Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service
Carol Leonnig
Synopsis "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service "
The first definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the alarming mismanagement of the Obama and Trump years, right up to the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January 2021 ― by the Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of A Very Stable Genius Carol Leonnig has been reporting on the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the secrets, scandals, and shortcomings that plague the agency today ― from a toxic work culture to dangerously outdated equipment to the deep resentment within the ranks at key agency leaders, who put protecting the agency’s once-hallowed image before fixing its flaws. But the Secret Service wasn’t always so troubled. The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by its failure to protect the president on that fateful day in Dallas, this once-sleepy agency was radically transformed into an elite, highly trained unit that would redeem itself several times, most famously in 1981 by thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and excellence would not last forever. By Barack Obama’s presidency, the once-proud Secret Service was running on fumes and beset by mistakes and alarming lapses in judgement: break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing into the windows of the residence while confused agents stood by, and a massive prostitution scandal among agents in Cartagena, to name just a few. With Donald Trump’s arrival, a series of promised reforms were cast aside, as a president disdainful of public service instead abused the Secret Service to rack up political and personal gains. To explore these problems in the ranks, Leonnig interviewed dozens of current and former agents, government officials, and whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to speak out about a hobbled agency that’s in desperate need of reform. ‘I will be forever grateful to them for risking their careers,’ she writes, ‘not because they wanted to share tantalising gossip about presidents and their families, but because they know that the Service is broken and needs fixing. By telling their story, they hope to revive the Service they love.’
Carol Duhurst Leonnig es una periodista investigativa estadounidense reconocida por su trabajo riguroso y profundo sobre seguridad nacional, política y funcionamiento del gobierno de Estados Unidos. Nacida en Maryland y formada en Bryn Mawr College, Leonnig desarrolló una carrera periodística que la llevó a trabajar durante más de dos décadas en The Washington Post, donde se destacó por desentrañar fallas sistémicas en agencias gubernamentales con impacto nacional. Su estilo combina investigación exhaustiva, múltiples fuentes directas y un compromiso claro por hacer que temas complejos sean comprensibles para el público general.
Como autora, Leonnig ha publicado varias obras de no ficción que se convirtieron en bestsellers y le han ganado reconocimiento crítico. Entre ellas están A Very Stable Genius y I Alone Can Fix It, ambas coescritas con Philip Rucker y centradas en la presidencia de Donald Trump, y Injustice, escrita con Aaron C. Davis, que examina la politización del Departamento de Justicia en Estados Unidos. Leonnig ha sido galardonada con múltiples premios Pulitzer por su trabajo periodístico, lo que subraya su impacto y excelencia en la cobertura de temas de seguridad y política contemporánea.
