Did you know that it was President Lincoln who started the Secret Service sadly on the day he was shot dead? Meanwhile there has been only one Secret Service man killed in the line of duty of protecting our Presidents. Their job is to be in the line of fire and to take a bullet for a President and some brave men did. The agency is under fire recently for one too many blundering embarrassing occasions of failure. Why do so many Republicans want to be President? The first debate was more like a roast than a meeting of political minds.  In 1981 it was Secret Serviceman Tim McCarthy who took a bullet to the chest designed for President Regan.

The bullet hit his rib and went down to his liver. Thankfully no agent has taken a bullet for a President since. To this day Tim still regrets that one of the six shots aimed at the President got to him. He still feels a sense of failure. Most would call McCarthy a hero.  Recent events are just out right embarrassing. There was a guy who jumped over a fence last September, an Army veteran armed with a knife who managed to run across the White House lawn and even enter the unlocked front door to the building before caught.   Then there was the time an armed contractor with an arrest record was on an elevator with Obama in Atlanta.  Those were dangerously close calls.

The Secret Service was once a proud Agency but no longer is the case now. A few years ago some Agents invited prostitutes to the Hotel Caribe ahead of President Obama’s trip to Columbia. Just 7 months ago after a night of drinking, were seen disrupting an active bomb investigation. Mr. Cummings the House Committee person   who oversees the Secret Service admits much needs to be done to control the Agency. The image and reputation of the Agency has been tarnished.  If something happens to the most powerful leader in the world the Agency would be held responsible. Joseph P. Clancy is the new Director hired to clean up the Agency.

He is a 27 year veteran agent who was once the head of President Obama’s protective detail. There should be a zero tolerance for failure with this group of men. He has ordered better training including practicing fence jumping for the Agents. There is a uniform division as well as attack dogs who train for weeks.  There are mock up practice things that look like Air Force One and the White House Helicopter. He has asked Congress for 8 Million dollars so he can build a replica   of The White House including fountains so they can train in.  They train now in a parking lot. History shows that most attacks happen outside the White House. In 1963 President Kennedy was shot killed in an open car motorcade.

Agent Clint Hill climbed over the back of the car and shielded his wife by laying on top of her. Assassination drills are necessary now during training. Although the Agency has problems, they have kept most of our Presidents safe over the past 150 years. They need to clean up their act real soon.