Outside the Secret Service Podcast

On this episode of OTSS, we hear from Retired Assistant Director, Mike Centrella. Mike is kind enough to share insights from 25-year Secret Service career. Fresh from college, Mike was part of the Young Agent Program in the New York Field Office and was to the Islamic terror attacks on 9/11. His career presented leadership roles in protective intelligence, investigations, inspection, the Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Field Office, then back to headquarters where he oversaw the agency's investigative mission.
Mike offers insights into making the most of a career (regardless of your assignment), his transition to cybersecurity in the private sector, and his continued connection to the Service through family and colleagues.
He has been described as "an agent's agent" and "a great boss". Both are high praise in the ranks of the Secret Service.

Retired Resident Agent in Charge Hazel Cerra recounts her 26-year Secret Service career—from training and fieldwork in Newark and Philadelphia to the Clinton detail and leading the Atlantic City office. She discusses recruiting innovations, evolving investigations from physical skimming to network intrusions, and her transition into the digital security space at Black Cloak.
The episode highlights adaptive leadership, resilience, and practical advice for new agents, showing how Secret Service methods apply to modern cyber threats and personal digital protection. You'll also hear, first hand, how the Secret Service brand and culture calls you to be accountable to those who came before you and responsible for those who come after.

Retired Assistant Special Agent in Charge Mike Nason walks us through his 27-year Secret Service career, from small‑town resident agent assignments and protective details to counter surveillance operations, inspections, and media relations. He takes us behind the scenes of the infamous shoe-throwing incident in Baghdad involving Former President Bush, campaign improvisation, and explains how technology, recruitment, and agency culture shaped his service.
Mike offers deep insights on the rewards and strains of the job, lessons learned about leadership, accountability, work‑life balance, and why the agency’s people and traditions still matter as he moves into retirement.
 
#GoArmyBeatNavy

Retired Special Agent Brad Beeler (1999–2024) discusses his new book Tell Me Everything, recounting 25 years in the US Secret Service, including many as a polygrapher. Join us as Brad shares vivid and insightful stories - from high‑profile counterfeit cases and child‑exploitation - and explains how polygraph and interviewing techniques shaped investigations and relationships.
The episode also offers practical communication takeaways: how preparation, listening, and strategic empathy coax truth, why leaders should create safe settings for conversations, and how law‑enforcement lessons translate to everyday leadership, parenting, and negotiation.
Brad is genuine, funny and a wildly entertaining interview. You can find him and links to awesome new book below:
 
BradleyBeeler.com
 
https://a.co/d/04Uo6yTq
 
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tell-Me-Everything/Brad-Beeler/9781637748428

On April 25, 2026, during the White House Correspondents' Dinner (WHCD) at the Washington Hilton, an armed man charged past a magnetometer checkpoint, shot a uniformed Secret Service Officer and was subsequently apprehended as he attempted to make his way to the ballroom where the President, Vice President and a host of other USSS Protectees and Cabinet Officials were seated. 
On this episode of Outside the Secret Service, I'm joined by retired SAIC Tom Landry (Episode 008), retired DSAIC Todd Jenkins (Episode 001), and Former Special Agent, and current CNN Law Analyst, Jon Wackrow (Episode 018). Together, our goal is to help listeners gain a better understanding of the events of the WHCD, offer insight and perspective from Special Agents who have actually walked the space, evaluate the response, dispel misinformation and conspiracy theories, and highlight what worked and what will be reviewed.

Former Special Agent Jason Russell recounts his unconventional path to the Secret Service beginning with a remarkably unremarkable high school tenure. When he took his first criminal justice course in college, his life's purpose came into focus. Passionate about service and law enforcement, Jason bookended his time with the US Secret Service with a local department and another federal agency. Each uniquely preparing him for that moment when preparation met inspiration. 
Jason shares how the tragic murders at Sandy Hook moved him to consider how he might prevent future such tragedies. Jason left government service and founded Secure Environment Consultants helping schools, childcare centers, and numerous other organizations with security assessments, emergency planning, and training—applying Secret Service methods and principles of resourcefulness and preparedness to protect our most vulnerable communities.
You can learn more about Secure Environment Consultants here: https://secprotects.com/ 
 
 

Today we site down with Retired Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Mark Youngblood, to re-trace his 23-year Secret Service Career.
Mark is a natural storyteller and this episode features vivid anecdotes - from getaway trips during training, Rwandan goodwill moments, airspace operations and the Bitcoin/Silk Road investigation fallout - as well as reflections on timing, teamwork, leadership, and the challenges that lead to retirement.
Mark also discusses his transition to the private sectore with American Global Strategies and the lasting lessons he took from life in the US Secret Service.

Former Special Agent Tate Jarrow joins the podcast to share his journey from West Point to wiretaps. We talk about his path through combat deployments to the U.S. Secret Service, where he tackled major cyber investigations like the Liberty Reserve takedown and JPMorgan intrusion, served on the Counter Assault Team, and later transitioned to tech and startups focused on online safety.
This episode dives into polygraph myths, training realities, wild protection logistics (including a multi-boat extraction from the lawless tribal region of Nantucket), life-saving moments, and why personal privacy and consumer protection matter more than ever.
Tate is a natural and a cutting-edge leader in online safety and personal privacy. You can find his worthwhile offerings here:
https://onlinesafety.substack.com/
and here: 
https://trustrebound.com/ 

They tell you not to start a show with a "show stopper", so I saved this for Episode 2 of Season 2.
Barry Spodak is a mostly-retired clinical specialist, senior consultant and trainer, whose simulation-based training and collaboration with researchers shaped behavioral threat assessment and protective intelligence for the U.S. Secret Service.
The episode traces Spodak’s 40-year impact on generations of agents and officers: teaching them to interview people with mental illness, recognizing the ‘‘path to violence,’’ using realistic role-play simulations, and focusing on threat assessment and management to prevent targeted violence.
Here is a link to the US Secret Service's Exceptional Case Study Project that started it all: https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publications/preventing-assassination-secret-service-exceptional-case-study-project

Today we welcome Brian Lewis to the Outside the Secret Service Podcast. Brian is a Navy veteran and now retired Roseville, CA Police Lieutenant. On this episode we cover his fast-paced two years in the Secret Service which included a stint on a campaign advance team, and protecting a high-level foreign dignitary (Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai); and the ping-pong match that may have saved US-Afghan relations.
While Brian's story is uniquely his, the pace of his career and the decision to leave represent an all-to-familiar pattern in the ranks of the Secret Service. His story is equal parts impressive, inspiring and instructive.