A random question struck me when I was watching a History Channel show on Air Force One: as the President’s daughter, I have to assume that the Secret Service was with Jenna when she made that infamous bar visit a few years ago. Were they? Were they under any obligation to say or do anything about what Jenna wanted to do? Or is their only obligation to make sure she doesn’t do anything that could endanger her?
I think that they are not cops. Underage drinking is a federal crime? Could they even do anything legally? Legalities aside they are not her parents but her protecters. They might have said something to her parents when they saw them but probably not to her
They probably would NOT say anything to her parents.
The Secret Service has a policy that they do not do this – otherwise the underage children they are supposed to be protecting would have an incentive to ‘ditch’ the Secret Service at such times. That would undercut their protection mission, so the Secret Service does not ‘squeal’.
Wow, you were on Air Force One? Cool!
Do you have a cite for this other than The West Wing?
Not being rude! It was my immediate thought, but then I realised that my source was not the best.
I came across some details concerning this incident when looking at the ‘Do White House Kids Have Chores’ topic.
The version I read had the bartender willing to serve Jenna a drink until he spotted two members of her Secret Service detail in the background. He approached them and asked what he should do, at which the agents advised him to use his judgement. The bartender refused to serve Jenna and suggested she leave the premises. This she did, without showing much grace in the process.
Jenna herself called her father to complain about the incident but GWB came down on the side of the agents. Not so, Laura. She supported her daughter’s view that repeated intrusions into the twins’ privacy was becoming a major concern.
Since then, according to the story, agents have been instructed to show a lot more restraint when shepherding Jenna and Barbara. Exactly what that means, I cannot say.
And exactly what the strength of this story is I cannot say, either.
It was stated in a article about JFK Jr., regarding the policy of the Secret Service when he was a teenager, that I read a long time ago. I can’t remember exactly which magazine it was in. But it was far earlier than “West Wing”.
Fair enough, thanks.
You’re the president’s daughter? Cool!
No, he’s saying that the agents were the President’s daughter.
Not questioning your source, since I have none whatsoever, but what on Earth could Mrs. Bush been annoyed about?
The agents showed great restraint, by staying out of it entirely, until they were asked for an opinion, at which point they still maintained their neutrality. It sounds as though Laura would only be happy if the agents didn’t enter the bar at all or ordered the barman to serve them (unlawfully). Anybody have a different interpretation of this?
That was actually my first thought too. The protectee has to be able to trust the Secret Service agent, and the agent will not discuss the protectee’s activities with anyone, even if her father happens to be POTUS.
This link has a fairly entertaining set of stories about Chip Carter and his relationship to his Secret Service detail.
What follows is an article supposedly derived from a US News story. The first two paragraphs tell the tale, although the link to the US News site itself is now kaput.
Link.
I know people in executive protection (private though, not Secret Service), and the one thing I always here is that they aren’t friends with the package, ever. They don’t want to be your buddy, they don’t want to know you- they just want to do their job and get you home safe.
Given that, I could see a security detail not giving two shits about bad behavior until it becomes dangerous to the package (or prevents them from doing their job effectively).