At least the Secret Service is aiming to become more media-savvy

"The Media Relations course prepares executives for television and radio interviews, and encounters with the media on routine matters as well as during crisis situations. . . ."

-- from the Secret Service's posted brief for media consultants

by Ken

As we all know, the U.S. Secret Service has of late had more than its share, or at least way more than it would like, of media attention to its boys-will-be-boys agents. Now we don't know for sure that no effort has been made to explore and remediate the behavior of its boys, but we do know that another apparently crucial aspect of the agency's media-relations problem is being addressed. And not a moment too soon.

Earlier today washingtonpost.com reported (links onsite):

Secret Service seeking media relations trainers

By Carol D. Leonnig, Tuesday, May 13, 11:29 AM

The U.S. Secret Service is looking for a few good people — to train them in how to handle the press.

The elite law enforcement agency has been beset by bad news over the past two years, including several incidents of agent misconduct, questions about whether the service is suffering a leadership failure and a heap of congressional investigations.

The agency has been trying to recover from a series of unflattering reports since 2012, when a dozen agents were implicated in bringing prostitutes to their hotel while on a presidential trip to Cartagena, Colombia. This week, The Washington Post revealed that agents protecting the White House perimeter were ordered to abandon their posts for at least two months in 2011 to help provide security for the Secret Service director’s friend, an assignment they called “Operation Moonlight.”

But also this week, the agency finalized its request for media consultants to help the agency’s top leaders get more comfortable with answering reporters’ questions, appearing on television and generally handling media attention.

The Secret Service issued its request for price quotes and proposals from media advisers May 2, and explained its request in more detail Monday. That was the same day the Secret Service was answering questions concerning revelations about Operation Moonlight, and the media reported that Director Julia Pierson was calling for the agency’s inspector general to fully investigate the allegations to ensure public trust in the service.

The agency’s search for media consultants emphasizes its wish for a media relations training course that would be provided to up to 30 top agency leaders each year, in a contract that could last five years. It was first reported by Time magazine early Tuesday.

The posting describes what the agency wants for its media classes: “The Media Relations course prepares executives for television and radio interviews, and encounters with the media on routine matters as well as during crisis situations. The executive becomes more comfortable as they learn how to conduct themselves during interviews and press conferences and giving speeches, and deal with both positive and negative subjects as they learn the fundamentals of media and techniques. The course exposes the executive to the media environment – microphones, lights, cameras, tape recorders, news media personalities and their questions, so that they become more accustomed to that scene. In turn, they become more confident and less apprehensive in addition to becoming better prepared for an event with what they can say, and how they should say it.”

No, please don't send your résumés here. Just follow the appropriate links to the actual posting. Meanwhile, it's comforting to know that we can look foward to Secret Service personnel eing "more confident and less apprehensive in addition to becoming better prepared for an event with what they can say, and how they should say."

(I would say "how they should say it" (emphasis added), but maybe that's just me.


I'm not the media guy, but while it's probably OK media-wise that the Secret Service guys aren't smiling for the camera (that might send out the wrong signal), do we really want all those bald agents? Is that really media-savvy? And should we be having pictures where the Secret Service guy looks like twice the size of the president? Is this good for morale?

#