If you enjoy watching thrillers, if you enjoy stories set with the backdrop of the white house, if you have seen the movie Air Force One; you'll likely find Carol Leonnig's book Zero Fail a compelling and fascinating read.
How do you keep a President safe? Especially in this 21st century where there are drones, and Havana Syndrome, and 3-D printers able to print plastic guns. This book examines the decades-long struggle of the secret service to protect the President of the United States, their families, and candidates for office. The push and pull of trying to protect a highly visible person, one who wants and needs to interact with the citizens of the United States as well as travel the world spending time with foreign leaders and dignitaries, is a real sticky wicket.
I listened to the audio version of this book while I was out running over the last week or so. It was very interesting to learn about failures on the part of the Secret Service that may have played a part in the shooting of JFK, a near-miss with George HW Bush as well as the shooting of Ronald Regan. In each case, one small slip, one lack of imagination, or too much deference to the person being protected lead to disaster. And on the other hand, we will never know how many times people or organizations were stopped by one small thing going right. Lack of funding and resources has plagued the Secret Service--with many of those who were part of Presidential details working an untenable amount of hours on a regular basis.
It came as no surprise to me to learn that often thanks to booze or men not being able to keep their pants on -(be that the President or secret service personnel) Presidents have been thisclose to being assassinated or compromised by a foreign agent. And also there is the usual BS you find in any office situation where people are trying to climb the corporate ladder. I'd been busy with raising kids and I have to say that I completely missed the sex scandal the Secret Service was embroiled in during President Obama's second term--there was a real frat-boy culture.
5- stars for Zero Fail from me. This is a very comprehensive look at an incredibly important agency.
