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“We interview friends, neighbors, associates, employees,” Wood says. According to 23-year Secret Service veteran Tim Wood, author of Criminals and Presidents: The Adventures of a Secret Service Agent, this is called “protective intelligence.” Any time someone makes a suggestion of wanting to cause the president harm, every aspect of their lives will be investigated.
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While making a threat against the president’s life is never a good idea, it’s up to agents to determine whether you should be warned, committed for psychiatric evaluation, or charged with a Class E felony.
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And if he thought the doctor was any kind of threat, he would’ve shot him.” 3. “When Reagan was in office, Joe was there for his prostate exams and colonoscopies. “The president is never alone,” Robinson says. This includes the bathroom, the doctor’s office, or anywhere that might benefit from a little privacy. EVEN IN THE BATHROOM.īeing on protective detail means following the president wherever he or she might go. THEY MAKE SURE THE PRESIDENT IS NEVER ALONE. The president endured several hours of surgery and post-operative complications before making a complete recovery. The decision was quickly made to reroute Reagan to the hospital, where doctors discovered Reagan had been shot in the lung. But in the president's limo, Agent Jerry Parr noticed frothy red blood coming from Reagan's mouth-a sign he had been bleeding from the lungs. After being shot, Reagan thought he had suffered only a minor rib injury, and the plan was to take him to the White House, considered the safest place in the capital. The focus on emergency medicine training helped save Ronald Reagan's life during a 1981 assassination attempt. “They’ll have an agent posted at the hospital who knows the operating room staff.” Additionally, the travel group will have bags of blood in the president’s motorcade in the event a transfusion is needed. “When they travel, they’re never more than 10 minutes away from a trauma center,” Robinson says. According to Jeffrey Robinson, co-author of former agent Joseph Petro’s autobiography Standing Next to History, the division is methodical about making sure agents are trained in “ten-minute medicine,” or doing everything possible to keep the president alive until he or she can receive specialized medical attention in the event of an emergency. THEY TRAVEL WITH BAGS OF THE PRESIDENT’S BLOOD.Īlthough thousands of agents are employed by the Secret Service, only a small number are assigned to the Presidential Protection Division (PPD), the branch of the agency responsible for guarding the lives of the commander in chief and their family.
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We spoke with former agent Tim Wood, along with journalists Ronald Kessler and Jeffrey Robinson (all authors of books about the Secret Service), to learn more about how the agency insulates the leader of the free world from harm, the sometimes surprisingly low-tech anti-threat tactics they use, and how the Oval Office can safely order a pizza. In 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley, Congress extended their duties to involve the protection of the president.Īs the name implies, the organization is extremely guarded when it comes to discussing details of their methods, but that doesn’t mean we’re completely in the dark.
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On the day he was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln approved the formation of the United States Secret Service, a government agency tasked with protecting the integrity of the nation’s currency.