Photo credit: Courtesy of Ron Kessler
All eyes have been on President Obama for the last few days as he traveled to Kenya and Ethiopia; some more than others. “Close to 100 Secret Service agents and uniformed officers go with The President on overseas trips traveling either on Air Force One or cargo planes for vehicles. While nothing untoward has happened on this trip, agents tell me it’s just a matter of time before the Secret Service’s laxness and corner cutting lead to another debacle such as the intrusion at the White House last September,” best-selling author Ron Kessler told Hollywood on the Potomac. His book, The First Family Detail, is available in paperback today with a new epilogue.
The President is there to attend the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit and “to meet with leaders from government, business, and civil society,” according to the official White House website. “The trip is reinforcing the U.S. commitment to expanding economic growth and trade, strengthening democracy on a global scale, and investing in the next generation of African leaders; some more than others.”
Because we get the updates from the White House website, Instagram and other social media outlets, we couldn’t help but notice that the daily agenda is posted. We asked Kessler if that was a matter of concern. “It’s always a quandary, but they nod to potus’ wishes,” he said. Here is a sample of a partial agenda – the events have already taken place:
3:30 AM: The President participates in a welcoming ceremony
3:50 AM: The President holds a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia
5:15 AM: The President meets with President Mulatu Teshome of Ethiopia
6:20 AM: The President joins Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn for a press conference
Ron Kessler
The intrusion of which Kessler speaks to happened on September 19th, 2014 – the debacle that occurred at the White House when an intruder succeeded in scaling the fence and making it into the White House itself. Until that time, no intruder had been successful in doing that.
Kessler describes that incident in the epilogue: “The Secret Service had failed to keep the door at the North Portico of the White House locked. Any bank teller must use an electronic key card or code to enter a secure area. But the Secret Service’s attitude is that it’s capabilities are so superior and its “layers of protection” so extensive that it does not need to take the precaution that any homeowner takes to keep his family safe.”
Kessler is the author of 20 non-fiction books about the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. Seven of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list; so if he is concerned, then it’s safe to say we should be concerned. Hollywood on the Potomac interviewed Ron when the first printing came out. You can read the interview here.
Kessler concludes in his latest printing that: “If the Secret Service has fallen down on the job, its officials are skilled at investing excuses for the agency’s failing. Having interviewed the top management at the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA for my books on those subjects, I can say that the caliber of Secret Service officials does not compare with the quality of FBI and CIA executives. It will take determination to transform the agency’s culture and uproot the Secret Service bureaucrats who foster it and resist change. This book provides a road map for doing that.”
