Gary Byrne proudly declared in the introduction to his book that he fulfilled his dream of being in the Secret Service’s Uniformed Division and that he was, “The last barrier before anyone saw Bill Clinton.” The problem with Byrne’s claim about his proximity to the President is that it does not match his job description. The Presidential Protective Division (PPD) is tasked with protecting the President and their immediate family, not the Uniformed Division (UD). UD officers stand at static posts to protect buildings, while the PPD travels with the principals and protects people. This makes Byrne’s “Crisis of Character” all the more suspect.
Gary Byrne Highlighted his Close Proximity to the Clintons While he was in the Secret Service…
Gary Byrne said he witnessed firsthand the Clintons’ personal lives.
I witnessed firsthand the Clintons’ personal and professional dysfunction: So consumed were they by scandal, so intent on destroying their real or imagined enemies, that governing became an afterthought.
Gary Byrne said people “didn’t hear and see what we did around the Executive Mansion.”
“Nobody knew everything that was going on at the Clinton White House. Not even President Clinton’s press guru, George Stephanopoulos. He wasn’t there at night, and some of the best (or worst) moments happened after hours. People like George didn’t hear and see what we did around the Executive Mansion, so my guess is they didn’t know how Hillary battled her husband in the West Wing.”
But Gary Byrne was a Rank and File Member of the Uniformed Division…
Gary Byrne said he was a member of the Secret Service Uniformed Division.
I dreamed of becoming an elite White House Secret Service officer, a member of its Uniformed Division. Nothing more — and certainly nothing less. My dream came true. I stood guard, a pistol at my hip, outside the Oval Office, the last barrier before anyone saw Bill Clinton.
Gary Byrne was posted at Secret Service Post E-6, which was outside the Oval Office.
One morning in late summer 1995, I entered the White House to assume my post just outside the Oval Office – officially Secret Service Post E-6. Things were stirring, and I wanted to know why. Everyone on post that night, Secret Service agents (SAs), Secret Service Uniformed Division officers like myself…
And the Uniformed Division Did not Protect the President Directly
The Secret Service’s Office of Protection Operations included the Presidential Protective Division and the Uniformed Division.
Office of Protection Operations (OPO): The Office of Protective Operations plans, directs, coordinates, and implements protective policies, programs, and operations of the Secret Service. The OPO ensures that all protected persons, places, and events receive the most appropriate level of protection, based upon a thorough assessment of associated threats and vulnerabilities, to reduce the risk of harm to the protectee and includes the following divisions: Presidential Protective Division (PPD) […] [and] Uniformed Division (UD).
Presidential Protective Division protected the President and members of the immediate family.
Presidential Protective Division (PPD): This division protects the President of the United States and members of his immediate family at all times; conducts protective security surveys and performs numerous special projects pertinent to Presidential and First Family protection.
Former supervisor of the Presidential Protective Division said the inner perimeter was “100 percent” controlled by the PPD.
‘The inner perimeter is 100 percent controlled by the presidential protective division,’ said a former supervisor of the presidential protective division, who asked not to be identified by name.
Uniformed Division protected the White House complex, foreign embassies, and consulates.
Uniformed Division (UD): This division is responsible for protecting the White House Complex and foreign embassies and consulates in and around the Washington, D.C. area.
Secret Service veterans took issue with Gary Byrne inflating his role, who as a uniformed officer was “the lowest level of protection within the White House.”
The book has rankled current and former members of the Secret Service, who don’t like anyone airing business in public — but who also take issue with Byrne inflating his role. Byrne was a uniformed officer in Bill Clinton’s White House. But that’s the lowest level of protection within the White House and around their the president.
Gary Byrne claims to have walked in on Bill Clinton in the Map Room with Eleanor Mondale. Gary Byrne would have been stopped by the Secret Service presidential detail if he had tried to get near the door.
People familiar with West Wing security laugh at the idea that Byrne or any uniformed officer ever would have walked in on Bill Clinton anywhere, whether in a meeting or, as a New York Post article over the weekend claims, in the middle of a make-out session in the Map Room with the late daughter of former Vice President Walter Mondale. The Secret Service presidential detail would have stopped him. (That affair was a well-worn rumor during the Clinton years, though strongly denied by Eleanor Mondale, who died of brain cancer in 2011.)
Association of Former Agents of the United States Secret Service president said some of Gary Byrne’s statements do not coincide with the Secret Service operational plan.
‘Operationally, one who has the working knowledge of how things are done there would realize that certain of those statements do not coincide with the operational plan,’ said Jan Gilhooly, AFAUSSS president and a 29-year Secret Service veteran.
Secret Service veterans said before word of Gary Byrne’s book, they had never heard of him.
Gilhooly said he doesn’t remember ever meeting Byrne, or knowing who he was before word of the book started circulating. The former supervisor of the presidential protective division also said Byrne didn’t ring a bell.