Special Agent in Charge Eric Zahren (center), joined by SpecialAgents Laura Topolski (left) and Malcolm D. Wiley Sr. (right)

Special Agent Malcolm D. Wiley Sr., a former college-football player, has a winning smileand a handshake that could bend steel. He’s been in the U.S. Secret Service for 17 years, part ofthat time directly guarding the President. How does it feel to go to work knowing that he may haveto take a bullet? “It comes with the job,” he says crisply. “It’s an honor to protect thePresident. End of discussion.”

Secret Service agents have a job that they must literally be willing to die for. “Cops aretrained to retreat when gunfire starts, but the Secret Service has to stand tall and go into thegunfire,” says James Previtera, a Secret Service agent from 1998 to 2005 who now runs Florida’sHillsborough County jail system. Adds Special Agent in Charge Eric Zahren, an 18-year veteran, “From day one, you’re part of a larger mission and operate as part of a team. It’s not about you asan individual.”

With the inauguration of Barack Obama, the nation’s first African-American President, justover two weeks away, more scrutiny than ever is on the members of the Secret Service–theanonymous, dark-suited men and women who guard his every move. Obama’s Secret Service protectionbegan earlier than that for any previous Presidential candidate–in May 2007, 18 months beforeElection Day–after top government officials expressed fears for his safety. Since his election,there’s been speculation that the Secret Service has found a record number of individuals andgroups to be plotting to harm him. Says Wiley, “We never comment on how many threats are madeagainst the President.”

Observers point to extra measures that have been used to protect President-elect Obama,such as the bulletproof glass panels surrounding him during his acceptance speech at Chicago’sGrant Park on Election Night. “Those are not new, nor do they reflect any specific threat to thePresident-elect’s safety,” says Wiley. “They are one more tool in the arsenal that we deploy.”

Agents joke that to want to join the Secret Service, you have to be “type-A squared.” SaysThomas D. Sloan, who served on President Clinton’s detail and now heads international security atthe New York Stock Exchange, “Failure is not an option.”

So how do they prepare? I visited the Secret Service’s James J. Rowley Training Center inBeltsville, Md., on a warm, sunny morning. Located 30 minutes outside Washington, D.C., the centeris tucked away on 500 acres of rolling countryside.

Trainees wear khakis and polo shirts and carry mock pistols on their belts. They undergo fourmonths of intense instruction that focuses on responding to real-life scenarios. In simulatedencounters, “you’re attacked with guns and knives, then observed and graded on how you react,” saysTim McCarthy, who was in the Secret Service for 22 years. He infamously took a bullet when JohnHinckley Jr. shot at President Ronald Reagan in 1981. “What I did at that moment was based ontraining more than anything else.” (McCarthy recovered completely from his injury and is now chiefof police in Orland Park, Ill.)

Firearms qualification was under way when I arrived. Putting on a pair of protective gogglesand noise-suppressing earplugs, I watched as a candidate went through the demanding course. He wasa young, athletic man who looked as if he could bench-press me with one arm. He started with asubmachine gun, firing at a moving mix of paper targets. He shot slowly, not rapidly like you seein the movies. Later, I learned it’s because Secret Service agents are accountable for every bulletthey fire. They know that in a real-life crisis, a stray bullet will most likely strike an innocentbystander.

His shots were right on, and he switched to a shotgun. Sweating now, he had difficultyloading it. Rattled, he hit the wrong target: a policeman with a badge around his neck. Finally, hepicked up the last weapon that he was being tested on–a handgun–and hit just three of 10 targets.Test over. He had failed. “The bad guys only have to do their job one time in 100 to be successful.We have to do it 100 times out of 100,” says Mark Sullivan, the agency’s director for the pastthree years.

Secret Service agents learn to drive the Presidential limousine, affectionately nicknamed”the Beast.” The vehicle is built from Cadillac components at a secret facility. After beingdelivered to the Secret Service, it’s promptly disassembled to search for GPS, eavesdropping, orsurveillance devices and then reassembled. From this point on, it’s never without a pair of eyeswatching over it. Never. The limo is guarded as closely as a politician.

The limo is like “a bank vault on wheels,” according to agents. The doors appear to be 18inches or so thick; the windows, 5 inches. I could see that the seats were covered in velour withthe Presidential seal embroidered on them. Not leather–because it wouldn’t do for the ChiefExecutive to be sliding around during a high-speed chase.

Agents must master defensive moves such as the “J-turn,” where a driver goes in reverse atfull speed, makes a 180-degree turn, and heads off in the opposite direction, all without slowingdown or leaving the lane. At Rowley, an instructor offered to give me a taste of what it takes todrive the President. When I stepped out of the vehicle 10 minutes later, my head was spinning.

After graduating, agents are posted to one of the Secret Service’s domestic or internationaloffices. After five to seven years on the job, an agent can apply for the Presidential ProtectiveDetail (PPD), which consists of a few hundred members. Drawn from the PPD is a rotating group offive to seven agents who surround the President at all times. They’re known as “the shift,” or whatDirector Sullivan calls “the sharp end of the spear.” The Secret Service maintains a 24-hour mobilesecurity “bubble” around the President–a protective sphere extending 360 degrees in everydirection: on the ground, with agents and bomb-sniffing dogs; and above, with snipers on rooftopsand helicopters in the air.

Before every one of the President’s public appearances–in and out of the country–agentsmust do painstaking advance work, negotiating with everybody from hotel maintenance engineers tohigh-level political staffers and creating a customized security plan for each venue. “If we’vedone a thorough job, then we’ve envisioned any theoretical incident and taken the steps to preventit,” says Special Agent Laura Topolski, who has been with the Secret Service for close to 10 years.

The other major part of protecting the President lies in responding to threats. Many of themcontinue to be in the form of handwritten notes or voice messages left with the White Houseoperator, and every one is seriously assessed. Says Richard Elias, deputy assistant director of theSecret Service and a 28-year veteran, “If a threat is made against the President, we want to knowit. Whether it’s a drunk in a bar or an identified terrorist, we’re going to investigate it.”

During my days inside the Secret Service, I’m struck by two things. Number one is how sharpthe agents are. They’re personable and intelligent, but all of them have a glint of steel lurkingjust below the surface. The other quality isn’t as easy to describe. It’s a sense of purpose andmission I feel that permeates everything the Secret Service does and sends a buzz through the air.

“All agents are aware of the responsibility of protecting the President of the UnitedStates,” says Sloan. “And we’re aware of the consequences should we fail, both for the agency andfor the nation.”

Christopher Reich is the best-selling author of six thrillers. His newest is “Rules ofDeception.”



See the Secret Service Timeline »

Special Agent in Charge Eric Zahren (center), joined by SpecialAgents Laura Topolski (left) and Malcolm D. Wiley Sr. (right)

Special Agent Malcolm D. Wiley Sr., a former college-football player, has a winning smileand a handshake that could bend steel. He’s been in the U.S. Secret Service for 17 years, part ofthat time directly guarding the President. How does it feel to go to work knowing that he may haveto take a bullet? “It comes with the job,” he says crisply. “It’s an honor to protect thePresident. End of discussion.”

Secret Service agents have a job that they must literally be willing to die for. “Cops aretrained to retreat when gunfire starts, but the Secret Service has to stand tall and go into thegunfire,” says James Previtera, a Secret Service agent from 1998 to 2005 who now runs Florida’sHillsborough County jail system. Adds Special Agent in Charge Eric Zahren, an 18-year veteran, “From day one, you’re part of a larger mission and operate as part of a team. It’s not about you asan individual.”

With the inauguration of Barack Obama, the nation’s first African-American President, justover two weeks away, more scrutiny than ever is on the members of the Secret Service–theanonymous, dark-suited men and women who guard his every move. Obama’s Secret Service protectionbegan earlier than that for any previous Presidential candidate–in May 2007, 18 months beforeElection Day–after top government officials expressed fears for his safety. Since his election,there’s been speculation that the Secret Service has found a record number of individuals andgroups to be plotting to harm him. Says Wiley, “We never comment on how many threats are madeagainst the President.”

Observers point to extra measures that have been used to protect President-elect Obama,such as the bulletproof glass panels surrounding him during his acceptance speech at Chicago’sGrant Park on Election Night. “Those are not new, nor do they reflect any specific threat to thePresident-elect’s safety,” says Wiley. “They are one more tool in the arsenal that we deploy.”

Agents joke that to want to join the Secret Service, you have to be “type-A squared.” SaysThomas D. Sloan, who served on President Clinton’s detail and now heads international security atthe New York Stock Exchange, “Failure is not an option.”

So how do they prepare? I visited the Secret Service’s James J. Rowley Training Center inBeltsville, Md., on a warm, sunny morning. Located 30 minutes outside Washington, D.C., the centeris tucked away on 500 acres of rolling countryside.

Trainees wear khakis and polo shirts and carry mock pistols on their belts. They undergo fourmonths of intense instruction that focuses on responding to real-life scenarios. In simulatedencounters, “you’re attacked with guns and knives, then observed and graded on how you react,” saysTim McCarthy, who was in the Secret Service for 22 years. He infamously took a bullet when JohnHinckley Jr. shot at President Ronald Reagan in 1981. “What I did at that moment was based ontraining more than anything else.” (McCarthy recovered completely from his injury and is now chiefof police in Orland Park, Ill.)

Firearms qualification was under way when I arrived. Putting on a pair of protective gogglesand noise-suppressing earplugs, I watched as a candidate went through the demanding course. He wasa young, athletic man who looked as if he could bench-press me with one arm. He started with asubmachine gun, firing at a moving mix of paper targets. He shot slowly, not rapidly like you seein the movies. Later, I learned it’s because Secret Service agents are accountable for every bulletthey fire. They know that in a real-life crisis, a stray bullet will most likely strike an innocentbystander.

His shots were right on, and he switched to a shotgun. Sweating now, he had difficultyloading it. Rattled, he hit the wrong target: a policeman with a badge around his neck. Finally, hepicked up the last weapon that he was being tested on–a handgun–and hit just three of 10 targets.Test over. He had failed. “The bad guys only have to do their job one time in 100 to be successful.We have to do it 100 times out of 100,” says Mark Sullivan, the agency’s director for the pastthree years.

Secret Service agents learn to drive the Presidential limousine, affectionately nicknamed”the Beast.” The vehicle is built from Cadillac components at a secret facility. After beingdelivered to the Secret Service, it’s promptly disassembled to search for GPS, eavesdropping, orsurveillance devices and then reassembled. From this point on, it’s never without a pair of eyeswatching over it. Never. The limo is guarded as closely as a politician.

The limo is like “a bank vault on wheels,” according to agents. The doors appear to be 18inches or so thick; the windows, 5 inches. I could see that the seats were covered in velour withthe Presidential seal embroidered on them. Not leather–because it wouldn’t do for the ChiefExecutive to be sliding around during a high-speed chase.

Agents must master defensive moves such as the “J-turn,” where a driver goes in reverse atfull speed, makes a 180-degree turn, and heads off in the opposite direction, all without slowingdown or leaving the lane. At Rowley, an instructor offered to give me a taste of what it takes todrive the President. When I stepped out of the vehicle 10 minutes later, my head was spinning.

After graduating, agents are posted to one of the Secret Service’s domestic or internationaloffices. After five to seven years on the job, an agent can apply for the Presidential ProtectiveDetail (PPD), which consists of a few hundred members. Drawn from the PPD is a rotating group offive to seven agents who surround the President at all times. They’re known as “the shift,” or whatDirector Sullivan calls “the sharp end of the spear.” The Secret Service maintains a 24-hour mobilesecurity “bubble” around the President–a protective sphere extending 360 degrees in everydirection: on the ground, with agents and bomb-sniffing dogs; and above, with snipers on rooftopsand helicopters in the air.

Before every one of the President’s public appearances–in and out of the country–agentsmust do painstaking advance work, negotiating with everybody from hotel maintenance engineers tohigh-level political staffers and creating a customized security plan for each venue. “If we’vedone a thorough job, then we’ve envisioned any theoretical incident and taken the steps to preventit,” says Special Agent Laura Topolski, who has been with the Secret Service for close to 10 years.

The other major part of protecting the President lies in responding to threats. Many of themcontinue to be in the form of handwritten notes or voice messages left with the White Houseoperator, and every one is seriously assessed. Says Richard Elias, deputy assistant director of theSecret Service and a 28-year veteran, “If a threat is made against the President, we want to knowit. Whether it’s a drunk in a bar or an identified terrorist, we’re going to investigate it.”

During my days inside the Secret Service, I’m struck by two things. Number one is how sharpthe agents are. They’re personable and intelligent, but all of them have a glint of steel lurkingjust below the surface. The other quality isn’t as easy to describe. It’s a sense of purpose andmission I feel that permeates everything the Secret Service does and sends a buzz through the air.

“All agents are aware of the responsibility of protecting the President of the UnitedStates,” says Sloan. “And we’re aware of the consequences should we fail, both for the agency andfor the nation.”

Christopher Reich is the best-selling author of six thrillers. His newest is “Rules ofDeception.”



See the Secret Service Timeline »