My Run-in with the Secret Services

Unlike most cities in the Midwest, Washington D.C. is constantly under high-level surveillance in order to protect members of Congress and the president. On almost every street corner there are cameras or policemen looking for suspicious activity and interns can't even walk outside the Congressional without spotting a cop car.

I understand the need for high security in a town where some of the world’s most powerful men and women live and work. President Obama would not be safe without the the protection of the Secret Service and he probably would never be able to leave the White House. 

I never really viewed myself a threat to the President and the people of Washington, but that all changed after a little run-in with the Secret Service. During my time here, I just considered myself your average summer intern looking to have fun in a new city and to learn about jobs in the government. Unfortunately, my status as an innocent intern quickly changed one afternoon when I was making preparations for an event in the Ronald Reagan Building.

This summer I interned with MCHIP (Maternal and Child Health Program) which is a USAID-funded project that seeks to improve maternal and child health in the developing world. The six-year, $600 million grant with USAID happened to be coming to a close during my internship and I was granted the opportunity to help the communications team prepare for a close-out event that disseminated information on the successes and challenges of the program to the various government health leaders and others from the global health community. 

The communications team had been planning for this major event for months and the day before the event, my supervisor instructed me to go to the Ronald Reagan Building in order to set up all of our materials that would be needed the following day. I had to bring about 20 boxes full of reports on MCHIP and other documents that were going to be passed out to attendees at the event. 

When I arrived to the Ronald Reagan Building, I was immediately questioned by the Secret Service. In many buildings in Washington it is standard procedure to go through a security checkpoint, but I was shocked that I was approached by the Secret Service, especially since I was not near the White House. The Secret Service men told me that all boxes had to go through a special screening process before I could enter the building, but never explicitly told me that the real reason I could not just carry the boxes through security was because President Obama was going to be making an appearance later in the day.

I was incredibly aggravated because Secret service men were not being compromising at all. I explained to them that MCHIP had the event planned for months, but no one from the Ronald Reagan Building had let my team know how to properly enter the building. They ignored my pleas and told me I had to stand next to the boxes until further notice. Eventually my supervisor was able to convince them that we were not a security threat, but just an innocent communications team trying to prepare for an event. 

 After everything was set up, I ran out of the Ronald Reagan Building and headed towards a policy forum with the Glenn School on the other side of town. My run-in with the Secret Service made an simple task that was only supposed to last about 15 minutes, take about 2 hours which almost made me late for the policy forum. Luckily, I managed to attend the event for about 5 minutes and ran into Dr. Scott on my way in to tell him the reason I was late was because of the President.

I can confidently say that I will never underestimate the power of security in Washington after this incident. 

Rebecca Sheldon