Secret Service POTUS interesting tidbits
 

I had never heard a bunch of the info here. Nothing is that surprising, but it was very interesting.

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This is just what they let the public know about. I’d be willing to bet they go way more in-depth than we know and have some protocols that are crazier than this that we never see or hear about.

And that's why I make my own inks.

Barack Obama visited Australia during his presidency and the Secret Service had to clear a river that was adjacent to a reception building. The thing is that river was infested with crocodiles but that didn't even slow them down. Using scuba gear they just suited up and dove in. They didn't ask for help or advice... They locals just watched on in horror. :eek:

Thankfully all went well but they are some brave SOBs.

... And apparently they don't have a sense of humour. ;)

Security details are not just for the President.
A few years ago, I hosted a visit from the US Undersecretary of Industry to our facility. He was dressed in a suit. The two guys with him were hard looking fellows wearing loose Hawaiian shirts. I did not ask them to check their weapons at the door. One of them never left the Secretary's side. He did not smile at jokes.:cool:

Best
Les

I worked with one of the guys that was on PPD for Clinton. He had a sense of humor.

ExBIL is in it. Spent a lot of time trying to convince Disney to let him carry a pistol on a visit. Nope. Back to the SUV he went.

My BIL was always on Trump's airport motorcade detail as a motorcycle officer in S. Florida. He said Trump was one of the nicest guys, always friendly, and appreciated their hard work. He would take group photos, and buy them pizza for lunch.

Hillary Clinton came to town when she was campaigning, and stomped around like Cruella DeVille, *****ing at everyone with a scowl on her face. She went so far as screaming at a fellow officer for speaking to her.

Absolutely. I'm sure what we know is the tip of the iceberg.

One of my local friends is a Secret Service agent. He mostly worked on counterfeiting and money laundering issues unrelated to any security. On occasion if a high ranking official was in the area, or if he was needed he would be called for the periphery duties. He hated those things as he often was stuck standing a field overnight just looking for threats in a small area with only routine check ins with the controller. It might be snowing or in blazing hot conditions, and just tough duty.

He really preferred catching counterfeiters.

I know a lot of the HMX-1 pilots who flew Marine One, spanning Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

They have some fascinating stories.

Hillary DeVille was a piece of work.

One of the guys I met once was on a ground crew of Marine One. He said for years the Army flew the helicopters, and one day they had cleaned up just one side of the helicopter, and the inside was not spotless. The Army was fired and the Marines took over. They have fancier and showier uniforms to boot.

He said at ANY field they land at, if they need a spare part they are authorized to go take it off of a operational aircraft and use it on Marine One, or the backups. They have their own C-130 just to haul the parts, staff and equipment needed for Marine One.

The aircraft is kept in pristine concours like condition, and maintenance is top notch.

When I was the head government pilot at the Sikorsky factory, the HMX-1 guys would show up, shut down, security would surround the aircraft and pallets of stuff would come out of the Hanger where all "White Top" (Presidential helo) work was done on the H-3's and H-60's.

Quick load out and they were gone. It was usually a green top 53E.

As an aside, all dynamic components are replaced at 1/2 the normal cycle for fleet aircraft, meaning the White Tops always have a component margin.

The 1/2 time parts were re-entered into the supply system for fleet use.

Not long after 9-1-1, AF-1 flew into Tampa and I worked in a building that had a parking garage that over looks the airport. Corner of Boy Scout Road and West Shore Blvd. So I drove up to the top deck and parked my truck and sat in A/C waiting for it to land. I was there for about 5 minutes and two black SUV's block me in and a SS agent comes up and we play 50 questions and finally tells me to leave. He was a dick.

Years ago one of the other aerial photo companies we worked with a lot had an old extremely high time pilot. He spent 40 years flying photo missions often 40+ hour per week if the weather was clear.

He was out on a mission and President Bush #1 decided he wanted to change his destination. So a new flight restriction area popped up out of nowhere. There were no electronic devices in civil aviation like we have now. The pilot ended up clipping the corner of a restricted area that he did not know about. He was flying an old Cessna 206 flaps down trying to get the 500 pound camera moving at a forward speed that the images were sharp and two F-16s blasted past almost standing on their tails trying to go that slow.

They could read his tail number and told him to land at a nearby airport. He ignored them for about 5 minutes as he finished his photo mission. He then landed and the local sheriff, and several FBI agents greeted him. The FAA opened a case, and could see that the POTUS had an unplanned change and he was just out on a job earning a living and was no threat. They essentially just warned him and when they saw his flying experience they knew he was not a idiot beginner mistake, and it could have happened to anyone.

He said later that he should have dropped more flaps and pulled power to fly as slow as possible just to see how slow an F-16 could go past. He just did not want one of them to hit him while in unstable flight mode.

Lots of interesting stories folks!

When a POTUS stays at a hotel they also go through every guest room in the place.

There is always a carrier group off coast for medical facilities.

Not as interesting as these other stories, but my old boss was talking to a guy at a party who turned out to be SS. As soon as my boss asked him a POTUS security question the agent told him that their conversation would now be documented.

Wow. Not that I'm likely to run into a SS agent, but I'll take that mental note and file it away.

Back when George Wallace, the governor of Alabama was running for president, he was assigned SS protection. His state troopers that normally protected him were not happy.

I was a press photographer back then and often in his office as he always wanted to be in the news. It was weird to see the same large men in suits with funny lumps and they all appeared to be using hearing aides, and talked quietly into their hands.

They had a pin on their lapel and it was often just a three color triangle, and all of them had the pin in the same position as the same color was up. That was back in the 1970s and I bet they now all have an electronic device that tells them if they are on the team or an imposter.

Barry used to visit his "home" in Hawaii even though his home was Illinois prior to the election.

At any rate, beaches are public in Hawaii and cannot be made private. But somehow the Secret Service would block off the area around where he was staying and usually there would be a local news story about people being shewed away. It didn't go over well and I was thankful to live on the other side of Oahu.

On one visit for the Asian Pacific Economic Conference there was a DOS agent that got into a gun fight at McDonalds. Whomever thought having a major international conference on a small island is beyond stupid. It literally shut down the major roadways.

https://www.kitv.com/story/37924737/federal-agent-who-fatally-shot-a-man-in-a-waikiki-appeals-his-third-trial

https://www.detailinnovations.com/single-post/2017/07/04/happy-4th-of-july-what-an-honor-being-selected-to-the-air-force-one-detail-team-2017

Neighbor and friend....

Likely down at Car Week right now. Great detailer.

I have never asked him about the steps they had to go through...

My good friend worked in West Wing... FBI National Security Council.

Deputy National Security Advisor US gave a eulogy at his memorial service in a place of worship.

I am not sure there was SS, but there were at least 10-20 FBI.

I remember Reagan went to some little island nation in the Caribbean and the SS had to install a complete land line phone system and left it all in place when Ronnie left.

Sounds similar to the "color of the day" for UC cops.

Things sound more involved than when my best H.S. buddy was on Nixon's and then Ford's personal details. He said the Nixons were haughty and dismissive and Ford was the nicest guy you could imagine. He especially enjoyed the ski trips with Ford. Much later on he said the guys he still knew about around Hillary had horror stories about her. He gave it up because of the constant travel.

The guys I encountered were pretty easy going, but professional.
GHW Bush was on a campaign stop in Brookville, Ohio in 1992 at a community picnic in the city park. As part of the celebration the local antique tractor club put on a small display of tractors. It had rained cats and dogs for days and the ground was saturated.
There were about 5 or 6 SS limos in the entourage, and one of them drove off the narrow park road onto the grass and it sank up to the axles. Pretty soon there were half a dozen SS guys and a bunch of people standing around the car. One of the SS guys asked if I knew of a towing service they could call. I said, “No, but there are a lot of tractors sitting around here and I’ll bet one of them has a chain.”
Pretty soon a guy on an old Minneapolis Moline was chained up and dragged it back onto dry land.
Later we were standing on the rope line and when the President go to us an SS guy whispered something to him. He shook my hand he said, “I understand you fellows really helped us out back there. I just wanted to thank you.” They told him I wasn’t the tractor driver, and then took a picture of the tractor owner with the president. He (the tractor owner) was wearing some goofy sun glasses and it looked like the president was shaking hands with a googled-eyed alien.