In The Arena Something Is Rotten in the Secret Service And Obama's life is in danger because of it.

Ronald Kessler, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, is the author of The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.

As if on cue, each time headlines reveal a new Secret Service scandal, President Obama and his White House defend the agency.

The latest example was Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken’s statement on the Secret Service’s failure, in 2011, to detect gunshots at the White House until four days later. Blinken said that the task of the Secret Service is “incredible,” and Secret Service Director Julia Pierson will correct any deficiencies as she looks into the incident, a story first reported in my book, The First Family Detail.


But an officer of the Secret Service Uniformed Division, the unit that handles security at the White House, did report hearing gunshots. Why would she back down after a supervisor pooh-poohed her report? Why would uniformed officers at the White House let Michaele and Tareq Salahi and Carlos Allen, the little-remembered third gate-crasher, into a state dinner when they knew they were not on the guest list? Why would uniformed officers and agents fail to take out an intruder who raced into the White House with a knife and could have been armed with explosives or weapons of mass destruction?

The answer is that while agents and uniformed officers are for the most part brave and dedicated, Secret Service management perpetuates a culture that punishes those who point out deficiencies and rewards with promotions those who cover up problems and foster the myth that the agency is invincible.

“If you dare voice your opinion and report something bad, you are mocked,” says a current agent who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

As part of that destructive culture, management proudly proclaims that the Secret Service “makes do with less.” So while the Metropolitan Police in Washington deploy sensors that detect gunshots, the Secret Service does not have them. Nor does the agency keep up to date with the latest devices for uncovering intrusions or weapons of mass destruction. The culture of intimidation has led to declining morale and high turnover that results in understaffing and long overtime hours for sleepless agents and officers.

Dishonesty is not only tolerated but encouraged: Rather than allowing time for physical fitness and refresher firearms training, management asks agents to fill out their own physical fitness and firearms requalification test results to show they have met the required standards. When members of Congress visit the Secret Service’s training facility in Laurel, Maryland, the Secret Service puts on impressive supposedly spontaneous scenarios that, according to agents, are actually secretly rehearsed beforehand.

Behind the rotten culture is arrogance. After uniformed officers failed to take out 42-year-old Omar J. Gonzalez when he hopped over the fence and ran into the White House, the Secret Service issued a statement saying the officers “showed restraint.” The statement provoked laughter among senior FBI officials. But in its arrogance, the Secret Service thought it could get away with issuing such an outrageous claim and the public would accept it.

With similar hubris, the agency leaves the doors to the White Horse unlocked. The idea is that the vaunted Secret Service can handle any problem and can waive the most basic security precautions to make things easier for White House staff to move in and out of the building.

On a regular basis, to appease White House or campaign staffs, Secret Service officials order agents to ignore basic security rules and let people into events without being put through a magnetometer or metal detector. That’s like letting passengers into a commercial airliner without metal detection screening. Terrorist groups like ISIL would like nothing better than to assassinate Obama. Five terrorists could come into the White House with grenades and wipe him out.

Director Pierson’s performance at a House hearing Tuesday only confirmed that she is not the right person for the job. Asked about the uniformed officer who was told to stand down when she reported gunshots at the White House, Pierson said she would look into it. Like the rest of the agency’s career employees, Pierson, who was previously chief of staff to Director Mark Sullivan, knows that the real problem is a management culture that requires covering up possible threats and deficiencies. And yet, according to current agents I have interviewed, she has not only perpetuated that culture but has made it worse.

Despite the obvious danger to himself and his own family, President Obama refuses to replace Pierson. The truth is that no internal reviews or congressional hearings will change the Secret Service’s broken management culture. It needs better leadership. As in any organization, only a CEO who comes from the outside can make the necessary changes. That’s a major reason why Robert S. Mueller III, a veteran prosecutor and former Justice Department official who became director of the FBI, was able to change the direction and culture of the bureau after 9/11, orienting it toward preventing future attacks.

Agents tell me it’s a miracle an assassination has not already occurred. In typical Washington fashion, nothing gets reformed until a disaster happens. If anything unites Republicans and Democrats, it is that nobody wants to see a tragedy: We all just want the Secret Service fixed.

Editor’s note: Some readers have misinterpreted the original last line of Kessler’s article as somehow suggesting that the president should be held responsible in the event of his own assassination. That couldn't be further from the truth, and we’re sorry if anyone interpreted Kessler’s meaning in any other way.