In the President's Secret Service · Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect

Never before has a journalist penetrated the wall of secrecy that surrounds

the U.S. Secret Service, that elite corps of agents who pledge to take a

bullet to protect the president and his family. After conducting exclusive

interviews with more than one hundred current and former Secret Service

agents, bestselling author and award-winning reporter Ronald Kessler reveals

their secrets for the first time.

Secret Service agents, acting as human surveillance cameras, observe

everything that goes on behind the scenes in the president’s inner circle.

Kessler reveals what they have seen, providing startling, previously untold

stories about the presidents, from John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to

George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as about their families, Cabinet

officers, and White House aides.

Kessler portrays the dangers that agents face and how they carry out their

missions–from how they are trained to how they spot and assess potential

threats. With fly-on-the-wall perspective, he captures the drama and tension

that characterize agents’ lives.

In this headline-grabbing book, Kessler discloses assassination attempts that

have never before been revealed. He shares inside accounts of past assaults

that have put the Secret Service to the test, including a heroic gun battle

that took down the would-be assassins of Harry S. Truman, the devastating day

that John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, and the swift actions that saved

Ronald Reagan after he was shot.

While Secret Service agents are brave and dedicated, Kessler exposes how

Secret Service management in recent years has betrayed its mission by cutting

corners, risking the assassination of President Barack Obama, Vice President

Joe Biden, and their families. Given the lax standards, “It’s a miracle we

have not had a successful assassination,” a current agent says.

Since an assassination jeopardizes democracy itself, few agencies are as

important as the Secret Service–nor is any other subject as tantalizing as the

inner sanctum of the White House. Only tight-lipped Secret Service agents know

the real story, and Ronald Kessler is the only journalist to have won their

trust.