a book that is exactly what the title promises!
i found it very interesting to learn about what the author learned/went through during his time as a secret service agent, i just wish that he would have had someone work this over to make it a bit less full off rants and pushing is own options.

still an interesting read overall!

Byrne honorably served our government as a member of the Secret Service. In this book, he tells of his experiences, and of experiences of other agents throughout the history of the Secret Service.
It seems Byrne's main goal in writing this book was not to expound on any "secrets", but rather to expound on the problems facing the Service today. His point is that certain factions within the Service, plus overworked and disgruntled agents, could lead to another disaster, similar to the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy. He describes how the "culture of corruption has allowed agents to blackmail the agency into further corruption, while its mad men drive whistle-blowers so far as to suicide".
All in all, this was an interesting read. The author tends to rant quite a bit. Especially about the Clinton's, whom he seems to have a great deal of animosity towards. But, I guess I can understand his frustration. He swore to protect the President, and served that cause admirably for many years, and wants to see things improve in that regard. I thank him for his service.

This is a great book by someone who is obviously well informed on his topic. It would be well to take note of his recommendations if we want to keep an effective protection of our President.

That's YOUR tax money being wasted on inefficiency and coverups!
This book begins with a rant on a particular administration which was very difficult to protect and was a harbinger of the problems resulting in a serious morale problem. It then segues into a history of the service and the lousy follow up after each assassination or attempt. Next under fire is the ongoing departmental administration issue referred to as Plantation Mentality/secret service culture which includes factors such as no real fiscal responsibility, and the preferences for coverup over employee accountability. Employee job satisfaction which began as pride of service rendered but became buried under management misconduct and poor accountability and seriously insufficient staffing as well as the problems directly related to far too much mandatory overtime resulted in high rates of suicide, divorce, and the problems inherent in testosterone poisoning. Because there is no real fiscal responsibility, there is excessive overtime and the director just keeps demanding more funds rather than improving departmental performance. I was appalled to read of how few hours of training and range time requirements which are lower than that for Concealed Carry citizenry. Now I understand why local law enforcement disdains this group which has no ability or authority to even issue a traffic ticket!
So why did I begin with a rant about taxpayer dollars? It seems that in interest of secrecy of internal misconduct, untold employees are pensioned off with full benefits ad infinitum instead of being prosecuted as a civilian would be. The issue of continued secret service protection ad infinitum for past presidents and their families instead of allowing the protectee to contribute to the cost of a cleared private sector provider is another way that the taxpayers are being fleeced.
Is this book factual? The evidence is there, and checking out the references cited was even more appalling. Is it well written? Tough call, the grouping of ideas seems a bit odd, but on the whole it does reflect a very unpleasant reality.
The final segment is focused on the need to scrap the current business model and replace it with one that is more honest and fiscally responsible which will please taxpayers and return dignity to the women and men whose purpose it is to protect the POTUS.
Disclaimers: I am predisposed toward law enforcement as I worked alongside accountable sworn staff for some years.
I requested and received a free review copy via NetGalley.

If the name "Clinton" makes you cringe than you will probably love former Secret Service Agent Gary J. Byrne's new behind the scenes book "Secrets of the Secret Service. I found the first quarter of the work quite redundant having read his book on being an agent in the Clinton White House.

Still he eventually gets to some of the Service's history as well as other Presidents, but I did not learn too many secrets beyond what anyone knows from news accounts. Secret Service agents are overworked, under appreciated. Moral is low, and leadership is not top notch.

With that setting out another part of the book (re-telling news stories about party crashers and fence jumpers) the author provides a road map on how to make the Service "great again." There is mixed in this enough fear to grab a reader's attention as the author draws comparisons to today and when other President's were assassinated or had attempts.

Though I had hoped for more "what they do to protect the Prez" secrets, the book I read was not interesting to me, but it might be to others based on the summary above.

This is a well-researched history and critical analysis of the secret service. The author devotes the majority of the book to the shortcomings and failures, both historically and in current times, of the organization. He also adds a fairly extensive catalogue of suggested changes. I did find some of his political biases IMO somewhat off-putting but still found this a worthwhile read. Recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Gary Byrne starts off the book with delicious details anyone who enjoys gossip will love when it comes to political world but soon readers will find it is nothing more than the authors repetitive rant that he can't seem to stop himself from delivering over and over and over again. The rant is the Secret Service is broken and needs to be fixed but never offers a solution or at least one I cared about.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of the books

I didn't love this book. I guess I thought it would have more dinner conversation tidbits about the presidents and their interaction with their Secret Service details, but that's not what this is. It's written like a history book. (a dry one). There is quite a bit about the failings of the Secret Service, both individual members and from management down. There is some good information about how the SSD came about and stories about the individual presidents, but I didn't find them interesting enough to sort through the rest of it to find them. I was disappointed.