Having had the very important job of protecting President Bill Clinton and the First Family, former Secret Service Officer, Gary J. Byrne, in Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate discusses his observations of the character of the President and his wife, Hillary Clinton, inside the White House.
He also discusses the culture that emerged during the Clinton presidency. In his book, he explains how his dream of being a secret service agent became a reality when he was given the chance to protect President George H.W. Bush and the Bush First Family toward the end of Bush’s term. Byrne was later assigned as Secret Service Uniformed Officer outside the Oval Office during the Clinton Administration.
Reading Crisis of Character by Gary J. Byrne educated me on the lifestyle and struggles of a Secret Service officer and the politics of the agency. Author Byrne discusses the Clinton scandals including Whitewater, Vince Foster’s suicide, Travelgate, Filegate, Troopergate, Bill Clinton’s affairs (while president, in the White House, and as a former governor of Arkansas), the Monica Lewinsky trial and affair, and more. In every case, the Clintons denied allegations, and it came down to their word against others’ word.
Byrne discusses how Bill Clinton arrogantly denied his affair with Monica Lewinski until he was forced to acknowledge that he blatantly lied as evidenced by the taped conversations by Linda Tripp between herself and Monica. He also writes about what he witnessed in the White House from former First Lady, Hillary Clinton – her outbursts, rage, and violent behavior toward her husband. She also used abusive language towards the Secret Service officers on many occasions.
Byrne also explains how he was put in the horrible position of having to testify about what he witnessed in the White House (Monica Lewinski and President Clinton in the Oval Office alone on many occasions and more) while upholding his oath to protect the President, and having to balance that with telling the truth and not jeopardizing his job as a Secret Service officer! The stress it put on his family finally resulted in Gary resigning from his position with the Secret Service, then taking a job as a trainer, and then as a law enforcement officer for the Federal Air Marshal Service.
I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for the truth about the character of the Clintons from the perspective of someone who was assigned to protect them. The author’s experience is an indication of what kind of culture we will have in the White House again if Hillary Clinton should become president. There are positive and negative criticisms of this book that have arisen. I am not including them here.
A bit about the author, Gary J. Byrne:
Gary J. Byrne’s career was in federal law enforcement for nearly thirty years. He served in the U.S. Air Force Security Police, the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service, and most recently as Federal Air Marshall. While an agent for the Secret Service, Byrne protected Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Gary Byrne can be contacted via Facebook.
To purchase a copy of Gary J. Byrne’s, Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate, visit Amazon.
Vilma Reynoso 