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Ronald Kessler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the sociologist (born 1947), see Ronald C. Kessler.
Ronald Kessler
Ronald Borek Kessler is an American journalist and author of 19 non-fiction books. He is chief Washington, D.C. correspondent of the conservativenews and commentary website Newsmax.com.

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[edit]Personal life

Kessler was born in New York City in 1943. He grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts, and attended Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1962 to 1964, before embarking on a career in journalism. He is married and has two children.[1]

[edit]Journalism

[edit]Early career

Kessler began his career in 1964 as a reporter with the Worcester Telegram, followed by three years as an investigative reporter and editorial writer with the Boston Herald. A piece he wrote while there was instrumental in the installation of a better plaque commemorating the location of Boston's Pre-Revolutionary-War Liberty Tree. In 1968, he joined the Wall Street Journal as a reporter in the New York bureau. During these years, his reporting won awards from the American Political Science Association (public affairs reporting award, 1965), United Press International (1967) and the Associated Press (Sevellon Brown Memorial award, 1967).[1]

[edit]Washington Post

In 1970 Kessler joined the Washington Post as an investigative reporter and continued as a staff writer until 1985.[2] In 1972, he won a George Polk Memorial award for Community Service because of two series of articles he wrote—one on conflicts of interest and mismanagement at Washington area non-profit hospitals, and a second series exposing kickbacks among lawyers, title insurance companies, realtors, and lenders in connection with real estate settlements, inflating the cost of buying homes.[3][4] He was also named a Washingtonian of the Year byWashingtonian magazine that year.[5] In 1979, Kessler won a second Polk Award, this one for National Reporting for a series of articles exposing corruption in the General Services Administration; he won even though his editor, Ben Bradlee, had not submitted his stories for consideration.[4][6] Kessler's Washington Post stories reporting that Lena Ferguson had been denied membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) because she is black led to her acceptance by the DAR and widespread changes in its policies to increase membership by blacks.[7]

[edit]Author

After leaving the Washington Post, Kessler authored 19 nonfiction books on intelligence and current affairs. Four of his books reached the hardover nonfiction New York Times Best Seller list: In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect (2009), described by USA Today as "the inside scoop on those stern-faced guys who protect the president," Laura Bush (2006), a biography of the first lady; A Matter of Character (2004), an admiring look at George W. Bush's presidency; and Inside the White House(1995), a behind-the-scenes expose of presidencies from Lyndon B. Johnson to Bill Clinton.."[8]
A fifth book, The Season: Inside Palm Beach and America's Richest Society (1999), an investigative report on the lives of multi-millionaires in Palm Beach, Florida, made the New York Timesbestseller list for business books.[9]
Kessler’s book The FBI: Inside the World’s Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency led to the dismissal of William S. Sessions as FBI director over his abuses.[10] In his book The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI, Kessler presented the first credible evidence that Bob Woodward’s and Carl Bernstein’s Watergate source dubbed Deep Throat was FBI official W. Mark Felt. The book said that Woodward paid a secret visit to Felt in California and had his limousine park ten blocks away from Felt’s home so as not to attract attention.[11] Jon Stewart of The Daily Show said Kessler's The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack is a "very interesting look inside the FBI and CIA, which I think is unprecedented." [12] The Washington Timessaid of the book, "Ronald Kessler is a veteran Washington-based investigative journalist on national security...His unparalleled access to top players in America's counterterrorism campaign allowed him a rare glimpse into their tradecraft, making The Terrorist Watch a riveting account." [13]
Kessler's book, In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect, was described by USA Today as a "fascinating exposé ... high-energy read ... amusing, saucy, often disturbing anecdotes about the VIPs the Secret Service has protected and still protects ... [accounts come] directly from current and retired agents (most identified by name, to Kessler's credit) ... Balancing the sordid tales are the kinder stories of presidential humanity ... [Kessler is a] respected journalist and former Washington Postreporter ... an insightful and entertaining story."[14] Newsweek said of the book, "Kessler’s such a skilled storyteller, you almost forget this is dead-serious nonfiction ... An afterword reveals new details about Kessler’s discovery of a third uninvited intruder during last year’s White House State Dinner ... The behind-the-scenes anecdotes are delightful, but Kessler has a bigger point to make, one concerning why the under-appreciated Secret Service deserves better leadership."[15]
Kessler's latest book, The Secrets of the FBI, was published August 2, 2011.[16][17]

[edit]Newsmax

In June 2006, Kessler became chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax, a conservative website and magazine.[18] He writes the Washington Insider column for the publication, and his stories for Newsmax have included interviews with President Bush, Donald Trump, Sam Donaldson, Andy Card, CIA Director Michael Hayden, Mitt Romney, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Vice President Dick Cheney, Jim Cramer, Deborah Norville, Dana Perino, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, Brian Lamb, Juan Williams, Edwin Meese III, Condoleezza Rice, and Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan.[19] For his Newsmax columns, Kessler won the first Robert Novak Journalist of the Year Award in 2010.[20] Kessler also writes Wall Street Journal op-eds, including "The Real Joe McCarthy," which attacked efforts by some conservative writers to vindicate the late Senator Joseph McCarthy.[21]
On January 4, 2010, Kessler wrote a Newsmax article revealing that the Secret Service allowed a third uninvited guest to attend President Obama’s state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh besides party crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi on Nov. 24, 2009.[22] The Secret Service confirmed the third intrusion "following a report by Ronald Kessler, a journalist who writes for Newsmax.com", the Washington Post said. "Kessler reported that the agency discovered the third crasher after examining surveillance video of arriving guests and found one tuxedoed man who did not match any name on the guest list."[23]
In an article for Newsmax, on March 16, 2008, Kessler incorrectly reported, based on a previous Newsmax story by a freelance writer, that Senator Barack Obama attended a service at Chicago'sTrinity United Church of Christ on July 22, 2007, during which Rev. Jeremiah Wright gave a sermon that blamed world suffering on "white arrogance".[24] The Obama campaign denied that Obama had attended the church on the day that sermon was delivered and other reporters discovered that Obama was in fact in transit to Miami, Florida on that day.[25] Newsmax posted a clarification while standing by the story, suggesting that perhaps the sermon occurred on a different day in July.[24] Shortly after the controversy broke, Kessler confirmed to TPM that he attempted to remove information documenting it from his Wikipedia biography.[26]
In December 2008, Kessler wrote a column debunking claims that Obama was not born in the U.S.[27] He also wrote an article reporting that intelligence officials are impressed by how Obama takes intelligence briefings.[28]
After National Public Radio (NPR) fired Juan Williams as a news analyst, Kessler wrote "The Juan Williams I Know".[29] After the killing of Osama bin Laden, Kessler wrote "More Warnings of al-Qaida Terror Plots Coming".[30]
In October 2011, Kessler said the United States should bomb Iran's nuclear facilities in response to the Adel al-Jubeir assassination plot.[31]

[edit]Books

[edit]References

  1. ^ a b "Ronald Kessler". Marquis Who's Who in America, 2007. Marquis Who's Who Inc.. 2006. ISBN 0837970067
  2. ^ "Ronald Kessler Biography". NewsMax. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved March 22, 2008.
  3. ^ "Scandal Series Wins Prize". Oakland Tribune. February 1, 1973. Retrieved March 22, 2008.
  4. ^ a b McBee, Susanna (February 12, 1979). "Reporter Is Cited For GSA Articles". The Washington Post.
  5. ^ "Past Washingtonians of the Year". Washingtonian. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
  6. ^ Hershey, Edward. "A History of Journalistic Integrity, Superb Reporting and Protecting the Public: The George Polk Awards in Journalism". Long Island University. Retrieved March 22, 2008.
  7. ^ Washington Post, March 12, 1984, page A1; April 18, 1984, page C1; April 5, 1984, page C3; March 27, 1985, page A22.
  8. ^ USA Today, May 7. 2009, page 5D
  9. ^ New York Times search query
  10. ^ Washington Post, June 19, 1993, page A1; Washington Post, July 20, 1993, page A1.
  11. ^ Washington Times, June 2, 2005, page A11; New York Post, June 3, 2005, page 14; Washington Post, December 20, 2008, page A1.
  12. ^ "Ronald Kessler" The Daily Show, March 12, 2008, retrieved April 24, 2009.
  13. ^ Washington Times, December 18, 2007, page A15
  14. ^ USA Today, August 18, 2009, final edition, page 3D
  15. ^ "In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect". Newsweek. August 4, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  16. ^ "The Secrets of the FBI by Ronald Kessler" (Press release). Crown Publishing Group. August 1, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  17. ^ "FBI secret ops help prevent new 9/11: Author". CBS News. August 2, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  18. ^ "Ronald Kessler Joins Newsmax". Newsmax. June 6, 2006. Retrieved March 22, 2008.
  19. ^ "Washington Insider with Ronald Kessler Archive". NewsMax. Retrieved March 22, 2008.
  20. ^ "Newsmax's Kessler Wins Top CPAC Journalist Award". Newsmax. February 20, 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  21. ^ Kessler, Ronald (April 22, 2008). "The Real Joe McCarthy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 25, 2008.
  22. ^ Kessler, Ronald (January 4, 2010). "Secret Service Let Third Intruder Into White House". Newsmax. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
  23. ^ Roberts, Roxanne; Argetsinger, Amy (January 4, 2010). "Secret Services confirms report of 'third crasher' at White House state dinner". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  24. ^ a b Kessler, Ronald (March 16, 2008). "Obama Attended Hate America Sermon". Newsmax. Archived from the original on March 24, 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
  25. ^ "Schedule Puts Obama in Miami During July '07 Wright Sermon". Fox News. March 17, 2008. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
  26. ^ Sargent, Greg (March 17, 2008). "Newsmax's Kessler Scrubs Reference To His Obama Factual Blunder From His Wiki Page". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  27. ^ Kessler, Ronald (December 8, 2008), "Obama Was Born in the United States", Newsmax
  28. ^ Kessler, Ronald (December 11, 2008), "Obama is Quick Study in Intelligence Briefings", Newsmax
  29. ^ Kessler, Ronald (October 25,2010). "The Juan Williams I Know". Newsmax.
  30. ^ Kessler, Ronald (May 8, 2011). "Intelligence Officials: More Warnings of al-Qaida Terror Plots Coming". Newsmax.
  31. ^ Gould, Martin (October 11, 2011). "Kessler: Bomb Iran Now for Washington Terror Plot". Newsmax.

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James Bamford Reviews Ronald Kessler's 'In the President's Secret Service'

SLIDESHOW
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Secret service agents accompany then-President George W. Bush at a campaign rally in Parkersburg, W.V. in 2004.
Secret service agents accompany then-President George W. Bush at a campaign rally in Parkersburg, W.V. in 2004. (Kevin Lamarque - Reuters)
 

TOOLBOX
By James Bamford
Sunday, August 23, 2009
IN THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET SERVICE
Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect
By Ronald Kessler
Crown. 273 pp. $26
A few blocks from the White House, on the busy corner of H and 9th streets, stands a bland, unnamed, nine-story office building. On a wall in the lobby, large silver letters spell out the words "Worthy of Trust and Confidence." That is the motto of the Secret Service, and the anonymous tan-brick building is the agency's headquarters. "The phrase," said former director Lewis C. Merletti, "is the absolute heart and soul of the United States Secret Service. . . . And it must never be compromised." Lest they forget, all agents have the motto emblazoned on their IDs.
But in light of an odd decision by the current director, Mark Sullivan, the motto should be changed to "Have You Heard This One?" During the Bush administration, hoping for some good, ego-enhancing publicity, Sullivan broke with his agency's long-standing policy of absolute silence and allowed Ronald Kessler to get an earful. The chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax.com, which bills itself as "the #1 conservative news agency online," Kessler had written very positive books about CIA Director George Tenet, first lady Laura Bush and President George W. Bush, and Sullivan was probably hoping for the same treatment.
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Hearing that Sullivan had given Kessler his blessing, scores of current and former agents -- Kessler claims more than 100 -- agreed to talk to him. But rather than use that wealth of information to write a serious book examining the inner workings of the long-veiled agency or the new challenges of protecting the first black president, the author simply milked the agents for the juiciest gossip he could get and mixed it with a rambling list of their complaints.
Trashing their motto, these agents seem to relish throwing dirt on their former protectees, especially Democrats. But it is all boring and familiar. Agents Chuck Taylor and Larry Newman, like tattling schoolboys, breathlessly rant about JFK's escapades more than 40 years ago, in particular one with secretaries nicknamed Fiddle and Faddle wearing T-shirts in the White House pool. "You could see their nipples," snickers Taylor.
Other agents tell of Lyndon Johnson's "stable" of women and how he liked to get drunk at his ranch and then "whiz out on the front lawn." Even Vice President Spiro Agnew, according to another agent, was escorted to various hotels for affairs. "We felt like pimps," he said. But the best he could offer for proof was that "he looked embarrassed."
Richard Nixon was "the strangest modern president," say Kessler's agents, and his successor, Jerry Ford, was nice but "cheap." Former agent Robert B. Sulliman Jr. was angry because Jimmy Carter would get to the office about 6 a.m. and "do a little work for half an hour, then close the curtains and take a nap" without informing the press of his breaks.
The busy, self-important agents also disliked tardiness, which is one reason they couldn't stand Bill Clinton or Al Gore. Former agent Dave Saleeba waited impatiently for Vice President Gore one day, only to discover him "eating a muffin at the pool." The book's inane and endless anecdotes never rise much higher.
A conservative lot, the agents found President Ronald Reagan "a down-to-earth individual;" his successor, George H.W. Bush, "a great man, just an all around nice person"; and George W. Bush "down to earth, caring." Agents, Kessler says, loved to "chop wood" with the younger Bush and appreciated "the fact that Bush is punctual." Otherwise, apparently, they might have been forced to fire him. Kessler never asks the agents anything substantive, such as if they had any insights into how the Bush White House involved the country in the Iraq war.
Throughout the book, many of the current and former agents come across as little more than disgruntled rent-a-guards, complaining about their shifts, their assignments and their pay while traveling on Air Force One and walking the halls of the West Wing. They also have larger issues. They complain that on occasion, such as during campaigns, staff members order metal detectors shut down to accommodate large crowds -- tens of thousands of people sometimes -- surging into stadiums and other large venues to hear candidates. They fail to see how close we have already come to a fortress society and that candidates occasionally choose to assume the risk as the price of democracy. The agents complain that they, too, are put at risk. But for all their talk of danger, there are few jobs in law enforcement as safe as that of a Secret Service agent. None have been killed during an assassination attempt in more than half a century, and few have been wounded. It is far more hazardous to put on a Bureau of Indian Affairs or Park Police badge.
What is truly dangerous is the kind of National Enquirer-style gossip in Kessler's book. In the future, without "trust and confidence" in their agents, presidents will want to keep them at a distance, out of spying range -- and out of safety range, when split seconds may count. And with President Obama, such concerns may be especially acute. "Once Obama became president," Kessler says, "the Secret Service experienced a 400 percent increase in the number of threats against the president, in comparison with President Bush." Two weeks ago, outside an Obama town hall meeting in Maryland, a man held a sign reading "Death to Obama" and "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids." And last week, at an Obama event in Phoenix, a dozen gun-toting protesters -- including one with an AR-15 assault rifle on his shoulder and a handgun in his holster -- lingered nearby.
James Bamford writes regularly on intelligence. His most recent book is "The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA, From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America."


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© 2009 The Washington Post Company









Ronald Kessler
Ronald Kessler is the New York Times bestselling author of nineteen non-fiction books. Kessler began his career as a journalist in 1964 on theWorcester Telegram, followed by three years as an investigative reporter and editorial writer with the Boston Herald. In 1968, he joined the Wall Street Journal as a reporter in the New York bureau. He became an investigative reporter with the Washington Post in 1970 and continued on the paper until 1985.
Kessler's first book was THE LIFE INSURANCE GAME, an exposé‚ of the life insurance industry published in 1985. His second book, THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD: The Story of Adnan Khashoggi, is the inside story of the world's preeminent arms dealer. Kessler's next book, SPY vs. SPY: Stalking Soviet Spies in America, is the only book on the FBI's secret counterintelligence program and contains the first interview with Karl Koecher, a Soviet bloc spy who became a mole in the CIA.
Kessler's fourth book, MOSCOW STATION, is about the security breaches at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, the involvement of U.S. Marines, and the resulting investigations. Kessler's THE SPY IN THE RUSSIAN CLUB: How Glenn Souther Stole America's Nuclear War Plans and Escaped to Moscow is the bizarre tale of one of America's most damaging spies who defected to the Soviet Union and committed suicide there.
Kessler's sixth book, ESCAPE FROM THE CIA: How the CIA Won and Lost the Most Important KGB Spy Ever to Defect to the U.S., is about the defection and redefection of KGB officer Vitaly Yurchenko from a restaurant in Washington's Georgetown section. It contains the only interview with Yurchenko by a western journalist and portrays the CIA's disastrous mishandling of the case. Kessler's INSIDE THE CIA: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Spy Agencydepicts what the CIA really does and was the only book about the agency written with the CIA's limited cooperation.
For Kessler's eighth book, THE FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency, the FBI gave Kessler unprecedented access to the bureau. The book revealed for the first time the defection of Vasili Mitrokhin, whose notes from the KGB's archives disclosed the existence over the years of hundreds of spies in the U.S. The book is the authoritative work on the modern FBI. Its findings led to the dismissal of William Sessions as FBI director over his abuses.
Having probed the CIA and FBI, Kessler was prepared to take on the modern White House. INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE: The Hidden Lives of the Modern Presidents and the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Institution depicts what the presidents and first families are really like and how the White House really operates, as seen by the Secret Service, Air Force One stewards, and White House aides and residence staff who know the true story.
Kessler's tenth book, THE SINS OF THE FATHER: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded, is the first major biography of Joe Kennedy in more than thirty years. Based in part on the only interview ever given by the surgeon who performed the lobotomy on her, the book reveals that for political reasons, Joe Kennedy covered up the fact that his daughter Rosemary was mentally ill rather than retarded, as the family has long claimed. The book documents payoffs Kennedy made to win the presidency for Jack. And it reveals an affair with his Hyannis Port secretary that lasted nine years—three times longer than his affair with movie star Gloria Swanson.
In many ways, Congress is even more powerful than the president. Only Capitol Police officers, doormen, elevator operators, pages, professional staffers, and members of Congress themselves know what goes on behind the scenes and how Congress really works. For Kessler's eleventh book, INSIDE CONGRESS: The Shocking Scandals, Corruption, and Abuse of Power Behind the Scenes on Capitol Hill, more than 350 such insiders talked for the first time. The book suggests how Americans can take back their government by electing decent, honorable people.
A 3.75-square-mile island, Palm Beach is known as the most wealthy, glamorous, opulent, sinful spot on earth. It is home to billionaires like Donald Trump, trust fund babies, women addicted to staying beautiful, and the sophisticated "walkers" who escort them. Kessler's THE SEASON: Inside Palm Beach and America's Richest Society follows four characters through the season: the reigning queen of Palm Beach society, the night manager of Palm Beach's trendiest bar and restaurant, a gay "walker" who escorts wealthy women to balls, and a knockout gorgeous blonde who says she "can't find a guy in Palm Beach." Bit parts are played by Trump, who flew with Kessler and his wife on his Boeing 727-100 to spend a weekend with them at his Mar-a-Lago estate and club in Palm Beach, and Gianna Lahainer, who is worth $300 million but put her husband on ice because he died inconveniently in the middle of the season.
After the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court, no American institution is as powerful as the FBI. Yet until Kessler's THE BUREAU: The Secret History of the FBI, no book had presented the full story of the FBI from its beginnings in 1908 to the present. The book is the definitive account of the FBI, revealing its strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and blunders, methods and secrets. The book focuses on the directors who have run the bureau, from J. Edgar Hoover through Louis Freeh and Robert Mueller, and the agents who have made its cases. The Bureau reveals the dramatic inside story of the FBI's response to the attacks of September 11 and why the FBI was unprepared for those attacks. The book documents Freeh's colossal mismanagement of the FBI and how Mueller is restoring the bureau to its place as the world's preeminent law enforcement agency. The press has cited the book for having presented the first credible evidence that Bob Woodward's and Carl Bernstein's Watergate source dubbed Deep Throat was FBI official W. Mark Felt.
With the CIA at the core of the war on terror, no agency is as important to preserving America's freedom. Yet the CIA is a closed and secretive world-impenetrable to generations of journalists-and few Americans know what really goes on among the spy masters who plot America's worldwide campaign against terrorists. For Kessler's THE CIA AT WAR: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror, the author obtained unprecedented access to the CIA. The book explores whether the CIA can be trusted, whether its intelligence is politicized, and whether it is capable of winning the war on terror. In doing so, the book weaves in the history of the CIA and how it really works. It is the definitive account of the agency.
Kessler's next book, A MATTER OF CHARACTER: Inside the White House of George W. Bush, is a complete biography and inside look at how Bush and his secretive White House really operated. For the book, Kessler interviewed all the key players-Andy Card, Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld-supplemented by interviews with Bush's close personal friends, Secret Service sources, and other insiders. Based on extraordinary access approved by Bush himself, the book separates myth from reality about Bush and his presidency.
Kessler's sixteenth book, LAURA BUSH: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady, is the first to penetrate the secret world of this famously reserved woman and reveals the tremendous influence she had on her husband and his administration. The only book to be written about Laura Bush with White House cooperation, it draws from interviews with lifelong friends, family members, and administration heavyweights like Condoleezza Rice and Andrew Card, who talked about the first lady in-depth for the first time. The book reveals how Laura's opinions resulted in budget changes for a range of federal agencies and affected her husband's policies, appointments, and world view.
Kessler's next book, THE TERRORIST WATCH: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack, presents the chilling story of terrorists' relentless efforts to mount another devastating attack on the United States and of the daily efforts being made to stop those plots. Drawing on unprecedented access, the book takes readers inside the war rooms of this battle for our survival-from the newly created National Counterterrorism Center to FBI headquarters, from the CIA to the National Security Agency, from the Pentagon to the Oval Office-to explain why we have gone so long since 9/11 without a successful attack and to reveal the many close calls we never hear about.

The book includes an exclusive insider's account from George Piro, an FBI agent who spent seven months secretly debriefing Saddam Hussein after his capture. From Saddam's compulsive hand-washing and use of baby wipes to his strategy during the 2003 invasion, why no WMD were ever found, and his plans for developing a nuclear capability, the debriefings unravel mysteries and provide insights about one of the greatest mass murderers of our time. Kessler and the book were featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Secret Service agents act as human surveillance cameras and observe everything that goes on behind the scenes in the president's inner circle. Kessler's book, IN THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET SERVICE: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect, reveals what they have seen, providing startling inside stories about presidents from John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, as well as about their vice presidents, families, Cabinet officers, and White House aides.
Never before has a journalist penetrated the wall of secrecy that surrounds the U.S. Secret Service, that elite corps of agents who pledge to take a bullet to protect the president and his family. The book portrays the dangers that agents face, how they carry out their mission, how they are trained, and how they spot and assess potential threats. It discloses assassination attempts that have never before been revealed.
While Secret Service agents are brave and dedicated, the book exposes how Secret Service management in recent years has betrayed its mission by cutting corners, risking the assassination of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and future presidential candidates. The book reveals that threats against President Obama have become so disturbing that a secret Presidential Threat Task Force has been established within the FBI's National Security Branch to gather, track, and evaluate assassination threats related to domestic or international terrorism. Since an assassination jeopardizes democracy itself, few agencies are as important as the Secret Service. Only Secret Service agents know the real story about our nation's leaders, and Ronald Kessler is the only journalist who has their trust.
USA Today described the book as a "fascinating exposé...high-energy read...amusing, saucy, often disturbing anecdotes about the VIPs the Secret Service has protected and still protects.....[accounts come] directly from current and retired agents (most identified by name, to Kessler's credit)....Balancing the sordid tales are the kinder stories of presidential humanity...[Kessler is a] respected journalist and former Washington Post reporter....an insightful and entertaining story." Kessler and the book were featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
The FBI is involved in almost every aspect of American life. From Watergate to Waco, from congressional scandals to the takedown of Osama bin Laden, from Vince Foster's death and Marilyn Monroe’s suicide to the swap of Russian spies, Kessler’s latest book, THE SECRETS OF THE FBI, presents headline-making disclosures about the most important figures and events of our time.
Based on his unparalleled access to hundreds of current and former FBI agents, Kessler reveals the FBI’s most closely guarded privileged information and the secrets of celebrities, politicians, and movie stars uncovered by agents during their investigations. Kessler goes behind the scenes at the FBI Laboratory and training center and presents an exclusive interview with FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. For the first time, the book reveals how agents break into homes, offices, and embassies to plant bugging devices without getting caught and shot as burglars. The narrative culminates with the inside story of the FBI's involvement in the raid on bin Laden's compound.
Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com, a web site with an average of 7.7 million unique visitors a month, and of Newsmax magazine, which has a readership of 800,000. His stories for Newsmax have included interviews with President George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Sam Donaldson, Andy Card, Gen. Michael Hayden, Mitt Romney, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Vice President Dick Cheney, Dana Perino, Jim Cramer, Deborah Norville, Robert S. Mueller III, Brian Lamb, Juan Williams, James Woolsey, Condoleezza Rice, Pervez Musharraf, Edwin Meese III, Fran Townsend, and Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan. You can sign up for Kessler"s reports here.
Kessler has won seventeen journalism awards, including two George Polk awards-for national reporting and for community service. Kessler has also won the Robert Novak Journalist of the Year Award, the American Political Science Association"s Public Affairs Reporting Award, the Associated Press" Sevellon Brown Memorial Award, and Washingtonianmagazine's Washingtonian of the Year award. He is listed in Who"s Who in America.
Ron Kessler lives with his wife Pamela Kessler in Potomac, MD. Also an author and former Washington Post reporter, Pam Kessler wroteUNDERCOVER WASHINGTON: Where Famous Spies Lived, Worked and Loved, about spying in Washington. His daughter Rachel Kessler, a public relations executive, and son Greg Kessler, an artist, live in New York. Kessler's web site is www.RonaldKessler.com.

 









Ronald Kessler
New York Times Bestselling Author


of books about the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA
 
Just PublishedThe Secrets of the FBIThe Secrets of the FBI by New York Times bestselling author Ronald Kessler reveals the FBI’s most closely guarded secrets and the secrets of celebrities, politicians, and movie stars uncovered by agents during their investigations.Based on inside access, the book presents revelations about the recent Russian spy swap, Marilyn Monroe's death, Vince Foster’s suicide, the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, and J. Edgar Hoover’s sexual orientation. For the first time, it tells how the FBI caught spy Robert Hanssen in its midst and how secret teams of FBI agents break into homes, offices, and embassies to plant bugging devices without getting caught.From Watergate to Waco, from congressional scandals to the killing of bin Laden, The Secrets of the FBI presents headline-making disclosures about the most important figures and events of our time.
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The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Ronald Kessler
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorRally to Restore Sanity
Books by Ron KesslerTHE SECRETS OF THE FBIIN THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET SERVICE
Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire
and the Presidents They Protect
THE TERRORIST WATCH
Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack
LAURA BUSH
An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady 
A MATTER OF CHARACTERInside the White House of George W. Bush
THE CIA AT WARInside the Secret Campaign Against Terror
THE BUREAUThe Secret History of the FBI
THE SEASONInside Palm Beach and America’s Richest Society
INSIDE CONGRESSThe Shocking Scandals, Corruption, and
Abuse of Power Behind the Scenes on Capitol Hill
THE SINS OF THE FATHERJoseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded
INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSEThe Hidden Lives of the Modern Presidents and the Secrets
of the World's Most Powerful Institution
THE FBIInside the World’s Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency
INSIDE THE CIARevealing the Secrets of the World’s
Most Powerful Spy Agency
ESCAPE FROM THE CIAHow the CIA Won and Lost the Most Important KGB Spy
Ever to Defect to the U.S.
THE SPY IN THE RUSSIAN CLUBHow Glenn Souther Stole America’s Nuclear War Plans
and Escaped to Moscow
MOSCOW STATIONHow the KGB Penetrated the American Embassy
SPY vs. SPYStalking Soviet Spies in America
THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLDThe Story of Adnan Khashoggi
THE LIFE INSURANCE GAME
 
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