MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024

MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024
MY SIXTH BOOK "THE PLOT TO KILL PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN CHICAGO" 2024

JFK ASSASSINATION SECRET SERVICE DOCUMENTARY

MAJOR SECRET SERVICE RELATED BOOKS/DVDs/BLU RAYS I AM REFERENCED IN

MAJOR SECRET SERVICE RELATED BOOKS/DVDs/BLU RAYS I AM REFERENCED IN
Zero Fail (quotes from my fourth book), The updated version of The Secret Service-The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency (several pages), The Secrets of the Secret Service (the former agent quotes from my third book), The Kennedy Detail (the former agent refers to me on a few pages- he wrote his book as a reaction to my research), Guardians of Democracy (the former agent refers to this blog), Within Arm’s Length (the former agent has my blurb on the cover), C-SPAN November 2010 DVD with former agents Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill (they show a You Tube video of me and discuss my research), C-SPAN May 2012 DVD with former agent Clint Hill (he discusses my letter about his first book), the original edition of The Secret Service-The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency (several pages), My History Channel appearance on The Men Who Killed Kennedy (DVD), My NEWSMAX TV appearance on The Men Who Killed Kennedy (2019-2020), The Final Report of the Assassinations Records Review Board (images of the excerpt about my Secret Service interviews donation, President Clinton receiving the report, and an image of the cover), Last Word (several pages and my blurb on the cover of the paperback), A Coup in Camelot DVD/ Blu Ray, They Killed Our President (16 pages refer to my work), an image of myself on C-SPAN, A Coup in Camelot via Amazon Prime television, The Man Behind the Suit DVD (I am Associate Producer on this documentary about former agent Robert DeProspero), JFK REVISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (I am credited at the end), Vanity Fair article 10/17/14 (refers to my first book a couple times), JFK: The Final Hours DVD (program credits-in background slightly above), Murder in Dealey Plaza (I have two chapters), The Kennedy Half Century (refers to this blog), Coinage Magazine February 2010 (several quotes from myself), Publishers Weekly 8/28/2000 (refers to my contribution to Murder in Dealey Plaza, above), JFK: DESTINY BETRAYED (thanked at the end of all four episodes), and 2 images from THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK SBS UK DOCUMENTARY 2021

ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:

ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:
ALL MY BOOKS AVAILABLE HERE:

Secret Service JFK

Secret Service, JFK, President Kennedy, James Rowley, Gerald Behn, Floyd Boring, Roy Kellerman, John Campion, William Greer, Forest Sorrels, Clint Hill, Winston Lawson, Emory Roberts, Sam Kinney, Paul Landis, John "Jack" Ready, William "Tim" McIntyre, Glenn Bennett, George Hickey, Rufus Youngblood, Warren "Woody" Taylor, Jerry Kivett, Lem Johns, John "Muggsy" O'Leary, Sam Sulliman, Ernest Olsson, Robert Steuart, Richard Johnsen, Stewart "Stu" Stout, Roger Warner, Henry "Hank" Rybka, Donald Lawton, Dennis Halterman, Walt Coughlin, Andy Berger, Ron Pontius, Bert de Freese, Jim Goodenough, Bill Duncan, Ned Hall II, Mike Howard, Art Godfrey, Gerald Blaine, Ken Giannoules, Paul Burns, Gerald O'Rourke, Robert Faison, David Grant, John Joe Howlett, Bill Payne, Robert Burke, Frank Yeager, Donald Bendickson, Gerald Bechtle, Howard Norton, Hamilton Brown, Toby Chandler, Chuck Zboril, Joe Paolella, Wade Rodham, Bob Foster, Lynn Meredith, Rad Jones, Thomas Wells, Charlie Kunkel, Stu Knight, Paul Rundle, Glen Weaver, Arnie Lau, Forrest Guthrie, Eve Dempsher, Bob Lilley, Ken Wiesman, Mike Mastrovito, Tony Sherman, Larry Newman, Morgan Gies, Tom Shipman, Ed Tucker, Harvey Henderson, Abe Bolden, Robert Kollar, Ed Mougin, Mac Sweazey, Horace "Harry" Gibbs, Tom Behl, Jim Cantrell, Bill Straughn, Tom Fridley, Mike Kelly, Joe Noonan, Gayle Dobish, Earl Moore, Arthur Blake, John Lardner, Milt Wilhite, Bill Skiles, Louis Mayo, Thomas Wooge, Milt Scheuerman, Talmadge Bailey, Bob Lapham, Bob Newbrand, Bernie Mullady, Jerry Dolan, Vince Mroz, William Bacherman, Howard Anderson, U.E. Baughman, Walt Blaschak, Robert Bouck, George Chaney, William Davis, Paul Doster, Dick Flohr, Jack Fox, John Giuffre, Jim Griffith, Jack Holtzhauer, Andy Hutch, Jim Jeffries, John Paul Jones, Kent Jordan, Dale Keaner, Brooks Keller, Thomas Kelley, Clarence Knetsch, Jackson Krill, Elmer Lawrence, Bill Livingood, J. Leroy Lewis, Dick Metzinger, Jerry McCann, John McCarthy, Ed Morey, Chester Miller, Roy "Gene" Nunn, Jack Parker, Paul Paterni, Burrill Peterson, Max Phillips, Walter Pine, Michael Shannon, Frank Stoner, Cecil Taylor, Charles Taylor, Bob Taylor, Elliot Thacker, Ken Thompson, Mike Torina, Jack Walsh, Jack Warner, Thomas White, Ed Wildy, Carroll Winslow, Dale Wunderlich, Walter Young, Winston Gintz, Bill Carter, C. Douglas Dillon, James Johnson, Larry Hess, Frank Farnsworth, Jim Giovanneti,Bob Gaugh,Don Brett, Jack Gleason, Bob Jamison, Gary Seale, Bill Sherlock, Bob Till, Doc Walters...

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Secret Service Detail Leaves Gun Unattended on Romney's Charter Flight

Secret Service Detail Leaves Gun Unattended on Romney's Charter Flight


By Emily Friedman
ABC OTUS News – 10 hrs ago







TAMPA - A member of Mitt Romney's Secret Service detail was removed today from a campaign trip after she accidentally left her firearm unattended in the candidate's charter plane bathroom.



The agent in question left a gun unattended in the bathroom of the plane during a flight between Tampa and Indiana. The gun was found by a reporter on board who immediately informed the agent, who then went back into the bathroom and retrieved the weapon.



Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the United States Secret Service, told ABC News that officials are "aware of the incident."



"We take the care and custody of our equipment - especially firearms - very seriously," he said. "We will deal with this matter internally and in an appropriate manner."



The Romney campaign referred all questions regarding the incident to the Secret Service.



The gun was left in the bathroom primarily used by media in the back of the plane. Romney and his staff sit in the front several rows of the plane and the candidate uses the forward bathroom.



It was not immediately clear if the gun was loaded or on a safety lock, but the agent was on active duty at the time of the incident.



Following a campaign event in Indiana, the agent in question never re-boarded the flight back to Tampa.





Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Blaine uses a "misfit" as a source; Kennedy Detail agents lied or were "misquoted"? Boring's words are ironic

Blaine uses a "misfit" as a source; Kennedy Detail agents lied or were "misquoted"? Boring's words are ironic

[thanks to Donna Morel for sending the following article]


Retired agents fire at Hersh, each other




[City Edition]



Boston Globe - Boston, Mass.



Author:

Chris Black, Globe Staff



Date:

Nov 22, 1997



Start Page:

A.3



Section:

NATIONAL/FOREIGN



Text Word Count:

663





Document Text



WASHINGTON NOTEBOOK / CHRIS BLACK



One of the retired Secret Service agents used as a primary source in Seymour N. Hersh's new book, "The Dark Side of Camelot" said yesterday that the Pulitzer Prize-winning author misquoted him and exaggerated the things he told Hersh.



Joseph Paolella, a private investigator in Los Angeles, one of four retired Secret Service agents Hersh cites as sources for some of the most titillating allegations about President John F. Kennedy's sexual behavior, said, "There were so many misquotes. He used literary license in what he has done. When the book was sent to me I almost fainted. I was so embarrassed." [if these were misquotes, WHY DID THE AGENTS REPEAT WHAT THEY SAID ON A MAJOR ABC DOCUMENTARY THAT MADE IT TO HOME VIDEO? WHY DIDN'T THEY SUE HERSH? Why, indeed...]



Another agent, though not a Hersh source, also rebutted the book. Floyd Boring, the number two agent at the White House during the Kennedy administration, said the book's allegations are false. He said that Larry Newman and Paolella, the main sources, had reasons to be vengeful because both were transferred off the prestigious White House assignment after relatively short stints. Boring said Newman badmouthed the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and Paolella was "a misfit . . . we had to unload him after a very short term."



"These guys are trying to get a little bit of fame as they wander off the scene. They take lot of people down with them," said Boring, now 82, who protected five presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Lyndon B. Johnson. "These people wait until everybody dies off and then they attack people."


Newman, reached at his home in Colorado, stood by his allegations. He said Boring "was never where these things took place. So what he says and what I say are two different things."



He declined to explain the reasons for his transfer.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Merletti/ Merletti

For Indianapolis Colts safety Matt Merletti, protecting U.S. presidents was just part of 'family business'


11:09 AM, Aug. 24, 2012

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120824/SPORTS03/120824030/For-Colts-safety-protecting-U-S-presidents-just-part-family-business-?odyssey=nav%7Chead



Matt Merletti can’t land a job with the Indianapolis Colts, the undrafted rookie safety might try a more dangerous line of defense: the U.S. Secret Service.

It’s not just a backup plan. It’s the family business.



His father, Lew, spent 25 years in the Secret Service, the last two as its 19th director. He helped protect presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and was Special Agent in Charge on Clinton’s detail in the mid 1990s.



Matt’s brother, Mike, has been accepted into the Secret Service and is waiting out a hiring freeze. Cousin Chris Funk, who grew up in the Merletti household, has been with the Secret Service for 16 years. Lew Merletti’s cousin, Rob, just left President Obama’s detail.



“It would be an interesting career if I would want to pursue that,” Matt Merletti, 24. “It’s definitely on the table for me.”



The NFL is pressure-packed, but not like this.



“There would be a lot more stress guarding the president, having to put your life on the line and step in front of a bullet,” he said.



As a kid, Merletti dressed up as a football player or an Army soldier. For now, the former Cleveland Browns ballboy is chasing his football dream. His dad, who left the Secret Service directorship in 1999 for the Browns, is the team’s senior vice president of security.



“Ask him about Osama bin Laden,” Matt said of his father.



Lew doesn’t need much prompting to talk about the terrorist mastermind behind 9/11. As someone who had studied bin Laden and other terrorists, he warned about the threat years before 9/11. When the first World Trade Center tower was struck by a plane, Lew knew who was behind it.

“When it happened, as soon as the first one went in, I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s bin Laden,’” said Lew, 64. “I had worked so hard when I was in the Secret Service to try to warn Congress, everyone, that this guy is for real. We had to stop this guy.”



Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, the Browns’ secondary coach in 2001, recalled watching the attacks on TV at the team facility with Lew.



“Right off the bat, Lew said, ‘I’ll bet Osama bin Laden is behind this,’” Pagano said. “He knew.”



Matt and his brother were aware, growing up, how scary the world could be. He was just 7 when the boys were taken to Secret Service headquarters and taught how to shoot guns.



That was in response to a terrorist who said on an intercepted radio communication that he wanted to learn everything possible about Lew, his family, his residence.



“I remember it, but I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Matt said. “We had to learn how to shoot guns. They hid guns in our house.”



That was another part of growing up in the Merletti home — knowing where the guns were hidden for protection.



Anybody who meets Matt or Mike makes the connection to Lew. They look alike. When told of Pagano’s assessment that Matt is a “chip off the old block,” both father and son laugh.



It was Lew’s commitment to his family, the recognition of the risk involved, that eventually led to his Secret Service departure. That and the loss of a close friend and colleague killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.



When Browns owner Al Lerner promised to make Lew “an offer you can’t refuse,” the father talked it over with his sons. The boys loved football. They wanted him to take the job with the Browns.



Pagano has known Matt since those ballboy days in Cleveland and coached him for a year in college at North Carolina. Merletti had an injury-marred college career but showed enough in his Pro Day workout to attract interest from the NFL.



“He’s a bright, young man, loves football, he’s got all the traits you’re looking for in a person,” Pagano said.



The Colts coach can relate to family bloodlines. Pagano’s father, Sam, was a successful high school football coach. His brother, John, is San Diego’s defensive coordinator.



“When Matt had the opportunity to go to the Colts, it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is where you belong. This is your niche, Matt. This is the perfect leader for you,’” Lew said, referring to Pagano.



Undrafted players are typically longshots to make the final roster. The first round of cuts are Monday, with the final trim to 53 on Aug. 31.



“We’re hoping for the best,” Lew said. “The one thing we’re going to do is what we’ve done our whole life: We’re going to try our very hardest.”



Matt credits his father for instilling a dedicated work ethic. Lew attributes some of that to a tip he received in the Soviet Union while protecting President Reagan on a 1988 visit to Moscow. An Olympic trainer advised a pull-up training regimen beginning on a child’s sixth birthday to strengthen not just the mind but body.



“The last count I had on Matt’s pull-ups was in excess of 43,000, as of his sophomore year in college,” the elder Merletti said.



While Secret Service legacies are typically successful because the next generation knows what to expect, Matt and Lew aren’t thinking too far ahead. It’s all about football, at least for now.



Lew eagerly awaited his son’s NFL preseason debut on Aug. 12 at Lucas Oil Stadium when his phone buzzed at 1:14 p.m., about 15 minutes before kickoff.



Just before leaving the locker room, Matt sent the text message: “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be here without you. I love you.”

The father beamed.



“I’ll be honest with you,” Lew said, “I sat in the stands with tears in my eyes.”



Friday, August 24, 2012

United States Secret Service Agent Killed While Protecting President Theodore Roosevelt To Be Honored In October

United States Secret Service Agent Killed While Protecting President Theodore Roosevelt To Be Honored In October


By Theodore Roosevelt Association



Theodore Roosevelt Association

Last modified: 2012-08-23T08:13:11Z

Published: Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012 - 1:12 am

Copyright 2012 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CHICAGO, Aug. 23, 2012 -- William J. Craig, First Operative to Die in the Line of Duty, to Be Recognized during Theodore Roosevelt Association's 93rd Annual Meeting

CHICAGO, Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) will pay tribute to Chicago native William J. Craig, the first Secret Service agent to die in the line of duty while protecting America's top elected leader, during the TRA's 93rd annual meeting. The four-day conference will be held October 25-28 at the Union League Club of Chicago.

The program recognizing Craig will include a short video on his life, his service to President Theodore Roosevelt, and details of his untimely death while protecting the President. Expected to attend the event on Saturday, October 27 is current United States Secret Service director Mark L. Sullivan.

A native of Glasgow, Scotland and a former bodyguard to Queen Victoria, Craig joined the Secret Service in Chicago in 1900. He was assigned to the White House in 1901, just as the Secret Service assumed responsibility for protecting the president.

On September 3, 1902, Craig was killed in a collision between a trolley car and a carriage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The accident occurred while he was riding with President Roosevelt on a speaking trip. A speeding trolley car crashed into the carriage and the impact killed agent Craig, whose last words as he tried to shield the President were "Look Out, Hold Fast". President Roosevelt, who was thrown from the carriage, narrowly escaped death and was seriously injured, spending many weeks in a wheelchair. Roosevelt later said of Craig, "The man who was killed was one of whom I was fond of and whom I greatly prized for his loyalty and faithfulness."

Tweed Roosevelt, president of the Theodore Roosevelt Association and great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, stated, "We are pleased to honor and recognize agent Craig for his service to Theodore Roosevelt. Without the heroic actions of agent Craig, my great-grandfather might have perished that fateful day."

The theme for the 93rd annual meeting is "The Centennial Celebration of the 1912 Progressive Party Convention in Chicago." The conference will feature prominent historians and authors speaking on Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 presidential campaign.

Details of the meeting and registration information are available at www.traannualmeeting2012.org.

Founded in 1919 and chartered by Congress in 1920, the Theodore Roosevelt Association is a national historical society and public service organization that has perpetuated the memory and legacy of the nation's 26th president through an array of historical and cultural activities. Its members come from every state and have diverse backgrounds, but they all share a keen interest in history and in furthering the legacy of one of America's first modern presidents.

Authors’ books contradict reportage about Secret Service lapse in Cartagena

Authors’ books contradict reportage about Secret Service lapse in Cartagena


• COLOMBIA

• APRIL 15, 2012

• By: KAY DAY





Every cog in the wheel of the Secret Service is vital to the U.S. president’s security. After a scandal erupted in Cartagena (Colombia) and agents were sent packing, President Barack Obama’s press secretary Jay Carney said it wouldn’t “be appropriate” for the White House to comment.



Carney’s other remarks suggested the security lapse had nothing to do with the White House.

However, despite the fact an agency spokesperson claimed security had not been compromised, one former Secret Service agent gives a different impression. Some White House staffers should have known what was happening.

Dan Emmett began his new book Within Arm’s Length by recounting his lifelong dream to work as an agent. Emmett’s book is useful because he offers an insider’s overview of the various divisions within the agency and why each division is significant. Most people are familiar with the agents who directly protect the president, but other agents are just as important.

For instance, there’s a team that conducts site advances ahead of the president’s arrival at a location.

Emmett explained that site advance work “can be as simple as merely finding an arrival point for the motorcade.” Other details may seem dull, but even minor matters, such as where a bathroom is located, are equally important. There’s also a telling passage in Emmett’s book about the Service and the president’s staff.

Emmett wrote:

“On each site advance, an agent is assigned a counterpart from the president’s staff to work with. This staff person is responsible for what the president will do at the site, including activities and the sequence of events. The agent is then responsible for preparing a security plan around the president’s itinerary.”

Emmett describes this as “time-consuming, detailed work.”

Ronald Kessler, in his book In the President’s Secret Service (2009) actually predicted lapses in security. Kessler also wrote about what he perceived as a flaw:

“Most days entail risk and demands and meticulous planning—sabotaged by the Secret Service’s practice of dangerously cutting corners. Agents who are concerned that the Secret Service is on the brink of a disaster say that only a director appointed from the outside can make the wholesale changes that are needed in the agency’s management and culture.”

Aside from explaining the multi-layered agency’s organization, Emmett also shared personal experiences with different presidents during his career in the Service. Among Emmett’s observations was the characterization of President Bill Clinton’s staff as “so different from that of George Herbert Walker Bush that they could have been from another planet.” Many of Clinton’s young staff initially came off as arrogant and, said Emmett, as “possessing no significant work experience.”

Kessler interviewed current and former agents who shared personal stories about the different styles of each president. Kessler wrote:

“In contrast to Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan treated Secret Service agents, the Air Force One crew, and the maids and butlers in the White House with respect.”

Kessler also wrote about the difference in media depictions and a president’s actual habits:

When he was in the White House, Carter would regularly make a show of going to the Oval Office at five A.M. or six A.M. to call attention to how hard he was working for the American people.

Kessler said Carter would work for about thirty minutes after arriving. Then he’d close the door and “take a nap.”

Both books give an inside view of how the Service functions, why each agency division’s work is vital to the president’s safety and examples of challenges inherent in protecting the most powerful leader in the free world.

The White House had no comment about the lapse in Cartagena. Fact is, the president’s staff should have known about it, and they might have taken preemptive measures to prevent embarrassment for the U.S. government at the hands of the agency tasked with making sure the president comes to no harm.

Emmett’s experiences reflect a man who viewed his Service job as critical to the wellbeing of the country, and he comes across as a man of honor. Emmett and other agents who serve with integrity contrast sharply to those who were sent home in shame from Cartagena.

Print Sources

Emmett, Dan. Within Arm’s Length. Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, 2012.

Kessler, Ronald. In the President’s Secret Service. New York: Crown Publishers, 2009.

[Follow Kay B. Day on Twitter @TheUSReport.]



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

(BY REQUEST) Secret Service chapter in "Farewell America" by James Hepburn

Farewell America




14

Secret Service







If they are to conquer, prophets must have attentive partisans to protect them from the tumult.



MOHAMMED







The decision had been made, the money raised. The political visionaries made way for the politicians.(1) It was time to make plans. It isn't enough to want to kill the President. There is also the Secret Service to think about. The Presidential assistants were prepared to affront political obstacles, but their "grace and their airy flanerie"(2) had shielded them from the brutal side of American life. Innocent of violence and ignorant of hate, they failed to see the danger. Only Daniel P. Moynihan, a former longshoreman, had some idea of such things. Of all the Cabinet officials, only Bob Kennedy knew the risks of the Presidency. But he couldn't be behind his brother every minute of the day.



Kennedy himself did little to discourage them. He was tolerant, he liked people, and he had a firm belief in his destiny. His boisterous of sophisticated cronies were barely conscious of the feelings aroused by the President's revolutionary action, and they paid little heed to his protection. Ken O'Donnell, who was in charge of the White House staff, had authority not only over the personnel, but also over the Secret Service. He could transfer or fire anyone he wanted, and he had the power, to introduce reforms. He was also in charge of the President's trips.



O'Donnell is the soul of integrity, and, as he liked to say, he would have given his life for the President. He would have done better to protect him. It is surprising to realize that this man, chosen by Kennedy for his intellectual ability, acted without thinking. As he said one day to Jerry Behn, in his mind, "politics and protection don't mix." He was mistaken. It is a difficult and dangerous combination, but it is possible.



O'Donnell, though an excellent administrator, was a weak man, and he was unsure of himself. This became evident after the President's death at Parkland Hospital when, as the highest-ranking White House official present with the exception of President Johnson, he proved himself incapable of doing anything more than "standing off to one side and eyeing the medical examiner icily" when the latter opposed the removal of President Kennedy's body. It became all the more evident when, after behaving rudely towards the new President during the plane trip back to Washington (which was perhaps his right), he agreed to serve on his staff. It was he who kicked up such a fuss, only the day after the assassination, about a Boston funeral, proving once and for all that John Kennedy was for him more a friend than a President. He was so happy to have such a man as a friend that he gave too little thought to his enemies. We know how much these words may hurt Ken O'Donnell, and how unjust they may appear, but we imagine that O'Donnell must be blaming himself.



The 56 Secret Service agents assigned to the White House detail were under the authority of the Treasury Department, but the responsible official, Assistant Treasury Secretary Robert Wallace, left the everyday direction of the Service to James Rowley, a mediocre civil servant. Gerald Behn, head of the White House Secret Service detail, lacked the necessary intelligence and qualifications for the job.



Three Presidents before Kennedy had been assassinated (Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley), and four others (Jackson, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Truman) had escaped assassination. This record, unequaled in any other stable republic, should have inspired the Secret Service to extra vigilance. Margaret Truman's overzealous bodyguards caused trouble in Sweden, which has some of the toughest policemen in the world. Eisenhower's trips abroad were meticulously organized. But since the advent of television, the protection of the President on American soil had become a difficult job. So that the public could see the President, his bodyguards were banished from the running-boards of the Presidential car. At first they ran alongside it; later they rode on the back bumper. But nobody tried to kill Eisenhower during his two terms in office, and the Secret Service relaxed. Its relaxation was doubly dangerous, for the illusion remained that the President was well-protected.



It is difficult, of course, to protect an active President, and it is impossible to protect him completely during his public appearances. But there are ways to reduce the risk, and there are certain rules which are applied by Presidential security forces throughout the world, be it in France, the USSR, or Bolivia. The protection of the President witnin the United States(3) presents a special problem. The Secret Service is obliged to cooperate with the local police, which are sometimes incompetent or unreliable, and can even, as in Dallas, be dangerous.(4) But a Presidential security force should be able to rise to the challenge. The guerrilla warfare specialists who organized the Dallas ambush were amazed to discover that Kennedy's Secret Service worked like a troop of boy scouts.



Since its creation following the assassination of McKinley in 1901, the Secret Service had degenerated into a myth and a sinecure. In the first place, it wasn't secret. O'Donnell used Secret Service agents as errand boys, and at airport stops they handed out souvenirs to the crowds.(5) They all dressed alike in blue suits with white shirts and striped ties, and during Presidential trips they each wore an identical badge. The insignia for the Texas trip was known three weeks in advance: double white bars on a red background.



Several members of the White House detail were not qualified for their jobs. Their average age was 40, and as in the Senate the highest positions were awarded on the basis of seniority. Bill Greer, the driver of the Presidential Lincoln, was 54 and had 35 years' experience, enough to lull anybody's reflexes. After O'Donnell and perhaps Kellerman (the agent who rode in the front of the President's car in Dallas), Greer bears a heavy responsibility for the success of the assassination. We shall explain why a little later.



Finally, the Secret Service lacked direction. A security force must follow certain procedures and apply certain regulations without exception. The White House agents had no real leader. During Roosevelt's term in office, Frank J. Wilson ruled with authority, but the Secret Service chiefs who succeeded him were nothing but mediocre bureaucrats.



The White House agents had two sessions a year on a Washington firing range, but they practiced only target shooting like any amateur. Their reflexes were never tested. At any rate, a security agent's gun is of secondary importance. Generally, he has no time to shoot. His job is to anticipate an attempt on the President's life. Soviet security agents, for instance, have narrowly defined responsibilities. In official motorcades, one agent watches the windows on the first floor, another those on the second, another the spectators in the front row, still another the people standing alone, another the local policemen and a sixth the soldiers lining the road. Every time a Soviet official travels, his security agents run down a checklist of security precautions. No detail is omitted, and there are no exceptions. The same is true in France for the protection of President De Gaulle.(6)



Lawson, the Secret Service advance man in Dallas, let the local authorities show him around the city, and his report reached the White House only the day before the President's departure. A secretary whose married boss is planning an amorous weekend in Miami takes more precautions than Ken O'Donnell did for John Kennedy in Texas. Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963 was about as heavily guarded as the Grand Canyon on a winter day, and Robert Kennedy's bodyguards showed little more vigilance on June 5, 1968. Of course, as the Warren Commission Report points out, "the limited effectiveness of the Secret Service make it impossible to watch hundreds of buildings and thousands of windows." That, however, is not the problem.



There is a standard procedure for assuring the security of a motorcade traversing a city. As Superintendent Ducret, the man responsible for President De Gaulle's security, describes it: "Of course, it is impossible to watch everything and occupy everything along the President's route. But it can be assumed that occupied office or apartment buildings are relatively safe. A potential assassin might, of course, try to enter one of these buildings, but he would be at the mercy of a witness. Serious conspirators will rarely take such a risk.



"On the other hand, all unoccupied buildings, administrative buildings outside of working hours, warehouses, building sites, and naturally all bridges, walls, and vacant lots that would be ideal for an ambush must not only be watched, but actually occupied by forces placed directly under the supervision of the Presidential security division."



Surrounded by five buildings(7) and a great deal of open ground, Dealey Plaza was the most dangerous spot on President Kennedy's route, but a few men would have sufficed to guard it effectively.



A representative of the Committee followed the President's trips at the end of September through Wisconsin, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Utah, Oregon, Nevada and California. Apparently the Committee planned to assassinate Kennedy, first in Chicago and then in Florida the week before his trip to Texas, but both times the Secret Service was alerted. The Chicago trip was canceled, and special precautions were taken in Miami (the President used a helicopter). The Committee would have preferred to act in Florida, but it had its doubts about the reliability of the Florida state police and the Tampa and Miami police departments, and the operation was postponed until Dallas on November 22.(8)



On November 21, the two men in charge of the ambush observed the Kennedy motorcade in Houston. In Texas, as in Utah, the Secret Service was entirely dependent upon the local police. Not only did the agents behave on these trips as if they were members of the party; they were always one step ahead. At 12:30 pm, seconds before the assassination, agent Emory Roberts jotted in his shift report, "12:35 pm, the President arrived at the Trade Mart." The Secret Service was already thinking ahead to tomorrow, when Kennedy was to visit Lyndon Johnson on his ranch.



Every time the President travels, the Protective Research Section(9) makes a security check of the area. The PRS had reservations about the Florida trip because of the large number of Cuban refugees and the rumors of an assassination attempt, but it issued no warning about Texas. The Secret Service, therefore, took no special precautions. The security measures taken in Dallas were the same as those in effect in New York, Palm Beach, Tampa, Miami, Houston and Fort Worth. The Secret Service could count on the reinforcement of its 28 agents in Texas, including 5 based in Dallas. Eight agents were assigned to guard the Trade Mart, but there were none at all at Dealey Plaza. The Secret Service was so unconcerned about the Texas trip that it even left its chief behind. At the time of the assassination, Jerry Behn was dining in a Washington restaurant. Roy Kellerman, who took his place at Dallas, proved so incompetent that at Parkland Hospital his men started taking orders from agent Emory Roberts. Later, during the flight back to Washington, Rufus Youngblood took over. These men had traveled 200,000 miles with the President. Somewhere along the line, they had neglected the first rule of security: they had lost their reflexes.



When the first shot rang out at Dealey Plaza, agent Clint Hill, who was later decorated, was the first to move, and it took him 7 or 8 seconds to react. In eight seconds, the average sprinter can cover 80 yards. Yet "Halfback," the back-up car in which Hill was riding, was almost touching the Presidential limousine, and neither vehicle was traveling more than 12 miles an hour.(10)



Kennedy's Secret Service agents apparently had no idea of the importance of a second in an assassination attempt. Agent Hickey, riding in Halfback, had an AR-15 automatic rifle on his lap, but it took him two seconds to load it and get ready to fire. In two seconds a modern bullet travels more than a mile.



The organizers of the ambush knew, of course, that the Secret Service was inefficient, but they had never imagined that their reflexes were that slow, and they had laid their plans in the assumption that Kennedy's agents would react immediately. The tactical and ballistic aspects of the operation, which we shall examine later, were based on a hypothetical operating time of three seconds. This was the estimated reaction time of Kennedy's bodyguards. But the President's driver could have reduced it even more. The President's car was a Lincoln with a souped-up engine specially designed for rapid accelerations, and we shall see later how speed affects the accuracy of a gunman.



On November 18 in Tampa, the President ordered the two Secret Service agents off the back bumper of his car. The men from the Committee noted this change, which persisted at Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston, but they maintained their original plan, which took into account the possibility of instantaneous intervention by the bodyguards.



The blame must be laid not so much on the Secret Service agents as on their chiefs, and on the White House assistant responsible for the President's security. We have cited only their most glaring errors, but there were others -- less important perhaps, but characteristic of their lack of discipline, such as their drinking on duty.(11) Abraham Bolden, the only Negro in the Presidential bodyguard, asked to testify before the Warren Commission on the subject of some of these accusations, but the Committee refused to hear him. Later, he was fired from the Secret Service on grounds of professional incompetence.(12)



The Secret Service was guilty of negligence, as the highly respected Wall Street Journal commented. But its agents were professionals, and they recognized the work of other professionals. They were the first in the President's entourage to realize that the assassination was a well organized plot. They discussed it among themselves at Parkland Hospital and later during the plane ride back to Washington. They mentioned it in their personal reports to Secret Service Chief James Rowley that night. Ten hours after the assassination, Rowley knew that there had been three gunmen, and perhaps four, at Dallas that day, and later on the telephone Jerry Behn remarked to Forrest Sorrels (head of the Dallas Secret Service), "It's a plot." "Of course," was Sorrel's reply. Robert Kennedy, who had already interrogated Kellerman, learned that evening from Rowley that the Secret Service believed the President had been the victim of a powerful organization.



President Kennedy was dead, but the Secret Service was never officially inculpated. There were several staff changes in the White House detail, but two agents, Youngblood and Hill, were decorated. Because it reinforced its thesis, the Warren Commission blamed the Presidential guards, but a soldier is worth no more than his commanding officer, and the heads of the Secret Service were not worth much.



As for Ken O'Donnell, ex-captain of the Harvard rugby team, at Dallas he was up against a team that played rough.






NOTES



1. We estimate the cost of the preparation, the assassination itself and the post-assassination clean-up at between $5 and $10 million. Contributions varied between $10,000 and $500,000, and there were about 100 beneficiaries.



2. Manchester, Death of a President.



3. When the President travels abroad, the police of the host country are responsible for his security. In general, they take greater precautions than those taken in the United States.



4. The California and New York police are considered relatively reliable.



5. Secret Service agents are less qualified on the average than FBI agents. They earn between $600 and $1,000 a month, considerably less (even with overtime pay) than J. Edgar Hoover's men.



6. The security officers charged with the protection of President De Gaulle even take the precaution of photographing the VIPs received by him or who are in contact with him, for example at the VIP Waiting Room at Orly Airport. The crowds lining the streets during a parade are also photographed at vital spots before he passes, and if De Gaulle stops and approaches the crowd, a camera follows his every move. Later, these photographs are carefully studied.



Whenever De Gaulle travels by car, he is protected by 47 motorcycle policemen spread out in rows. Several police cars precede and follow the Presidential vehicle, and the car immediately following the President contains a sharpshooter and a photographer equipped with an automatic Japanese camera similar to a Robot. When de Gaulle makes shorter, routine trips, he is protected by a smaller force of 8 motorcycle policemen who surround the car.



There were only 4 motorcycle policemen at Dallas and all were following President Kennedy's car, making them totally ineffective. The role of a motorcycle policeman in this case is (1) to make it difficult to fire at the President from a crowd, and (2) to stop anyone who tries from approaching the car . During a parade along the Champs Elysees in Paris, a woman somehow managed to climb over the barriers and started towards De Gaulle's car. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers and was completely harmless, but the policeman who was supposed to be watching the barriers at that point lost his job.



7. The Texas School Book Depository, the Dal-Tex Building, the Dallas County Records Building, the Criminal Courts, and the Old Court House.



8. The Committee was also probably trying to throw the Secret Service off the scent.



9. The Protective Research Section, headed by Robert I. Bouck, had 65 offices across the country and 50,000 files on people who had threatened the President. Between November 1961 and November 1963, it investigated 34 Texas residents and opened 115 other files on Texans. On November 8, 1963, the PRS spent ten minutes inspecting Dallas.



10. Clint Hill reached the back of the President's car 2.6 seconds after the final shot. The shooting lasted about 7 seconds. At least twelve seconds elapsed between the first shot and the instant when Hill was in a position to cover the President's body. Vice-President Johnson was covered by agent Youngblood in less than three seconds.



11. Several Secret Service agents were notorious alcoholics. The regulations stipulate that any Secret Service agent found drinking on duty will be fired forthwith, and when the President is traveling, his agents are on duty 24 hours a day. But they were so little concerned about Texas that four of them In the President's party sat and drank in a Fort Worth bar until the wee hours of the morning on the day of the assassination. A century earlier, President Lincoln's bodyguard had sneaked off for a drink when Booth entered the Presidential box at Ford's Theatre.



12. In 1967, Mr. Bolden was being held at the federal medical center in Springfield, Mo.









Monday, August 20, 2012

Charles Drago: I was in tears laughing at some of this! Thanks, my friend

([some of] the truth doesn't hurt...it can be funny. If you cannot laugh at yourself once in a while, who CAN you laugh at? I have a very good sense of humor and laugh alot...sometimes even at my OWN expense. Self-deprecating humor rules!)

:O)

CHARLIE DRAGO wrote:
08-17-2012 07:46 AM #5 Charles Drago





Founding Member Join Date:Sep 2008

Posts:2,644

Vince Palamara's reviews are worthless.



Vince tells us yet again that he has "read literally thousands of books through the years." These books include Posner's Case Closed, which shook Vince's conspiracy convictions to the core, and Bugliosi's Reclaiming History, which persuaded Vince that LHO acted alone after all.



A position which he softened when the research community he had betrayed took up arms against him.



How did Bugliosi wring a fawning review out of Vince? Simply by stroking his massive ego. In correspondence dated July 14, 2007, Bugliosi wrote this to Palamara:



"I want you to know that I am very impressed with your research abilities and the enormous amount of work you put into your investigation of the Secret Service regarding the assassination. You are, unquestionably, the main authority on the Secret Service with regard to the assassination. I agree with you that they did not do a good job protecting the president (e.g. see p. 1443 of my book)..."



The intended result? As Vince admits, "After being a fervent believer [!] in a conspiracy in President John F. Kennedy's death (from about the age of 12 to 41!), the Spring of 2007 yielded the Oswald-did-it-alone masterpiece "Reclaiming History" by the highly respected author and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi that, quite literally, made my world upside down and had me reassess everything I knew (or thought I knew) about JFK's murder. Result? While I still believed there were multiple conspiracies (plural) to kill Kennedy, and that (speaking as the leading civilian Secret Service authority) the Secret Service was grossly negligent on 11/22/63 in Dallas, at the end of the day, Oswald beat everyone to the punch, so to speak; for all intents and purposes, that solved it for me, albeit with a great deal of discomfort."



Vince aided and abetted the cover-up by championing Bugliosi's version of it. Why? Because to praise Palamara Almighty is to OWN Palamara Almighty.


Bugliosi knew it, and he played Vince like a guitar.



Of course, Vince "General Sherman" Palamara recanted -- sort of -- his Bugliosi endorsement when Doug Horne's five-volume masterpiece saw the light of day.



Vince hastens to add that he's "an accomplished author and researcher on my own terms." Which has what, exactly, to do with the merits of Dead Wrong?



Vince's Secret Service work is invaluable. Beyond that, he over and over again demonstrates himself to be a shameless, ego-driven self-promoter who, if you blow in his ear, will follow you anywhere.



Caveat emptor.



As for Dead Wrong: I've yet to read it, so I'll reserve judgment. But I do feel confident to note that I'd be far more excited about the book if its authors weren't indicting for deep political crimes "the government" -- which is as simple-minded and counter-productive as indicting "the" CIA, "the" FBI, "the" Mafia" ...



And just how, dear scribes, do you define "the government?"


Last edited by Charles Drago; 08-17-2012 at 08:23 AM.

Charles Drago

Co-Founder, Deep Politics Forum

Footage of the agent stand-down at Love Field was found -- or at least first contextualized -- by the problematic Vince Palamara.




Questions subsequently arose regarding the agent's identity and about Rybka's subsequent whereabouts on 11/22/63.



The on-the-tarmac image is powerful in its implications. And yes, certain Secret Service agents had to have been complicit in JFK's murder.



But be careful: "The Secret Service" did not "play a [conspiratorial] role" in the JFK assassination. "The Secret Service," like "the CIA," "the FBI," or "the government," did not conspire to kill JFK.



This is not a simple matter of semantics.



Understanding this distinction is the sine qua non for understanding the structure of the JFK hit in particular and deep political events in general.

---------------

CHARLES "OJ" DRAGO: HIS COMMENTS CUT LIKE A KNIFE :o)



Monday, August 13, 2012

Gerald Blaine's AFAUSSS

Gerald Blaine is the last surviving founding member of the AFAUSSS. Here are some interesting related photos (these images can be found UNCUT below- where the photos begin after the blogs):

AFAUSSS: Former Secret Service Agent Association annual conference 1973--Behn, Rowley, Greer, etc

AFAUSSS: Former Secret Service Agent Association annual conference 1973--Behn, Rowley, Greer, etc
AFAUSSS: Former Secret Service Agent Association annual conference 1973--Behn, Rowley, Greer, Boring, Bouck, etc. (obtained from the late PRS Agent Frank Stoner)

Boring, Sulliman, Landis, Wells, Hickey, Hill, O'Leary, Meredith, Yeager, etc

Boring, Sulliman, Landis, Wells, Hickey, Hill, O'Leary, Meredith, Yeager, etc
Boring, Sulliman, Landis, Wells, Hickey, Hill, O'Leary, Meredith, Yeager, etc [from Mary Gallagher's 1969 book]

Behn, Boring...Killerman?!?!?!?!​?! [from Mary Gallagher;s 1969 book]

Behn, Boring...Killerman?!?!?!?!​?! [from Mary Gallagher;s 1969 book]
Behn, Boring...Killerman?!?!?!?!​?! [from Mary Gallagher;s 1969 book]

Monday, August 6, 2012

Vince Palamara IMDb entry

Vince Palamara IMDb entry:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5096140/

Filmography

Self (1 title)

2003 The Men Who Killed Kennedy (TV mini-series documentary)

Himself - Secret Service Expert

– The Smoking Guns (2003) … Himself - Secret Service Expert
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421227/fullcredits#cast

Friday, August 3, 2012

And the brutal hits keep coming...

Wow---it seems that now any and all shills of Blaine's book have receded with the winds the REAL reviews are growing on Amazon:

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful


1.0 out of 5 stars what they left out, August 3, 2012

By leo - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Kennedy Detail (Kindle Edition)

These men were in a unique position because of their closeness to history. But you would not know it from this account. It reads like an old news paper account. They have not much to say that we did not already know. Surely they know a lot more than they are willing to admit! No matter how tense and chaotic the day, they surely saw the bullet hole in the windshield. And yet the book is silent on this point. This book is a conspiracy of silence.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

JFK Secret Service Agent Tom Wells: conceding conspiracy in JFK's death?

On You Tube, there is a version of Clint Hill's poignant December 1975 "60 Minutes" television interview with the late Mike Wallace (also sitting next to Clint is his wife Gwen who, as Clint admitted on C-SPAN a few months ago, left him after decades of marriage). One of the comments is from JFK SECRET SERVICE AGENT TOM WELLS (guarded the Kennedy children and appears on "The Kennedy Detail" documentary and book+ was on one part of the book tour). Here is what he wrote:


"This man was suffering from considerable false guilt. Noone could have stopped the shooter or shooters. This is a good man. God bless him. Read his book "Mrs. Kennedy and me" which is very personal and intimate look at Jackie Kennedy and his professional relationship with her. Hill was assigned as bodyguard during the Kennedy years.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Blaine's book FAILS to convince the public

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, July 31, 2012

By Stardust - See all my reviewsThis review is from: The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence (Paperback)

This book is not worth the money it cost to buy it or the time it takes to read it. This book seems to be nothing more than an attempt to sell these agents as saints. Men who gave up everything to protect the President. However if you go back and look at the film coverage of that day in Dallas, you will see that Vice-President Johnson's men used their bodies to protect him by jumping on him and pushing him down. President Kennedy's men did nothing, and I mean nothing. It looks like they even slowed the car down until his head was blown off and not one of them used them

selves as a shield or did anything else to try to protect the President.

Do not waste you money or time with this book.




2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars They let the president die, July 29, 2012

By Peter Carlsson (Sweden) - See all my reviews

(REAL NAME) This review is from: The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence (Paperback)

The Secret Service let Kennedy be murdered, and now they are trying to blame it on him. Bad book, bad lies. And a bad way to make a buck, or thousands of them.