If you protect a presidential candidate, it's probably not the same as White House detail, and POTUS is probably higher than VP, and my bet is that none of them are impenetrable. Then there's the totally different division that works with counterfeit money detection and combating. My outfit sometimes rubs elbows with them in that capacity.
My point is that the Secret Service is anything BUT some homogeneous group of super-serious guys who are some kind of uniform amalgam of Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher and the Men In Black. I remember the grimace of one of them one night when my dad was given the task of assigning his code name when he posted between my dad and Bil Clinton when he was president. My dad wasn't good with things like that on the spur of the moment (my mom's dad, by contrast, was a genius), so when forced, my dad gave him the code name of "Placido Flamingo." From the agent's facial expression, it was a good thing he was never asked if he would take a bullet for my dad. I know I've never had the chance to know all levels of them.
One time, when Clinton (now a former president) and I were staying on the same floor of a hotel in Charleston, SC, and I was giving some guitar performances during the Weekend. I took my guitar case and went right up to the four or five SS agents standing outside his room, and told them, "look, I know who you are and who is in there." They asked, "are you trying to see him?" I said, "Not now. For now, I've come to see you guys. We've worked together before, though a long time ago. Since I'm staying right down the hall, I just wanted you guys to know that I'll be performing music later on, and there really is a 12 string guitar in here, so please don't go into panic mode every time you see me coming to and from the elevator." They were very relieved that I took the time and effort to approach them, but since I knew who they were, I figured it would be better to do that than let them get nervous every time they saw me with that big case on that floor. Most of them seem pretty reasonable and professional, although I guess if a bad apple wants to penetrate a detail, the best way to do that is to appear as reasonable and professional as anyone else.
= new reply since forum marked as read
