A Federal Agent Naked and Afraid: My Most Memorable Day
As a federal agent you will be called to work a variety of jobs during your career; including personal security details for Presidential Cabinet Secretaries. During my time as a federal agent I have worked many protection details for government officials and have experienced a great deal of adventures to include significant overseas travel, the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game, dinners at the White House, and my close personal favorite … the State funeral for former President Ronald Reagan.
There are many jobs that protective detail members can find themselves in; the most enjoyable for me was the position of lead security advance. Essentially, the lead security advance is tasked with coordinating all security matters related to a dignitaries visit.
For domestic travel this is a relatively straight-forward process and entails obtaining the protectee’s schedule, establishing liaison with local police to coordinate motorcade movements, locating the closest trauma centers, conducting a walk-thru of all of the venues and “running routes” of travel from the airport to the event sites and to the event sites to the trauma center. While coordination with the local police and facility security makes these visits run reasonably smooth, performing these same activities overseas is wrought with challenges.
During my career I have visited over 50 countries in support of the U.S. Government. Several years ago I was assigned as the lead advance agent on a trip a Presidential Cabinet Secretary made to a former Soviet Republic that had obtained sovereignty and become its own country.
I arrived in the country about a week before the visit to coordinate all security related matters. Typically, on overseas travel I would link up with the Foreign Service National Investigator (FSNI) who works for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) at the U.S. embassy. This person is responsible for facilitating coordination between visiting U.S. Government Agencies and the host country.
Several meetings are held with members of the local police, military, and host country intelligence services to ensure a safe and successful visit of the Secretary. Every aspect of the trip is carefully coordinated by the security, Embassy staff, as well as the “Advance” staff of the Secretary to ensure no unforeseen circumstances arise.
On virtually every trip I ever lead the security advance; an unforeseen problem would arise at the worst possible time. Often these “unforeseen” problems would be orchestrated on behalf of the host country; the why was never exactly clear but it usually seemed to happen in countries where the U.S./host country relations were precarious.
This particular trip occurred in January in a mountainous region of the country. The team (host country, executive department agency security, embassy staff, and local police) had all conducted rehearsals of the Secretary’s arrival at the airport. We thought of every contingency and were ready for arrival.
Because there was a significant amount of snow and ice that had yet to be removed from the terminal area we made arrangements with “Airport Security” to bring our motorcade out to the runway and load the Secretary and his staff in vehicles right on the runway, instead of the approximate 100 yard walk. The Secretary was in his 70’s and had poor stability. My feeling was to reduce any chance of him falling it was necessary to avoid the Secretary having to walk on snow and ice.
The airport police initially resisted our request to move the motorcade away from the terminal but eventually agreed.
As the plane was making its final approach, I gave the signal to begin moving our vehicles into position and the “Colonel” in-charge of airport security said in a voice that closely resembled a James Bond villain, “Not so Fast Cowboy, you have something and I want it.”
I told him we didn’t have time for games and we needed to move the vehicles immediately. He replied, “No game, I really like your coat; give me your jacket and I will let you move the vehicles”.
Now, it’s five degrees outside and snowing with a negative 20 degrees wind chill. I told him, “I’m not giving you my jacket.” He said, “Well, I hope your Secretary doesn’t fall on that long walk to the terminal.” As the wheels of the plane touched down I finally relented and gave him my $350.00 coat.
Huge mistake because then he asked me for my sport coat $250.00 and eventually my oxford shirt (from Brooks Brothers no less), $65.00. We argued for about a minute as the plane continued to taxi.
I had a decision to make - sacrifice my wardrobe for the safety of the President’s Cabinet Secretary, or keep my clothes on and risk a potential injury to the Secretary and subsequent cancellation of the trip before we even left the airport. I opted to strip, and our motorcade was allowed to transit to the aircraft.
Upon exiting the aircraft, the Secretary’s protection detail leader (my boss), dressed in full wool winter coat, scarf, gloves, and wool knit cap, made eye contact with me. He rolled his eyes, shook his head and chuckled. The Secretary made eye contact with me; however, he looked at me as if everything was normal, he greeted me and entered the “limo” and we proceeded to the first event.
The Secretary typically traveled with a staff of five or six not including advance staff and security. All were staring at me as if I was the “Freak Show” attraction at the local circus.
A member of the embassy staff eventually managed to dig up a wool coat, which I wore for the rest of the day. That day we probably visited four venues and never once did the Secretary talk to me about what he had observed earlier that morning at the airport.
That night, I returned to my room to get ready for the next day’s events. During this time the rest of the detail had taken the Secretary and his wife to dinner in the hotel restaurant. I received a call from another agent informing me the Secretary wanted to see me right away.
I immediately got dressed and walked down to the restaurant. The Secretary thanked me for all of my hard work on day one and with the straightest face he could muster said, “Why the hell were you standing in subfreezing temperatures this morning with no clothes on; that was the funniest God damn thing I have ever seen in my life.” I told him it was a long story but all he needed to know was that it was in service to my country. He replied, “God damn son, anybody ever questions your loyalty to this great country of ours, tell them to give me a call … funniest God damn thing I ever saw.”
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