Ex-director troubled by US Secret Service

A former director of the US Secret Service, who worked in the protection detail for three presidents, has said he is “troubled” by what he sees in the service today.

Lewis Merletti, who averted an Osama bin Laden-ordered assassination attempt on Bill Clinton in the Philippines in 1996, told a conference in Waterford yesterday that he has concerns about the Secret Service’s budget, recruitment, and training.

He said current problems for the world’s security agencies include the threats posed by Islamic State, cybertheft, self-radicalisation using social media, and “lone wolf” attacks.

“The world is not a benign place and never has been,” he said.

Mr Merletti served in the US military in Vietnam and joined the Secret Service in 1974, eventually working in the personal protective division under Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Mr Clinton.

He left the service 18 years ago, he told an audience at the Global Intelligence Forum in Dungarvan, organised by Pennsylvania-based Mercyhurst University.

“I’m very troubled by some of the things I see in the Secret Service right now,” he said.

“I don’t know that they’re recruiting the right people, I don’t know that their budget is right, I don’t know that their training is right, so I’m very troubled by what I see there.

“I do have to say I’m a little bit down on the Secret Service right now. I apologise for having to say that, but that’s how it is.”

Asked what the main threats to world security are, he said: “Obviously Isis, Isil… There’s so many threats out there: Cybersecurity, cybertheft, lone wolf attacks, self-radicalisation through social media. I think these are all new threats that we have to approach.”

Mr Merletti said these should not be thought of as “overwhelming”, pointing to past threats such as the Nazi and Japanese empires during the Second World War, which were eventually defeated by “the forces of freedom”.

“Those who stand for freedom and human rights have to come together,” he said.

“We have to ally ourselves throughout the world and defeat these present adversaries… I believe it can be done, yes, absolutely.”