Three Days With the Secret Service

I'm just back from Washington DC where I spent several days visiting
the headquarters of the Secret Service while researching an article for
Parade magazine entitled, "Protecting the President in the 21st
century. I don't know when my interest in the Secret Service started,
but it was long before the movie, "In the Line of Fire." For some
reason, I've always found this elite organization fascinating. The
Secret Service doesn't just safeguard the President of the United
States, (as well as several dozen other important personages), they are
also charged with protecting the nation's financial institutions, and
that means they are the lead agency fighting counterfeiting and
electronic cybercrimes.

My interest grew during the course of researching my novel, The Devil's Banker .
At the time, I interviewed James Sloan, director of FinCEN, the
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Prior to coming to FinCEN, Jim
had spent twenty years as a Secret Service agent. He showed me photos
of him driving the Pope-mobile in the late 80's and told me a little
about his time heading up Barbara Bush's protective detail. A few
months later, I met Jim's younger brother, Tom, who was also recently
retired from the Service. Both these guys were sharp as tacks, and I
started thinking that maybe I ought to learn some more about this
little known agency.

(As a footnote, Jim Sloan is currently Director of Intelligence at
the Coast Guard and Tom, is running international security for the New
York Stock Exchange.)



Anyway, my time in DC was interesting, to say the least. Director Mark
Sullivan really opened up the doors for me and I was able to get an
inside out view of how the Service does what they do.



The highlight, though, was my trip to the Rowley Training Center the
following day. We made a stop at the presidential protective driving
school and one of the instructors thought he might have a little fun
showing me what it takes to drive the President. I climbed aboard the
Dodge Charger - Police Edition and strapped myself in. I was ready for
a wild ride...but not this wild. When I stepped out ten minutes later, my
head was spinning, but luckily, my stomach was none the worse for the
wear. If you've never executed a J-turn going 50 miles an hour in
reverse, you haven't lived!



That's it for now.



By the way, the new book hits the stands in two weeks. I'll be in New
York to start things off with an appearance on the Glenn Beck Show,
Monday, July 14th.



More to come...