Secret Service agents have a very important job
Granted their status as one of the world’s most influential political leaders, the President of the United States is one of the most protected human assets in the world. Without fail, it is nearly impossible to spot them during public appearances without being within a stone’s throw away from a member of their security detail; members of the United States Secret Service.
Even when the President is paraded in different countries to meet other world leaders, it would be impossible not to spot the convoy of vehicles in the presidential motorcade, which includes many different cars, including some specially equipped Chevrolet Suburbans. Although it may seem like something out of TV or the movies, Secret Service agents responsible for the safety of the President are trained to be ready for anything, even if it means commandeering an unfamiliar car.
General Motors donated a cornucopia of cars to hone Secret Service agents’ skills
This is where General Motors comes in. Earlier this week, the U.S. Secret Service rekindled its close relationship with the Detroit automaker after it donated 10 different vehicles to the agency’s James J. Rowley Training Center (RTC) in Laurel, Maryland.
These vehicles serve a broad spectrum across the automaker’s brands and include some of its desirable high-performance offerings. GM provided the agency with two Cadillac CT4s, two Cadillac CT5s, and two Chevrolet Corvettes—including one Corvette E-Ray. Curiously, two of the Cadillacs provided were CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwings equipped with manual transmissions; a fairly unusual car for Secret Service use.
A Cadillac Escalade at the James J. Rowley Training Center.
U.S. Secret Service
Though car enthusiasts and muscle car fans will drool over the idea that the Secret Service gets to train how to protect the President behind the wheel of a CT5-V Blackwing with a 6.2-liter V8 pumping 668 horsepower, the Secret Service sees this as a valuable teaching tool for scenarios when driving stick will be required. They maintain that its special agents assigned to foreign field offices or protective visits could be required to drive manual cars.
“Not everyone is able to operate a manual shift,” said RTC driving instructor Mark Armstrong. “Having that platform here will enable us to give instruction on how to drive manual vehicles for overseas trips.”
The fleet of vehicles donated to the Secret Service training ground also included a Chevrolet Suburban, a Chevrolet Tahoe PPV, a Cadillac Escalade, and a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2. Scott Simons, the special agent in charge at the James J. Rowley Training Center, noted that having a variety of vehicles on hand helps agents adapt to different vehicles they may encounter.
Vehicles being unloaded at James J. Rowley Training Center.
U.S. Secret Service
“Experience with different types of vehicles can help instructors teach students how to adapt their driving techniques based on the vehicle they are operating,” Simons said. “Because each vehicle handles differently in any given situation, exposure to new cars will challenge instructors and give them an opportunity to develop more realistic training scenarios.”
Constantine Gerukos, a driving instructor with 13 years of experience at the Secret Service, noted that while advanced driving is an important skill for agents, it is important to test out which vehicles are suitable for training and the field as auto technology evolves.
“I think it is cool to try out all these different platforms to figure out what is going to fit, and what we can use,” Gerukos said. “The times are changing, and so is the rest of the world. So, we have to do the same thing.”
Final thoughts
In the press release, one of the driving instructors, Brandon Bohonek, noted that agents are trained to deal with various “realistic” scenarios and that these vehicles will help add more depth to it.
“The students wouldn’t be expecting it,” Bohonek said about the new cars. “We won’t have these vehicles in view. So, they won’t know it is out there. They may be expecting a (police) SUV, and all of a sudden, one of these vehicles rolls up. We try to make it as realistic as possible out here, which is not always easy to do.”
It should be noted that the Secret Service’s responsibilities go beyond protecting the President. Up until 2003, they were a division of the U.S. Treasury, and are currently tasked with investigating a wide range of financial and cyber crimes, including credit card fraud, wire and bank fraud, computer network breaches, ransomware, as well as currency counterfeiting. It would be interesting to see Secret Service agents roll up in Cadillac CT5-V Blackwings to carry out a search warrant for a Superbill investigation or track down the origin of some hackers.