In 2019, when President Donald Trump still served as commander in chief, Business Insider's chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan spent three days inside the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland, where future United States Secret Service agents are trained.
After the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday, for which the Secret Service has come under scrutiny, BI is sharing this extended, never-before-seen version of the speech a group of new Secret Service recruits received on day one of their training in June 2019. Following is the original video published by BI.
NOTE: Lt. Christopher Fagan, seen speaking to new recruits in the video, died in 2023.
After the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday, for which the Secret Service has come under scrutiny, BI is sharing this extended, never-before-seen version of the speech a group of new Secret Service recruits received on day one of their training in June 2019. Following is the original video published by BI.
NOTE: Lt. Christopher Fagan, seen speaking to new recruits in the video, died in 2023.
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FunTranscript
00:00The Secret Service has a zero-fail mission.
00:03A zero-fail mission.
00:05What that means in layman's terms, ladies and gentlemen, is this.
00:09You don't get a bad day in the Secret Service.
00:12Somebody tell me in this room right now,
00:14what would happen if the Secret Service failed at its zero-fail mission?
00:18If one of us decided that we stayed out late the night before, we got up late,
00:22we let the wrong person get by us.
00:25Something happened to the President of the United States.
00:28Would it be business as usual that next day?
00:31Any ideas?
00:33Tell me what you think.
00:35Would there be any changes the next day after something happened to the President?
00:40What do you think would happen to other foreign militaries' postures around the world?
00:44What do you think would happen to the stock market here and abroad?
00:48How would it affect you? How would it affect your family members?
00:51What would happen to your family's 401Ks and retirement plans?
00:55You think those things would plummet?
00:57You think there'd be worldwide panic and anxiety?
01:00That's exactly what would happen.
01:02Times ten, that is now your responsibility.
01:06That is now the weight on your shoulders.
01:09That is what the responsibility you are accepting by taking this job and showing up here today.
01:14So I want you to take this moment and say to yourself,
01:17am I ready for that level of responsibility?
01:20Is that what I want to do?
01:22You've earned this seat. We've congratulated you.
01:25Now you have to earn it every single day.
01:28I want you to take all the notions that you have about what we do in the Secret Service
01:56that you've seen on the movies and on TV shows,
01:59and I want you to throw it out the window.
02:03This is Secret Service Boot Camp.
02:09Before they join the Secret Service,
02:12all recruits have to graduate from the agency's six-month training program.
02:17Training happens here at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland,
02:23located about 20 miles north of Washington.
02:28Welcome to the James J. Rowley United States Secret Service Training Center.
02:32On day one, a new class of recruits arrives at the academy.
02:36Have a seat.
02:37Every one of you sitting here right now,
02:39there was about 100 other applicants that tried to get the seat that you have earned.
02:43How did you earn that seat?
02:45You earned that seat by getting through our very, very difficult and in-depth vetting process,
02:51and you should be congratulated.
02:53And I hope you celebrate it because the celebration time is over.
02:56Now's the time for business.
02:58Everybody clear on that?
02:59On Saturday, you will depart.
03:00Before they begin their Secret Service-specific training,
03:03these recruits will spend three months at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, New Mexico
03:10before returning to Maryland for three more months of focused training
03:17that includes driving,
03:20marksmanship,
03:21hand-to-hand combat,
03:22and realistic threat scenarios.
03:27We spent three days at the training center,
03:30where we observed recruits at various stages of training.
03:33It's going to be a long week.
03:36For the new class, their first week focuses on a physical evaluation
03:42and getting rid of any bad habits they may have brought into the academy.
03:47We left yesterday without chairs being pushed in,
03:50and now we can't pay attention to detail one minute after the detail's given out,
03:55and we're laughing and joking in here.
03:57It is going to be an extremely long week.
03:59Do not make plans for Friday getting out of here on time because that ain't happening.
04:04Although we were allowed to film inside the academy,
04:07our access was limited,
04:09and we were only able to film certain aspects of training,
04:12the rest of which remained secret.
04:15There are certain things that we will not be able to show yourself
04:17or any other members of the media here,
04:19and that's really for the safety of our protectees.
04:21We don't want to advertise our playbook, so to speak.
04:25For example, we weren't able to film any training
04:29that incorporated this partial replica of Air Force One
04:32used to create specific scenarios where the president is threatened.
04:38We don't want to give people specifics into our protective methodologies
04:41that we have in place for some of our protection.
04:43Clearly, some of those things we cannot share,
04:45and that's really to make sure that we're not giving any sort of an advantage
04:49to any of our adversaries out there.
04:53The United States Secret Service,
04:55America's first line of defense against the counterfeiter and the crank.
04:58The Secret Service was founded in 1865.
05:02Its primary mission, to combat the counterfeiting of U.S. currency.
05:06The famed Secret Service,
05:08whose foremost duty is protecting the president of the United States and his family.
05:14The Secret Service began its protective mission
05:17after the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley.
05:21I am the president's personal bodyguard.
05:25I go where he goes.
05:27I want to say that anybody who has no business with him better look out.
05:33And believe me, I don't mean maybe.
05:39Since the Secret Service began its protective mission,
05:42the president has remained a target.
05:47Since 1901, President Kennedy has been the sole president
05:51to die at the hands of an assassin,
05:54despite numerous attempts by others.
05:58Like in 1994.
06:04When a gunman opened fire on the White House,
06:07while President Clinton watched a football game inside.
06:11Due to the weight of our protective mission,
06:13we have to make sure that anyone in those positions
06:15is truly worthy of trust and confidence, which is our motto here.
06:19We're getting ready to go into another campaign year,
06:21so we have to build up our workforce in order to help support that.
06:25The base salary for new agents and officers
06:28starts as low as $47,000 a year.
06:31Potential recruits apply on the Secret Service website,
06:34but most applicants are eliminated during an intense vetting process.
06:38Generally, it takes quite a long time in order to get through our screening process.
06:42The very in-depth background checks,
06:44qualification to obtain a top secret clearance and maintain one,
06:48to undergo a polygraph examination, successfully pass that,
06:51they have a lot to be proud of just for the fact that they're sitting here.
06:55Stay right there!
06:56Stay right there!
06:59One thing to understand, guys, this is not a video game.
07:01In this exercise, recruits interact with a video screen
07:05that plays a scenario involving a potential threat to a protectee.
07:09Search him! Hey, stop moving! Stop moving!
07:13And are judged on how quickly they're able to assess and respond to the threat.
07:18So, there's the guy I knew I was going to find.
07:20What can I do with this?
07:21Recruits also engage with role players who create realistic law enforcement scenarios.
07:32Working in motor vehicles plays a big part in training
07:35in what the Academy calls protective transportation.
07:40Recruits train behind the wheel of high-speed Dodge Chargers
07:45and Chevy Suburbans.
07:46The Secret Service's mission is to get protectees safely from point A to point B.
07:51The training that we provide enhances that mission,
07:54that foundational driving that they are going to need to be effective Secret Service agents.
07:59Alright, is everybody ready?
08:01Recruits also experience a rollover simulator
08:04to prepare them for what it's like inside a vehicle that's flipped over.
08:09The next four up.
08:11The instructor allowed us in the simulator.
08:16I'm upside down.
08:17To experience it from the inside.
08:23Recruits spend hours on the firing range.
08:30They cross paths with active agents who've come back to the Academy for in-service training.
08:40Recruits engage in water-based scenarios,
08:43including being challenged to escape from this apparatus,
08:49which simulates being trapped in a helicopter that's flipped upside down underwater.
09:00Recruits learn control tactics used to detain and subdue an assailant.
09:06Drop your knife! Drop your knife! Drop your knife!
09:09Male and female recruits train together throughout basic training.
09:14Of the approximately 7,000 people in the Secret Service, less than 25% are female.
09:22I'm gonna come around and check your seals one more time.
09:24One of the most challenging parts of training occurs when the recruits are exposed to tear gas.
09:30Holy s**t.
09:32It is burning my eyes.
09:33We couldn't bring our camera inside the gas chamber,
09:36but we did convince an officer to shoot inside with an iPhone,
09:40showing us what it's like for recruits when they're exposed to the gas.
09:45Guy's lost his mask.
09:47Okay, we got him. Good job, good job, good job.
10:00We weren't allowed to interview recruits during training or to film at graduation.
10:07Once training is complete, these future agents and officers begin their zero-fail mission
10:13against the backdrop of an intense election year in a nation divided by politics.
10:19We protect the office of the president. We're not political appointees.
10:22It doesn't matter to us who the people elect.
10:25We're gonna protect those individuals with the same zealousness that we would regardless.
10:29Political opinions don't come into play at all.
10:32What we're focused on is training, preparing them to do the job that they're gonna need to do,
10:36and that's all that counts for us.