Overview to Social Change Interview:

In this interview, Steve Sax, a retired United States Secret Service agent and James Madison University alumnus, discusses the evolution of American security, politics, and public service over the past few decades. Steve reflects on how his childhood in a law enforcement family during the 1970s and 1980s shaped his understanding of civic duty and personal responsibility—values that later informed his federal career. After graduating from JMU in 1992, Steve entered the Secret Service at a time of relative peace, only to face major global and domestic challenges that redefined his role.

Steve shares first-hand accounts of events that continue to shape the national conversation, including the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the September 11 attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the shifting security landscape during the Obama and Trump administrations. He notes how 9/11 marked a profound change in agency priorities, transforming the Secret Service’s mission and catalyzing a national security overhaul. Steve explains how technological developments, such as facial recognition and data analytics, have enhanced protection strategies but also increased the pace and pressure of the job.

One central theme in Steve’s reflection is the emotional weight of public service. He describes the stress of being away from family for months at a time and the mental toll of guarding high-profile individuals under constant threat. His account echoes broader themes such as the balance between service and sacrifice and the complexity of working for institutions at the center of political controversy. Steve’s story offers students and readers a nuanced perspective on federal service, leadership under pressure, and how historical moments shape both careers and identities.

 

Photo: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_of_the_United_States_Secret_Service.svg

Interview Citationn: Interview with Steve Sax, A Father’s Historic Experience as a US Secret Service Agent, Hist 150  Spring 2025, Conducted by Faith Clark, March 6th, 2024.

Biography:

This is an interview of Faith’s father Steve Sax, conducted by Faith Clark. Steve Sax served for 23 years as a special agent with the United States Secret Service and witnessed many historical events. Steve was born in 1969 and grew up in Northern Virginia and Dallas, Texas. Steve came from a law enforcement family as his father and grandfather were also in the profession.  

Upon graduating from the prestigious James Madison University, Steve began his career in law enforcement as a police officer for the Fairfax County Police Department before joining the United States Secret Service. 

During his Secret Service career, Steve served as a senior executive special agent. He oversaw security planning for presidential visits, National Special Security Events, protective and investigative operations, emergency response training, threat assessment, and intelligence. He also served in the elite presidential protective division.

Through the Secret Service, he traveled the world and experienced many exciting events. He retired in 2019 and now leads security in the education sector. Steve is happily married and his three daughters are all Dukes!

Transcript:

0:05
FC : Okay, hello, I’m recording now I’m interviewing Steve Sax and, yeah, okay, let’s get started. So the first question is, can you tell me some things you feel are important about yourself so we can get to know you. For those who don’t know you.

0:28
SS: Well, I would say that the things that are important to me are integrity, honesty, responsibility, and doing things the right way. Those are the main professional pillars that I try to live by on a daily basis.

0:51
FC: Okay that’s nice to know and are important values. Moving into more specifics, when growing up, how did you discover you wanted to go into law enforcement?

1:00
SS: My father was in law enforcement. My father was a police officer and an FBI agent, and so that really shaped me, and I always was very interested in that, and read a lot of books on it. I always had that mindset and that interest, even at a young age. And then my dad’s father, on top of that, was a police officer and my mom’s father was a lawyer and a judge, so I had a lot of influence in law and law enforcement.

1:41
FC: Okay, interesting! So how did your college career assist you in becoming a Secret Service agent? Like walk us through your college career.

1:54
SS: When I first started college, I had set out to become an accounting major, knowing that the FBI would hire people with accounting degrees. It was one of the special majors where you get hired as an FBI agent. So I majored in accounting to start and then once I started the accounting courses, I quickly realized that on the off chance that the law enforcement career didn’t work out or move forward, I did not want a career in accounting. My heart was not in accounting. I knew right away I didn’t want to have a job where I had to sit behind a desk all day, which is what an accountant would do, or, in theory, a business person. So I got out of that major and went into something that I had more interest in, and that was broadcast journalism. I switched majors, over to that, and that was a lot more interesting to me, and would have provided more of what I was looking for in terms of not being behind a desk all day and having a variety of different things to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. During my senior year in college, I began to further explore careers in law enforcement including the FBI and the Secret Service, and the Secret Service did require a college degree, so you had to have your college degree to apply. Once I graduated I moved forward in the process, and was thinking that I was going to get hired pretty quickly after graduation, but then the federal government put in a hiring freeze for these positions, so the Secret Service had to put in a hiring freeze, and they froze all applications. So I ended up waiting another five years before I started with the Secret Service due to the hiring freeze. During that time, it was recommended that I join a local police department and get experience doing something like that. So that’s what I did. I applied to and joined the Fairfax County Police Department, and spent three years there getting the experience I would need to join the Secret Service eventually. When you’re hired as a Secret Service agent, you go through an extensive background check. The background check is going to last, generally, about six months, and it includes delving into your past, going all the way back to when you were a child, looking at every job you have held, your grades in school, your drug use, if any, any crimes you may have committed, looking back at references; people that knew you, talking to them and finding out more about you as a person and what kind of person you are, taking a lie detector test, taking drug tests, taking fitness tests. You have to be physically fit and able to achieve certain scores on a fitness test to be considered. And then several panel interviews, where you interview with current agents that are on the job.  And then, once you’re hired, you are sent through six months of training before you graduate and actually become a working Secret Service agent. The Secret Service is not looking for perfect people.  The goal of the background check is to find men and women of integrity with a strong work ethic.

 

5:59

FC:Did you go to the President’s detail first?

 

6:04
SS: No. Once you graduate and start your career as an agent, you have to get experience before they’re going to move you to a President’s detail. That is the most prestigious job in the Secret Service. So they want agents that have had experience in the agency. Generally, you’ll do anywhere from four to eight years in a field office or multiple field offices and other assignments before you’ll even be considered for the Presidential protective division. Your name, if you’re interested in joining, is pushed over there as a possibility. And really another background check is done on you in terms of, your reputation and what have you done in the agency, and are you worthy of coming over to the President’s detail and serving there. And then once you get over there, then you serve over there for about five years before you rotate off.

7:08
FC: You were on Bush’s detail, and then you rotated it off?

7:15
SS: Yes, yes, I did five years with President George W Bush, Bush 43 and the reason they rotate you off is because when you’re on the detail, you are constantly changing shifts and traveling. You work a day shift, an evening shift, a midnight shift, you are constantly traveling, and you can only take so much of that and remain effective at your job. They want you to rotate on and then rotate off within, generally a five year period. And when you’re on the detail, you will work two weeks of each shift wherever the President is at that time. And then you go into two weeks of training. So every six weeks, you’re doing two weeks of training to maintain your skills while you’re on the President’s detail. That’s anything from emergency medicine, firearms training, fitness training, drivers training; all of that stuff is done to keep your skills sharp.

8:33
FC: Okay wow, that’s a lot. Do you think the Secret Service has changed as the political atmosphere in America has changed?

8:45
SS: Absolutely, the Secret Service changes based on current trends, tactics, the threat environment, and any time that politics becomes divisive, and at the top of everyone’s mind generally that’s going to increase the threat level. So the Secret Service has seen that time and time again, when politics becomes very divisive, the threat level does go up for the people that we protect, so we have to change and adapt to that, come up with new ways to, maintain high levels of protection. Politics always plays a role, especially in terms of funding. Politics plays a role in the funding of all government agencies, and law enforcement agencies are no exception. When law enforcement agencies, and in particular the Secret Service, are not fully funded, then that becomes a problem. You cannot do everything you want to do if you don’t have the budget to do it. Politics is a factor.

10:12
FC: Okay, that is interesting to know. We talked about the change in the Secret Service and
obviously you had a lot of important moments, but can you describe the most historic and important event that took place that you think was the most historic within your time?

10:37
SS: Oh, there’s so many, I can go through a few of them here, kind of starting in chronological order in terms of history, I was a young agent when the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton scandal broke, and if you look back to any of the news footage during that time, the main video clips, they show of one of the public interactions that he had with her, I was at that venue, very close to the public interaction. So that became very political at the time, and the other political side was really going after President Clinton. That was an experience as a young agent to see politics firsthand through our protective mission. We were asked to give up certain information that we normally don’t give up, and we fought that because what happens between the Secret Service and the people we protect has to remain private or they will not trust us enough to keep us close to them so we can do our job effectively.That was one of them, and then moving on to 9/11 of course, a major event for the entire world, especially for the United States, and we lived through that. I was actually on the President’s detail during 9/11 and we immediately had to provide extra resources to the president, his family, his extended family, and other protectees in the government, because no one knew where the next threat or attack was coming from, and so it was all hands on deck, and we were deployed to a lot of different places that you would never think we would be deployed to, to try to make sure everything was protected to the best of our abilities. Everything changed after 9/11 in terms of; prior to 9/11 we did not formally secure the airspace over a President, and now it is secured at all times. Then getting to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I was with the president when he made the decision to go to war with these countries. I was there for some of the key decisions that were made in the White House Situation Room [a secure communications center and crisis management facility used by the President and national security staff to receive and process sensitive information and make decisions] got to witness those firsthand. Then, of course, I made the top secret trip with the President into Iraq during the active war. It was the first time in modern history that a sitting president had ever visited an active war zone. The plans for his visit were closely guarded and only a handful of government officials were even made aware of the trip. We snuck the president out of the United States and into Iraq so he could visit the troops and have some meetings with Iraqi leaders. Then getting to the historic Barack Obama campaign for president, and his eventual election as the first black man to ever receive his party’s nomination, and then the first black president, obviously, and all of the history associated with that and being a part of that campaign and part of that inauguration, and transitioning into his presidency, was historic on so many levels. I knew in the moment how significant it was and what a privilege it was to witness. And then most recently, with the Trump campaigns, having a former, you know, television star running for president and all the things that go along with that, and then having him serve two non consecutive terms and the history behind that. That’s basically a lot of the history that I witnessed.

15:04
FC: That’s very cool to hear about! So we talked a lot about your time in the Secret Service, what are some of the biggest changes that you observed within your time? This could be like social changes, political changes, etc..

15:19
SS: Yeah, obviously politics changes on a regular basis, so we’ve seen that firsthand, more divisive and “out there” political discussions. When I first started, social media was non-existent, and not every person had a platform to communicate their ideas and oftentimes threats. That changed, number one. Then the presidents changed as well. Prior to Bill Clinton, presidents realized when they got into the office that they were kind of in a box. You know, they could do official trips and they could go on scheduled vacations, but it was all very choreographed, scripted and planned out. It wasn’t until President Clinton got into office where he kind of turned that on its side and said, No, I’m going to continue to live my life and I’m gonna go to the movies and I’m gonna go shopping and we’re gonna go out to dinner. He started doing that on a regular basis, and it really changed the way the Secret Service had to do business as well. We had to be ready for that and come up with a whole new set of protocols to handle events like that. Since then, other presidents have done the same. It has definitely changed in that regard as well.

17:00
FC:I never thought of that. Talking about changes. What are some changes, since you have graduated from JMU? A lot of JMU students may be reading this interview. What are some changes you’ve seen after coming back to JMU after 20 years?

17:17
SS: Oh my gosh, JMU has exploded, and unfortunately, it’s been more than 20 years.

17:27
FC: Haha.

17:28
SS: It has been over 30 years, unfortunately, since I graduated, but JMU has exploded. When I was at JMU, there was no East Campus. The only thing on the East Campus was the Convocation Center where the basketball games were held. That was it. We had no other buildings on the East Campus. We only had about 10,000 total students. So everything was contained to that West Campus. The football stadium was half the size that it is now when I was there. The football team was not very good when I was there, and now they have an excellent football team. Obviously, we had limited dining options, so we had 1 D-Hall and we had one food court where there were no brand named foods like chain restaurants on campus. There were no coffee shops on campus. The food court was located in the Student Union there next to D- Hall.

18:43
FC: Oh yeah.

18:45
SS: Is that still called the Student Union?

18:49
FC: Yeah, it’s called The Union.

18:51
SS: The Union, yeah, that’s where the food court was.

18:52
FC: Oh!

18:53
SS: But yeah, that was it. We had that food court and D -Hall, and there were no other dining choices. There were very few bars. The downtown area has kind of been revitalized since I was there. We rarely if ever went downtown. There just weren’t a lot of restaurants and bars down there. So that’s definitely changed, and obviously it’s grown so much in size with all these other apartment complexes and shopping centers or outlet stores, retail stores in the area and ours was very limited to the Valley Mall and maybe a couple other mom and pop places.

19:41
FC: Interesting. So out of the changes you witnessed in the Secret Service, which of them do you feel like was the most important change?

19:52
SS: That’s a good question, I would say, probably the changes that took place after 9/11 in terms of really securing our airspace and being able to defend our airspace. So again, after 9/11 and subsequent years, we developed technology that could neutralize incoming aircraft or drones that were near one of our protected sites, mainly involving the president. We developed a lot of technology to neutralize threats that were coming from the air. I think that was probably the biggest change, in addition to the technology. As the years go on, technology gets better and better. We have better bullet -resistant glass. We have better armor and steel. We have better equipment for investigations and protection, better cars. So everything improves with technology and then hiring the right people and making sure you get the right type of person that comes in to serve as a Secret Service agent. That’s really the key.

21:29
FC: Mhm. So, thank you for that. Okay, so as a father, you know that’s very important. How did you balance fatherhood and raising three daughters while also keeping up with the demand of the Secret Service?

 

21:46
SS: That’s a good question. When I was on the President’s detail, and that’s when you probably travel the most, and you’re working crazy hours and holidays, I was fortunate that mommy was able to stay at home. We only had two daughters then, and they were very young, so it really didn’t matter which days I had off. A lot of times I may have had Tuesday and Wednesday off, and that was fine because your sisters were not in school and mommy wasn’t working, so we could all hang out together. So we made that work to our advantage, and we had a lot of fun times during those off days and during the travel periods. I was fortunate enough to have a supportive and independent wife. But there were also tough times when I was trying to race home because there was a sick child, or the air conditioner broke, or the car broke down,

22:52
FC: Or I was being born?

22:54
SS: Yeah. Or you were being born prematurely. It was definitely a challenge, a big challenge during those times, but, you know, we made it work to the best of our ability and made the best of it. Truly great and memorable family times made possible because of your awesome mom.

23:12
FC: So was the demand during the presidential protections the same during your career after that presidential protection time?

23:26
SS: Yeah, so the main demand during the Presidential time was constant travel, and then knowing that you’re at the highest level of protection, right? The threats are non-stop against the President, you have to be on your A -game every single day, as you do for any Protectee that we protect. When you’re young, you have a more singular level of responsibility, but as you progress through your career, you become responsible for more than one little piece of it. You move up slowly to two pieces, three pieces, and pretty soon you’re in charge of the whole operation. That brings a new level of demand on you as a person, and responsibility on you as an agent. As you move up even past the President’s detail, you take on more and more responsibilities that include a broader view of everything that’s going on and responsibility of your entire unit of the Secret Service. So the demands are always there. It’s just different when you’re a supervisor, versus a non-supervisory agent.

25:14
FC: Okay. And then lastly, we talked about how you attended JMU. Would you recommend this career to JMU students now? What advice do you have for current JMU students?

25:31
SS: Yeah, absolutely. I would recommend the career! It was a fantastic career, if you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life and that’s how I felt in the Secret Service. It was never a job, It was a way of life, and it was a commitment that I made and enjoyed every step of the way. It was a 24/7 job. You never stop being a Secret Service agent, even when you’re hanging out on a Saturday, you’re still a Secret Service agent. Everyone looks at you like you’re a Secret Service agent, and you have to act accordingly. But it is a fantastic job. You’re not sitting behind a desk all day, which was my main goal, and you get to do a lot of very interesting things. You really are a silent witness to history. You are there for some very historical moments in our country. You are a part of something as profound and important as the United States Secret Service, so I would absolutely recommend it. In general, the career of law enforcement is a very noble profession, a very rewarding profession. We need law enforcement officers, especially in this day and age. Law enforcement at any level is not only a super fun and engaging job, but it is such a noble and needed profession to help maintain law and order across this country. I would definitely recommend that profession. My advice to any JMU graduate is to find something that you enjoy doing. Don’t focus so much on the money. If you could find something that you enjoy doing and you do it well and bring that passion to it, then you’ll make your money. If you find a job that you’re just taking to make money, and you don’t really enjoy the job, your heart’s not in it. You’re probably never going to be good at it, and you’re probably not going to last in that position very long. You’ve got to find something that you’re passionate about, that you enjoy doing, and the money will follow.

28:04
FC: Wow, that’s good advice. I hope I take that advice. Okay, thank you so much for this interview. It was amazing talking to you, hearing about the Secret Service and hearing your advice for everyone. So thank you. I hope you have a great day.

Photo : https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/11/images/20031127_dsc2048-515h.html

 Research:

The U.S. Secret Service Protection is a peer reviewed journal that goes over some of the duties of the USSS. As my dad, Steve Sax stated, the secret service is in charge of protection. Steve protected George W. Bush from 2001 – 2005. Being in the president’s detail is a very important and prestigious part of the job. Anytime the president leaves the white house they are under a constant guard of agents. These agents may act as a human shield for the president when necessary. The protection has increased greatly from the protection of President Cleveland to the protection of President Obama. This is due to the evolving technology and tactics used in crimes—including financial, cyber, terrorism, and attempted assassinations. The detail works 24 hours a day everyday. Along with being on the president’s detail, Steve also worked in the Washington DC and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania field offices. Work in the field offices included investigating counterfeit currency, financial crimes, and threats.

President George W. Bush declared that U.S. forces launched a military operation in Iraq, describing it as the beginning of a comprehensive and coordinated campaign. The Iraq War began on March 20th 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq to eliminate WMDs and overthrow Saddam Hussein. Over 4,700 allied troops and 100,000 Iraqi civilians died (Council). An important historic event that my dad was a part of during his time in the secret service was during this war whenGeorge W. Bush did a top secret visit to Iraq to have Thanksgiving dinner with the American troops in November 2003. George W Bush was flown in complete secrecy to Iraq to thank the troops for defending the American people (Miller). Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez Bremer announced his arrival by asking if there was “anybody back there more senior than us” to read the president’s thanksgiving proclamation. Bush emerged and the soldiers cheered in joy. It was a surreal moment for everyone there. In the video clip from this source, at minute 4:40, you can actually see my dad walk by. This was an incredibly significant and historic moment for everyone involved.

Bibliography:

1.

Miller, Chris. “Deseret News Archives: President Bush Made Surprise Visit to Troops in 2003.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 27 Nov. 2024, www.deseret.com/utah/2024/11/27/deseret-news-archives-president-bush-makes-surprise-visit-to-troops-in-2003/.

www.deseret.com/utah/2024/11/27/deseret-news-archives-president-bush-makes-surprise-visit-to-troops-in-2003/.

Desert News is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News

2.

“The Iraq War.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/timeline/iraq-war. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

www.cfr.org/timeline/iraq-war.

CFR is a independent, nonpartisan member organization, think tank, and publisher.

3.

U.S. Secret Service Protection. , . HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.crs/crsuntaajgy0001&i=1.

https://search.lib.jmu.edu/permalink/01JMU_INST/1jlet4m/alma991016572634906271

Peer reviewed

Photos:

 

Interview and Technology Process:

For this interview, I used my Macbook to set up a zoom call with my dad. We texted the week prior to set up a date and time that worked best for both of us. I was able to easily set this up by downloading zoom on my computer, and then starting a meeting and texting my dad the meeting I.D. I watched a video on how to record a zoom call, so I was able to record the whole thing. I then edited the interview on I- movie, and removed any mess ups ot things my dad did not want included. After it was polished up, I used my phone to record the edited voice memo.

Transcription Process:

My transcription process followed the guidelines outlined in the Columbia University Center for Oral History Research Transcription Style Guide. I used a voice memo to record the interview, then imported it into otterAI to make it a transcript. After it was imported, I first went through and edited the speakers and added our names to make it easier for me to understand. I then thoroughly read through the interview, fixing any small mistakes that the AI made, combining some of the sentences that were separated, and taking away some filler words like “um” or “so”. Lastly my transcript was sent to my dad, Steve Sax, and he read through the transcript to approve all the information was accurate and that it could be posted. I also made sure I could include a picture. I did have a question when transferring the finished transcript to the website, but I just asked a classmate and she helped me!