
Emily Featherston
U.S. Secret Service agent Michael Williams speaks at the May 9, 2018 Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce Luncheon.
What keeps you up at night?
For United States Secret Service agent Michael Williams, it’s the thought that a misstep on his part could have irreparable political and societal consequences.
“If I fail to do my mission, if I fail to do my job — that failure could change the course of history,” Williams said at the May Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Williams, who was the speaker at the luncheon, began his career in federal law enforcement in 1985, working to in some way serve and protect the six presidential administrations and other major figures since the term of President Ronald Reagan.
Reagan’s term was particularly memorable for him, Williams said, because at his very first major state event, he met actress and Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor.
For a 23-year-old kid from Ensley, he said, that was an eye-opening experience.
Williams also spoke about how the commitment to serve and protect, even to the point of “taking a bullet” is not something that any law enforcement officer, but particularly Secret Service agents, take lightly.
“I can’t train someone to take a bullet, and if I offered a class on how to get shot, I don’t think I would have very many takers,” he said, getting a chuckle from the audience. “However, I can train someone on how to shield, cover and evacuate.”
He gave the example of how the Secret Service agents did the best they could to protect Reagan in 1981 when John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots at the president. They then did a basic medical analysis and rushed Reagan to the hospital.
Williams went on to describe not only his experience in the Secret Service, both in Washington and in Miami, but went through the history of the agency itself.
What many don’t know, Williams said, is that the entity was formed after the Civil War, when the level of counterfeit currency in the U.S. had reached between 30 and 50 percent. At that time, the Secret Service was a financial agency, and didn’t protect the president.
Ironically, Williams said, the Secret Service was officially formed just hours before President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
Through the years, and after two more sitting presidents were assassinated, Williams explained that the Secret Service was given permission by congress to protect the president, vice president and their families, as well as visiting dignitaries.
After presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed, that protection was then extended to major presidential candidates, Williams said.
Williams served at the White House for 12 years, and has held numerous other positions before finally settling in Birmingham. He now serves as the special agent in charge of the U. S. Secret Service Birmingham Field Office, and has executive oversight for the State of Alabama and the State of Mississippi.
A lot of that, he explained, is dealing with cybercrime and financial crime, and working with local law enforcement in efforts to prevent and investigate those types of cases, but occasionally means protecting important individuals.
Through it all, he said, he hopes people realize that the Secret Service is a non-partisan organization that is loyal to the Constitution of the United States and serves the president.