Paranoia Divides the Service
The Nixon presidency brought new challenges for the Secret Service. Nixon's paranoid and scheming nature led him to try to use Secret Service agents to gather dirt on his political opponents, especially the Kennedy family. This created divisions within the agency between those willing to do the president's bidding and those who saw their role as strictly protective.
Nixon even attempted to force Senator Ted Kennedy to accept Secret Service protection as a way to keep him under surveillance. Though this plan ultimately failed, it highlighted how Nixon viewed the Secret Service as a potential tool for his political machinations.
These dynamics fostered an inner circle of agents loyal to Nixon rather than to the agency's mission. They treated other agents with suspicion and derision, further fracturing the organization. The Service was being pulled in different directions, caught between its duty to protect the president and Nixon's efforts to co-opt it for his own purposes.
This period sowed seeds of dysfunction that would plague the Secret Service for years to come. The agency's nonpartisan mission was compromised, and internal rivalries flourished. Even as they continued their protective duties, the Service was being corroded from within.
Close Calls Under Ford
Just as the Service was grappling with the fallout from the Nixon years, it faced two dramatic assassination attempts on President Gerald Ford in quick succession. In September 1975, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pulled a gun on Ford as he was walking to his car in Sacramento. Quick action by agent Larry Buendorf, who grabbed the gun, prevented the shot from being fired.
Incredibly, just three weeks later, Sara Jane Moore fired a shot at Ford outside a San Francisco hotel. She missed by mere inches, and was tackled by a bystander in the crowd. Ford was rushed to his limousine, but there was a dangerous delay in opening the car door - precious seconds that could have cost the president his life.
These incidents exposed continued vulnerabilities in presidential security. The Service implemented new protocols, like keeping the limo door open as the president approached. But the back-to-back attempts were a stark reminder of the constant threats faced by presidents and the razor-thin margin between safety and disaster.
While the Service succeeded in keeping Ford alive, the close calls highlighted how much still needed to be improved. The agency was still struggling to anticipate threats and control the environment around the president. Luck had played a major role in foiling both attempts on Ford's life.
Saving Reagan but Deepening Divisions
On March 30, 1981, just two months into Ronald Reagan's presidency, John Hinckley Jr. opened fire outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. In the chaos, Secret Service agent Jerry Parr shoved Reagan into the presidential limo, likely saving his life. However, Reagan had been hit and was far more gravely wounded than initially realized.
This incident showcased both the bravery of individual agents and systemic failures in the Service's protocols. Reagan had not been wearing a bulletproof vest, as the event was deemed low-risk. The president nearly bled to death before the severity of his wound was discovered.
In the aftermath, agent Parr agonized over whether he could have done more to prevent Reagan from being shot. Meanwhile, the Reagan administration's handling of the Secret Service deepened existing divisions within the agency.
Reagan appointed Bob Powis, a charismatic ex-military officer, to oversee the Service. Powis initiated a purge of those he deemed disloyal, including the existing director Stu Knight. This created two camps within the agency - those aligned with the new leadership and those who resented the shake-up.
The message became clear: pleasing superiors was more important than raising legitimate concerns about security. This echoed the Nixon era's emphasis on loyalty over competence. Once again, the Service's culture was shifting away from its core protective mission and toward political considerations.
Clinton's Philandering Poses New Challenges
Bill Clinton's presidency brought unprecedented challenges for the Secret Service related to the president's personal conduct. Clinton's reputation as a womanizer was well-known, and agents got an up-close view of his extramarital activities both during his campaign and in the White House.
As a candidate, Clinton would often slip away during morning jogs to meet women at the local YMCA. Once president, he frequently had young female staffers visit his office for extended periods, emerging disheveled. Agents were put in the awkward position of facilitating and covering up the president's indiscretions.
This came to a head with Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Agents were aware of their regular Saturday afternoon meetings but were expected to keep quiet. When the scandal broke in 1998, it put the Service in a difficult spot.
Clinton publicly denied having a relationship with Lewinsky and claimed in a sworn deposition that he had never been alone with her. However, a Secret Service agent unknowingly contradicted this in a TV interview, directly leading to Clinton's impeachment for perjury.
The Lewinsky scandal highlighted the ethical quandaries faced by Secret Service agents. They were privy to the president's most intimate secrets but expected to stay silent, even when those secrets posed political or security risks. It blurred the lines between protection and enabling bad behavior.
This era strained the Service's integrity and raised questions about where their loyalties should lie - to the office of the presidency or to the individual occupying it. The Clinton years left many agents feeling compromised and disillusioned with their role.
9/11 and New Scandals Emerge
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks ushered in a new era for the Secret Service. That morning started as a routine day, with President George W. Bush visiting an elementary school in Florida. Within hours, the world had changed and the Service faced an unprecedented crisis in protecting the president.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the Secret Service was moved from the Treasury Department to the newly-created Department of Homeland Security. This organizational upheaval came just as the agency was grappling with evolving security threats in a post-9/11 world.
However, even as the Service adapted to these new realities, old problems persisted. A series of scandals emerged that further damaged the agency's reputation:
A senior agent was found to have had a sexual relationship with a female informant who later died of a drug overdose in his apartment. He faced no discipline and was even promoted.
Another agent in Los Angeles was caught providing drugs to and having sex with a 16-year-old girl.
Racist emails circulated among supervisors during Barack Obama's historic presidential campaign in 2008.
The "Porngate" scandal revealed high-ranking officials were downloading and sharing pornography at work.
These incidents exposed a toxic culture within the Service where misconduct was routinely overlooked or even rewarded. Despite the critical importance of their mission, many in the agency seemed more focused on personal gratification than professional excellence.
The Secret Service director at the time, Brian Stafford, lost his job over these accumulating scandals. But simply changing leadership did little to address the underlying rot in the agency's culture. Time and again, supervisors looked the other way rather than hold agents accountable for egregious behavior.
This pattern of misconduct and lax oversight was building toward an even bigger scandal that would rock the agency to its core.
The Cartagena Scandal: "Hookergate"
In April 2012, President Obama was scheduled to attend a summit in Cartagena, Colombia. For many Secret Service agents, this was seen as a plum assignment - a chance to party in an exotic locale before the president arrived. The tone was set by a supervisor's email to the team: "Our motto for this trip is Una Mas Cerveza por favor" (Spanish for "Another beer, please").
On the night of April 11, agents went out to nightclubs and many hired local sex workers to accompany them back to their hotels. While prostitution is legal in parts of Colombia, this behavior was still a major security risk and violation of professional standards.
The next morning, a dispute erupted between an agent and a sex worker over payment. Local police became involved, and the incident quickly escalated into an international embarrassment for the United States. It came to be known as "Hookergate."
The scandal forced Secret Service leadership into a difficult position. Paying for sex with foreign nationals while on assignment was hardly new behavior for agents. No one had ever been disciplined for it before. But the public outcry demanded action.
Eventually, all the agents involved in hiring sex workers were fired. When the Secret Service director testified before Congress about the incident, he insisted it was an isolated occurrence. But insiders knew this was far from the truth. One agent recalled a drunken supervisor years earlier bragging that agents would "fuck their way across the globe."
In response to the scandal, Obama appointed the first female director of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson. But Pierson faced resentment from many of the agency's "alpha male" agents who felt they were being punished for longstanding practices. Her attempts at reform were met with resistance from a culture deeply resistant to change.
The Cartagena scandal exposed how deeply rooted unprofessional conduct was within the Secret Service. It also highlighted the challenges of reforming an insular agency accustomed to operating with little oversight or accountability.
Continued Recklessness Under Obama
Despite efforts at reform following the Cartagena scandal, agents continued to engage in reckless behavior during Obama's second term. In March 2014, two agents crashed their government SUV in the Florida Keys after a night of heavy drinking. One agent was so intoxicated he vomited.
Later that same month, an agent was found passed out drunk in a hotel hallway during a trip to Amsterdam. These incidents tested Obama's normally calm demeanor. After being briefed on the Amsterdam incident, the president snapped: "You know what? The problem with the Secret Service is that you don't have enough women in the Secret Service."
But it wasn't just the drinking and partying that plagued the agency. A shocking security breach in September 2014 exposed dangerous incompetence within the Service.
Omar Jose Gonzalez, a troubled Iraq War veteran suffering from delusions, managed to jump the White House fence and make it all the way inside the mansion before being apprehended. This incident involved a cascade of failures:
- An agent's radio call about the fence-jumper wasn't received due to equipment problems.
- Speakers had been inexplicably removed from guard booths, so officers couldn't raise an alarm.
- Many officers assumed the canine team would handle it, but the dog handler was on the phone and running late.
- An officer near the front door hesitated to use lethal force, allowing Gonzalez to simply open the unlocked door and walk in.
In just 29 seconds, a man in Crocs had breached what should have been the most secure building in the country. This incident left Secret Service Director Julia Pierson physically ill. She was forced to resign just days later.
The Gonzalez intrusion laid bare how dysfunction within the Service had created dangerous vulnerabilities, even at the White House itself. Despite years of warnings and scandals, the agency seemed incapable of getting its act together to fulfill its core mission of protection.
Trump Era Brings New Challenges
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was initially welcomed by many in the Secret Service. Trump was seen as preferable to Hillary Clinton, who was still disliked by many agents from her time as First Lady. The agency's ranks included many who openly displayed "Make America Great Again" hats and shared crude memes about Clinton.
However, Trump's unconventional style as president created new strains on the already struggling Secret Service. His family's choice to maintain multiple residences stretched the agency thin:
- Melania and Barron Trump stayed in New York for months before moving to the White House, requiring a separate security detail.
- Trump flew to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida nearly every weekend, with each trip costing around $400,000 in travel and overtime for agents.
- Over his term, the Trump family's travel cost taxpayers 12 times more than the Obamas'.
The Trump Organization actually profited from some of these arrangements:
- The Service had to rent golf carts from Trump's company to accompany him on the course, racking up tens of thousands in bills.
- They paid $6.3 million in rent and utilities to secure Trump Tower in Manhattan, with the money going to the Trump Organization.
These financial strains exacerbated existing problems within the Service. Equipment continued to malfunction, allowing security breaches like a disturbed man wandering the White House grounds undetected for 15 minutes.
Even more embarrassing incidents occurred, like two agents taking selfies with Trump's sleeping grandson in a government vehicle. This infuriated both Donald Trump Jr. and the president himself, who demanded to know: "What the fuck is wrong with you guys?"
The Trump years highlighted how an already dysfunctional agency was further strained by the unusual demands of an unconventional president. The Service struggled to balance its protective duties with the ethical concerns raised by facilitating the president's business interests.
Systemic Issues Persist
Throughout "Zero Fail," Leonnig traces how deeply rooted problems within the Secret Service have persisted across multiple administrations. Despite numerous wake-up calls and attempts at reform, the agency has been unable to overcome its internal dysfunction.
Several key issues emerge as consistent themes:
A toxic culture that prioritizes loyalty and machismo over competence and accountability. Misconduct is routinely overlooked or even rewarded.
Chronic understaffing and overwork, leading to burnout and corner-cutting on security protocols.
Outdated equipment and technology that leaves dangerous security gaps.
Poor training that leaves agents unprepared for evolving threats.
A lack of diversity, with the agency remaining overwhelmingly male and resistant to outside perspectives.
Mission creep beyond the core duty of protection, stretching resources thin.
Insufficient oversight and a tendency to close ranks rather than address problems.
These systemic issues have resulted in a dangerous erosion of the Service's capabilities. While individual agents have often acted heroically, the organization as a whole has repeatedly put presidents at risk through negligence and incompetence.
Leonnig's account serves as a stark warning about the vulnerabilities in the system meant to protect America's leaders. Without serious reform and a complete overhaul of the agency's culture, another catastrophic failure seems almost inevitable.
Final Thoughts
"Zero Fail" presents a troubling portrait of an agency in crisis. The Secret Service's history is one of both triumphant successes and shocking failures. Agents have saved the lives of presidents and foiled numerous plots. But they have also engaged in behavior that put those same presidents at grave risk.
Carol Leonnig's exhaustive reporting reveals an organization plagued by mismanagement, unprofessionalism, and a stubborn resistance to change. Despite its critical mission, the Secret Service has been unable to overcome its internal dysfunctions.
The book serves as an urgent wake-up call about the state of presidential security. It exposes vulnerabilities that could be exploited by those wishing to do harm to America's leaders. The stakes could not be higher - a single moment of failure by the Secret Service could alter the course of history.
"Zero Fail" makes clear that incremental changes are not enough. The Secret Service requires a complete cultural overhaul and recommitment to its core protective mission. Greater accountability, diversity, training, and resources are desperately needed.
Ultimately, Leonnig's account is a call to action. The safety of our presidents - and by extension, our democracy itself - depends on a competent and professional Secret Service. Reform is not just desirable, but essential. The alternative is to continue rolling the dice and hoping that luck, rather than skill, will keep our leaders safe.
As "Zero Fail" powerfully argues, the Secret Service's current trajectory is unsustainable. The agency has been given chance after chance to right itself, but has squandered those opportunities. Now, decisive action is required to ensure it can meet the challenges of protecting presidents in an increasingly complex and dangerous world.
The story of the Secret Service is still being written. Whether its next chapter is one of redemption or continued decline remains to be seen. But "Zero Fail" makes clear that the status quo cannot continue. The stakes are simply too high.