Protecting the President: An Inside Account of the Troubled Secret Service in an Era of Evolving Threats

by Daniel Bongino

Being a Secret Service agent is one of the most treacherous jobs in the world and never more so than in today’s highly polarized America. Facing threats from fence jumpers and manifesto writers, and from fanatical terrorists and sophisticated spies, protecting the president is harder than ever. In an age of hyper-partisan politics, emotions are high and crazies are a dime a dozen. On top of that, with international tensions reaching a boiling point, it’s harder than ever to determine friend from foe.

Yet the President of the United States is in very real danger if the Secret Service doesn’t change course soon and evolve with the rapidly changing threat environment. Highly motivated “bad guys” are already working on technologically advanced methodologies and are constantly striving to formulate the logistics of an attack on the White House. Eventually terrorist planners will find a way to acquire the technology, weapons, explosives, and know-how to make an attempt on the life of the President. The only question is “What are we going to do about it?”

Protecting the President provides not only a rare insider glimpse of what the Secret Service does, but explores the challenges facing the agents today. Chock-full of relevant stories of protecting past presidents, veteran agent Dan Bongino explains how the agency can best protect the president today. This book covers how the Secret Service should

• plan for a tactical assault by a terrorist attack team
• prepare to respond to a severe medical emergency train to handle a chemical or biological weapon attack
• prepare for an attack using explosives
• plan for 9-11 style attacks from the air and fire threats
• and much more

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Audiobook, Government, Biography, Presidents, Historical

154 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2017

Reviews

[Stacy]

I wish that the audiobook had been read by the author. I learned a lot about the Secret Service and how it’s transformed over the years. There were lots of practical recommendations, but I would have liked to have learned more about the author’s personal experiences on the job.

[Aryssa]

Interesting. Probably could have been shorter.

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better)]

A very good book. I enjoyed the insider’s view of the Secret Service. Most was well written but some areas contained complaints.

[Curtis Taylor]

It is a very interesting view of the Secret Service, one from within. Dan's viewpoint is one of concern, encouragement, and ways to improve. Great book. Thank you for your service to "Our" country.

[Filip Van]

A book where you're never quite sure whether it's a memoir, political manifesto, or settling of accounts. There are little to no numbers attached to his criticisms, leaving them somewhat ungrounded. Bongino doesn't really come across as having grappled with the trade-offs involved in what he's proposing either.

More damningly, he often treats people with another sense of priorities as obviously incorrect: staffers that are concerned about the optics of a heavy police presence around their principal, or about the impact of USSS training in the White House on other employees, are to Bongino just a sign of how bad things have gotten, not stakeholders with valid requests. However, it seems naive to think these concerns could simply be willpowered out of the way - and a bit facile to blame political staffers for thinking about politics first.

As a memoir, it offers little detail or insight, although you do get grumbles about the Clintons and racial quota. As a call to reform, it's not entirely serious (the last chapter, "how to fix the secret service", is all of 9 pages long).

[Jodi Galland]

This little book has a slow start, but the second half was especially interesting. Written in 2017, it seems we may be seeing the fruits of some of the less sensible leadership decisions right now. Sure, plenty of people were very vocal about their disappointment that Trump’s would be assassin “missed,” but without some real reform in the secret service, this could happen to any protectee. You can’t really celebrate failure of an entire organization when you don’t like the guy, and then be surprised when, God forbid, something happens to your guy.

I think the best line in the whole book was making fun of the failure of secret service leadership to catch up with technology.
“Secret Service: yesterday’s technology tomorrow.”

I give the audiobook reader three stars.

[Dody Bracken]

Protecting The President

Well written. Very informative and insightful. Fast reading. Puts you in the shoes first hand of a Secret Service Agent. Honest assessment of the Secret Service’s shortcomings. Opens your eyes to the complexities and frustrations faced by Secret Service agents.

[Luis Torres]

Very descriptive and informative

Lots of good info on what’s gone wrong with the USSS over the years. My suggestion to Mr Bongino is to use smaller paragraphs as it becomes tedious due to the description and repetitiveness on longer paragraphs. That’s my reason for the 4 stars. Other than that, the book is great.

[Sherrie]

Kind of a dry read. Not what I expected. Thought it would be more stories of things that happened on his watch, but it's more or less an autopsy of the Secret Service and how it needs to be improved. I agree with his findings.

[Christen]

This book is ok. Not the best out of Dan.

[Marie Zahnle]

Presents the challenges the Secret Service faces as its agents put their lives on the line to insure the safety of those they protects. Critiques the agency’s strengths and weaknesses, offering concrete suggestions for improvements.

[John W. Riley]

Upgrades needed NOW

Another great book by Dan. His insights into some of the troubling issues within the Secret Service was alarming. This was an excellent read in light of the events of July 13, 2024

[Debora Quinn]

This book is a quick read, but full of interesting facts about the Secret Service. Although it was written about 10 years ago, it is very timely, and could have easily been written just last week. The author discusses when and why morale dropped for the agents, and the politics that the upper management of the agency has been involved in. He explains why the protection detail is not as effective as it should be and gives his thoughts on how to repair the agency. Anyone interested in learning what contributed to the recent attack at the rally should read this book to get some background on the agency.

[Joy Boutwell]

This is a good book and has helpful information.

[Troy D]

A really great look at what the Secret Service is all about and what needs to be fixed.

[Eileen]

4.5 stars

[David]

Protecting the President by former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino presents an inside look at what it means to be an agent. Today we know them primarily as Protectors for the president and other key officials in our government. But looking back in history at their beginnings their primary focus was finding and stopping counterfeiters. At the time of Abraham Lincoln and James Garfield there was no Secret Service protection for presidents. When presidential protection was added to the Secret Service they still retained their original responsibility of fighting counterfeiters. Today with White House fence jumpers, terrorists, and sophisticated spies protecting the president is harder than ever. The author states that the "bad guys" are constantly working on uses of advanced technology and eventually will find a way to make an attempt on the life of the president. The author also details and explores challenges the today's agents face and presents examples to further make his points that the Secret Service needs to become better prepared to react to medical emergencies, chemical or biological weapons attacks, explosives, and 9/11-style terrorist attacks. Of course he doesn't give away tactical details about Secret Service operations. But he suggests they need to catch up with current technologies. This was an eye opener for me and does raise serious concerns about the safety of the people under Secret Service protection as well as the agents themselves.

[Bob Ryan]

A short (6 hours listening time), straightforward account on changes Bongino suggests to improve the Secret Service agency in its protection duties. I found the first third interesting, a recent history of the Service and how its become converted into today's agency. These changes have also had an effect on the morale of the agents themselves. Bongino was a agent for 11 years. Most the changes occurred during Bongino's time of service, he's not happy with them. The book is a sincere effort to improve the agency. An interesting read.

[Joel]

Dan does a really good job on what could be done to make the Secret Service respected again. The only way I see that happening he would have to run the agency himself.
His podcast on Rumble is excellent if you want to see him in action watch it.

Thanks Dan for this book and keep Bongino
ARMY going!!

[Helen Burkett]

This is an interesting book, although dry. Dan Bonjino gives ways to update the Secret Service and hopefully delegate the job of monitoring counterfeit money to other financial agencies. I had no idea how much training and long hours our Secret Service agents put in. I'm glad I read this book.

[Adam]

An informative book that showcases the modern challenges the Secret Service faces in an evolving world of threats against the President. Exposes areas of training, threat assessment, psychological profiling, and inadequacies the agency faces that the general public may be unaware of.

[Chad]

Dan has unique insights into the current state of the Service. If you are thinking of joining the Secret Service this would be a great read, just to know the history and current state of things you're walking into.

[Adam]

Eye opening. The most elite security force in the world needs a lot more help than most people realize. Dan does a great job of educating people.

[Natalie]

The content of this book is a 5 but the writing style and the author's tendency to repeat himself made it difficult to read.

[Christine]

Fascinating insider story

Very fond of the author's knowledge. It was more tun on though. Seemed like was writing like talks, as a New Yorker.

[Diane Cheatham]

Too wordy and few good stories

[Nancy Barber]

Excellent read. Thought it might a bit dry but was pleasantly surprised. It was a page turner which I didn't expect.

[Iselin]

Interesting to read about a line of work that I didn't know much about.

[Kaite]

Overall a very informative read, and troubling the amount of red tape involved in protecting the President. Great inside account

[Sherrie]

Good book. I think Bongino is a good man. And I enjoy learning about the jobs he used to have.