As the U.S. Secret Service sought greater diversity in its ranks, the agency lowered its standards, former agent Dan Bongino says in a new book on the inner workings of the government agency assigned to protect the President of the United States. This accusation has led to a war of words between the former agent and the agency he used to work for.
The lowering of standards has been ongoing since at least “the early 2000s,” according to the book, and continue to this day.
“Sadly, and for many years, the Secret Service has been sacrificing mission-readiness at the altar of political correctness,” Bongino writes in “Protecting The President: An Inside Account of the Troubled Secret Service in an Era of Evolving Threats,” out Tuesday.
Bongino worked for the Secret Service from 1999 to 2011. He has since run for the U.S. Senate, and twice for the U.S. House.
“The Secret Service’s attachment to quota-based hiring was so intense that they hired applicants for the special agent and Uniformed Division officer positions that could barely meet basic physical fitness standards upon their commission as agents or officers,” the book contends.
Bongino’s insider account cites recent security breaches at the White House as the fault of the agency’s hiring practices and foresees the makings of a disaster.
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