Keeping the Faith: Featuring Rad Jones, Retired Secret Service Agent to Six US Presidents & Isaiah 41:10

Welcome to the first episode for Season Two of Loving the Imperfect, a show for seekers of deeper contemplation. I'm your host Brianne Turczynski. 

For 10 years, I've been studying offerings from holy teachers and holy texts. I'm a journalist who has listened to the stories of many people throughout the years, and I continue to be captivated by the stories of how God touches the lives of us ordinary people, how God nudges and directs us, either by closing doors or opening them, making the mystery of coincidence, more of a mystery. So, join me as we listen to these extraordinary stories and become witnesses to the truth of Love. 

Today's episode we will be talking to Rad Jones. Rad Jones is a member of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. He started his career as a police officer then joined the Secret Service where he served on the presidential detail for six US presidents, from Kennedy to Reagan. He also taught criminal justice at Michigan State University and led security operations at Ford Motor company. In this episode, we sit with Mr. Jones and hear how his career in law enforcement kept him focused on God and steered his life a certain way, leading him to be a more compassionate law enforcement officer, secret service agent, and friend. New episodes air bi-weekly every Wednesday. Thanks for tuning in!

For more information about me and my work, please visit www.BrianneTurczynski.com or www.LovingTheImperfect.com

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For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

Transcript

Intro:
Welcome to Loving the Imperfect Podcast, a show for seekers of deeper contemplation. I'm Brianne Tuszynski. For 10 years I've been studying offerings from holy teachers and holy texts. I'm a journalist who has listened to the stories of many people throughout the years, and I continue to be captivated by the stories of how God touches the lives of us ordinary people.

How God nudges and directs us, either by closing doors or opening them, making the mystery of coincidence, more of a mystery. So join me as we listen to these extraordinary stories and become witnesses to the truth of love. 

Hello and welcome to Loving the Imperfect. Today's episode we will be interviewing Rad Jones. Rad Jones is a member of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, and he was a secret service agent to six U. S. presidents. He also taught criminal justice; he was also a police officer. So we're going to hear from him today, hear about his life and how his career kept him focused on God and steered his life a certain way, led him to be a more compassionate law enforcement officer, secret service agent, and friend. We will hear his story today, and I hope that you enjoy it. Thank you for joining me.

Rad: Thank you. Okay. Well.

 I'm Rad Jones. I am a member of St. Philip’s and I'm kind of retired. I still do presentations on my career in the Secret Service, because I was a Secret Service agent for 20 years, protected six presidents. And then I retired and went with Ford Motor Company and ran their security. And then, when I retired from Ford, I spent 17 years at Michigan State University in the School of Criminal Justice teaching and working in two major department homeland security grants.
 
 Then I retired from that, but still active in doing security surveys for companies and for churches. And I enjoy that.
 
 Brianne: So you're the protector.

Rad: Or whatever. (Laughter)

Yes, right. The protector. That's a good term.

Brianne: So, you served under…

Rad: I started with Kennedy and ended up with Reagan. It was six presidents.

Brianne: Wow, so could you just name for me, for my own history, Kennedy, Johnson.

  Rad: Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Ford because Ford came in when Nixon resigned from office.

Brianne: So what influence did God have in your career in the Secret Service or following that as somebody who teaches criminal justice or works with security for corporations? Did God ever come into that equation, or did you just do it because you were interested in it and you enjoyed it? 

 Rad: I started church at a very young age, and then got interested in law enforcement, when I was a freshman in high school. I worked on a farm and I'm baling hay and it's a hot July day. I see the state police going by and I say, here I am sweating and hay's chaffed over me, that's the job I want. I knew some state troopers. We played baseball together, and I thought perhaps I would want to go into the state police and, but I took criminal justice in college. And then I got interested in the Secret Service, because it has the criminal investigative side and the protection side.

So, there’s two distinct things and I like that variety. I applied for the Secret Service in college as with several other law enforcement agencies. And after about a year and a half of investigation, when I graduated, I went on to the police department, working on my master's, and then Secret Service calls up one day and says, Do you want a job?

“Yes.” And I said, “Where?” And they said, “Buffalo report in two weeks.”
 
 I was single then. So, all I had to do was pack up the car and go. Go there. I was engaged, but I was single. So that's kind of how it evolved. The criminal justice program I was in, we had a lot of internships that we worked with the state police, local police, county sheriffs, different federal agencies.

So that really gave me a good foundation of really what I wanted to do and that was Secret Service. And I think probably my faith had a lot to do with me going in that career because it's a career that you help others.

You go in there to help others. And the people you find in that career, 99.9%, they always want to help you. I'm going to help people, especially people who are in trouble. Because in law enforcement, no one calls you up to say, are you having a good day? They call you up because there's a problem, and most of the problems are drug related, or people who are mentally disturbed. So, I think people in law enforcement, they do a lot to help people like that.

They don't get recognized enough for that. You think a law enforcement person, oh, you arrest somebody, you give someone a traffic ticket. Well, when I was a uniformed police officer, you don't hear about the times you, you stop a family, and they don't have a taillight. So, you take them into town, and you have somebody fix their taillight and you pay for it.
 
 Or someone doesn't have a meal, and you pay for that. There are times when I was working cases, especially Social Security cases, because if someone had a check forged, [a] government check, it was a Secret Service violation. And you go and see someone living in an apartment with no refrigerator, putting their food out on the windowsill to keep it cold, getting $125 a month. 

And so you would try to, help them or maybe steer them to a church or something to help them out. People don't see that side of law enforcement. I think in a career like that, people die, commit suicide you, go back on your faith, you get strength, and cause a lot of the verses in the Bible that I remember [are] things where God’s helping people. 

And I think it's the same way with law enforcement. 

Brianne: So, what is your favorite verse?

Rad: Well, I have a Isaiah 41:10. It's “do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my highest right hand”. I think that also helped me during my career in some tough times, dangerous times.

And I also think that the people in despair you kind of think about, well, this is what I need to do to help them through. It gives you a sense of compassion. Whenever I arrested somebody, I always thought, well, for the grace of God, that could be me. Our life takes many different turns. I was fortunate that I had a lot of right turns. If you have a wrong turn, I could be where they're at. 

So is there a moment where you recognized God in your life.
 
  I was on the Kennedy Detail, but did not make the trip to Dallas because my wife Nancy was expecting a baby. So, I changed with another agent—follow up car was the one I was assigned to. Then with Reagan, I had been in and out of that location, but I just transferred back to Detroit, so I missed that. I'm very fortunate with that. 
 
 I was going under scope for my throat, and they found a spot of cancer.

And with the doctors I really had to tussle whether to make a decision whether to have my esophagus out or whether to have, because the piece they removed, they didn't know if it had gotten out of that piece or not. And so, with the strength of several doctors who I could call and talk with and really unload and say, this is what I'm feeling, what should I do.

We worked through it. And I felt that working with the doctors and myself, we made decisions that were right for me. What I tried to do when I had that, is I tried to say, I didn't want to say why me. I think that's a selfish thing to say. Why me? Why did I get cancer?

I just kept saying or praying, give me the strength so that I can have good doctors, good support and make the right decisions. And as it was, it worked out. Now, I had several experiences during that one time was when I took communion and the minister here, Cynthia, when she gave me the wafer, I was getting ready to go under some tests.

I was getting tests every three months. And all of a sudden, I just felt, I felt a connection. I felt like God was there it gave me a lot of strength. It was refreshing. It is kind of like I can handle things and then I was walking one day and all of a sudden, I looked up and it was a calm day, but the trees were blowing.

And you always think about, well when God's presence there, there may be a breath of air movement I felt strength in that. I felt it was a connection. I felt that it was God's way of talking to me to help me through that. And I have some minister friends, and I mentioned it to them, and they said some people will recognize that.

And they had heard some people say that before. And had to experience the same thing so I ruly think that was a connection I had.
 
 Brianne: Yeah, like a mystical experience.

Rad: Yes, uh huh. Yeah. Right.

Brianne: It seems like you've had a couple of those, like you just naturally recognize them more than maybe other people.

Rad: Mm hmm. Well, that's what my minister's friends have told me. They said some people are more receptive to that. 
 
I had that experience with looking for my granddad's grave site in Washington, D.C. It was unusual. We pull in. I didn't quite know where to look because the cemetery he was buried in was Episcopal Cemetery. It was a portion in a larger cemetery, so it was really like looking for a needle in a haystack. When we pulled in, we were in almost downtown Washington, D. C., and there's this big deer with antlers.

And he’s standing there, and it's looking at us. Now, I wasn't imagining it, because my sister and my wife were in the car with me. If I was by myself, somebody would probably think I'd been drinking or something. But then the deer ran down this road in the cemetery, and it stopped and looked back.

Then it ran off down this road, and so we kind of followed it, and then it went down a different direction, and we kind of followed that, and it's where we thought that maybe the grave might be. And we stopped the car and got out, and my wife is looking around, and all of a sudden, she says, “Oh, here's your granddad's grave site”. 

And the deer was gone. And so, I don't know. I think that just didn't happen, it probably happened for a reason. Yeah. I mean, because when you see a big buck deer down in the middle of Washington, D.C.
 
 Brianne: That's true. And the way it was looking back at you.

Rad: Right, it kept saying, well, follow me, here I am, you know, follow me.

Yeah. And I think that faith also carried me through the job because, when you're doing advances around the world, you're in some dangerous situations, especially when you're overseas.

I made a couple arrests. I took a gun away from a guy as he was trying to pull it on me to shoot me. And I took it away from him, and when I took it away, I was so mad, I kind of put it in his face with my hand and said, what were you going to do with this? And he looked at me and said, I was going to kill you. 

He was a businessman that was going under, so he started a counterfeit and that's why we arrested him. And then, when I had him back at the office I talked to him, he said, “I can't imagine that I ever went to shoot an agent or shoot you, but”, he said, “looking back, I would have done it”. Cause he saw his whole life going in front of him. I can remember another situation when I was a uniformed police officer. I had pulled up to a gas station at about three in the morning and saw that it had been broken into. And I radioed it in. I went into the gas station and there was an individual in there. I arrested him. He had a gun on him, and, he told me in the police car, he said, “I could have shot you coming through the door, but” he said, “all of a sudden, it flashed through my mind that I remember being treated nicely by a police officer, and I didn't shoot you. That flashed before me”. 
 
 So, in my law enforcement career, I've always remembered that. Cause I always thought. If you treat people right, even though you arrest them, you know, they're still a human being. If you treat them decently, then, perhaps you may save somebody, another officer's life down the way.

Cause that might flash back on you.
 
 Brianne: Yeah. I like that. When did, in your life, did you feel like you were truly being nudged by the Holy Spirit?
 
Rad: Well, I can remember, it's kind of interesting because, when I was in junior high, I lived in a small town—400 people. I lived two blocks from downtown. It was a stoplight, you know, Four Corners we called it. And I was coming back, and it was raining. And all of a sudden I felt this, , strength that, God helps those who help themselves. Now that's not in the scripture, you know, that they, many people think it is. So that's when I really felt the presence of God. And So I’ve never worried about my career. I always felt that if you do the right things, perhaps if you're fortunate, your career will take care of itself. I worked with some people who were so driven that they wanted their career to be a certain way: Oh, I want to get on the presidential detail. 
 
And not everybody gets on the presidential detail. And if that didn't happen, they were destroyed. They became bitter. So, you know, just try to go the direction you think you should go and have faith that things will work out all right. 

And I've been fortunate that it has.
 
 Brianne: Yeah, I'd say so. Were there any moments while you were working and involved in all these people's lives that were difficult? Were there any dark times that you were like, I can't take this anymore. Because sometimes when I was teaching in the high school and all these kids bring you their stuff. And it's very hard to take. I would end up taking a lot of their drama home and their heartache home and their parental stuff home. And so, I wonder, was it the same for you?

Rad: Well, one of the assignments I had was working in our investigation intelligence area and that was we handled threats on the President's life and that can get to you. One of the things that we had to do when you're on assignment in that is we had to interview people that came to the White House and wanted to see the President. Maybe because there were birds in their head, bad stomach problems, a lot of imaginary things, and they thought the president was the only one that could help them. And so, you'd have to interview them, and you'd have to make a decision of whether, were they dangerous to themselves or others. And if they were dangerous to themselves, you could commit them to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Some you couldn't, but they were wanderers. What were you going to do with them? And we had a nice relationship with the Metropolitan Police Department and the Traveler's Aid. So that if someone had traveled from Michigan, to Washington, and they didn’t have any money to go home.

Well, the Metropolitan Police, you could call them, and they would take them from the Northwest Gate to the bus station and get travelers aid money and put them on the bus to send them home. We would then call their family or something, say, expect them coming home. Because you always wondered, do they go home? Do they get off? Do they wander around? And they, and they need help. And when you handle a number of these cases, even when you've committed them to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, they might be released in three days or ten days. They have a hearing, they get medication, the doctor says they're alright, but they're really not alright. They go out into the community; they stop taking their medicine. So, then they come back, and you see them again. Or you found out they killed themselves. Sometimes we would handle calls. 
 
 I remember one call where they were threatening suicide, and they wanted the president to intervene, and it was switched over to Secret Service and we were handling it. 

And we were trying to get the local police. You had to trace the call, but in those days, you had to go through all the exchanges. And we're trying to get where he's at so we could call the local police to get in and rescue him. And we heard the shot. He had killed himself. And those tell on you. Those tell on you.
 
 When I was at Ford, we had some work police shootings, and they tell on you. You know, when you see the death, the bodies, I think that's where you go back to your faith. Sometimes you feel you get a little distracted from it.

If you think about it at night, you say, I can't go there. You know, some people, they let themselves go there and then they end up drinking or something like that. Right?
 
 Brianne: Yeah. So, you had to probably keep yourself on a positive mindset.

Rad: Right. That's what I used to tell the police officers and people I worked with, don’t dwell on it. You know you did as much as you could and try to go from there. But it's easier said than done. Some personalities handle it, others don't. I've seen people have nervous breakdowns right in front of me because they just couldn't handle it.

Brianne: Wow. And these were your coworkers?

Rad: Yes.

Brianne: Yeah. I think I'm one of those people I would take it to heart. Is there anything else that you want to mention before we end?

Rad: Well, I think everybody's faith is individual to them, the way they respond. After taking the gun away from the individual, I remember driving home and thinking, maybe I wouldn't be going home tonight.

I had that in other situations where you almost get in a gunfight. But that's an individual thing so I think we all handle it differently.
 
 In law enforcement back then, you didn't talk about it, which was a mistake. After the assassination of Kennedy, we didn't talk about it. I mean, we went right to work. You know, the man that took my place in Dallas, we're riding into work. I'm going to the White House; he's going to headquarters. And I said, Glenn, I said, “Where do you see your future in the Secret Service?” He said, “I'll never be on the street again”.
 
 There was a book written in 2013 called The Kennedy Detail. And the agent that wrote that book brought Clint Hill out. Clint Hill suffered really, he thought he could get to the car quicker. He's the man that jumped on the Kennedy's car. 

He finally came out, but several agents were called, and they did not want to even talk about it. The book was good therapy for us because we talked about it. There was no post trauma. Our wives even mentioned, [we] never really talked about it. You were law enforcement, you were supposed to be able to handle it, go back to work.
 
 I remember I was in New York City when the book came out and I hugged one of the agents. Who had gone through some hard times. He said, “I should have done this sooner. We should have gotten together and talked about it.
 
 I admired Clint Hill. He was an excellent leader. And when I look back, I never said to Clint, God, Clint, it was unbelievable what you did. We just worked together; you know? And I wish I would’ve done that. In fact, Clint’s 91 years of age, now 92. And I wrote him a letter a while back, thanking him for the positive things he did for my career, and how I respected what he went through. And how they handled it. I didn't realize the trauma he was going through. He had to retire from the Secret Service because of health issues. And you look back and maybe we would have talked about it. That wouldn't have happened. We lost a good person.
 
 Brianne: So, is the Secret Service now practicing these therapeutic [sessions]?

Rad: Yeah, fortunately when I was in we had an excellent director. And we were having a higher divorce rate. We did have some suicides. And the director said what we need to do is we need to form a task force. So, he brought in supervisors, working agents. And what we did is we brought in agents.

We talked to them. We went out and talked to their families, their children, and their wives. And we said what can we do to make the job better for you emotionally and everything else. And there were a lot of recommendations. That came out of it: you can only spend so many days on a temporary assignment. When an agent was sent on the detail, the family came in, had a tour of the White House. Sometimes they'd even meet the President. And so, they really felt a part of it. And the agents were close. 
 
 When Reagan was shot, McCarthy got shot in the stomach trying to protect him, the agents right away were right at his doorstep. They took care of his wife and his family. Secret Service is always a family. I even felt today, if something happened to me, that my wife could call the Secret Service office, and they would be right there. What can we do to help you? And that means a lot, because that family unity. And I hope it remains today.

When we talk to the younger agents, we always instill that in them. You know, you're a family, you need to support each other. You're going to have some tough times.
 
 Brianne: That's good that you guys are doing that now. You know, everybody's getting a little bit wiser about mental health.

Rad: That's right. That's right. You know, it's not like, well, you're a strong man or a woman and you should be able to take it. And it's just not so. Because you get flashbacks. If you don't get right on it, you can get flashbacks. I even go back to some flashbacks I had on some accidents when I was a police officer. I'm 85 now, that was 60 years ago. And sometimes I'll get a flashback. My daughter was in an accident. I was talking to her on the phone when it happened. They got hit by a drunk driver and went off into the woods. Fortunately, she was alright. But sometimes when I think about that I flash back because I can remember people being in a twisted car or dying or something like that.

And there again I say, no, I can't go there. Can't go there. You have to think of the positive things. 
 
 Brianne: Wow, yeah. That, that would be really hard and take someone with a very strong mind to psych themselves out of that thought process. What kind of person would you say, is perfect for that sort of career?
 
 Rad: Well, I think you, you have to be a type A personality, because you have to take charge, because when you arrive at a crime scene or an accident or something, you have to take charge. People want you to do that. But you also have to have a certain compassion about you. 

You know, and what's hard, if you're in law enforcement for a long time, you can think everybody's a dirt ball. Everybody's a bad guy and they're not, but if you see so many bad things, you can start to think that way and you're always fighting that. So I think, a type A personality with some compassion and then being able to segment your life because I think life's kind of like a triangle. You have your personal, your business, and your family or your associates. Sometimes a point on that triangle. Like, work takes more time away from the family, but there's other times when your family comes first. , I used to always worry with agents working with me that were constantly in the office.

Maybe they were sitting around having coffee with someone and their case was up. And I'd say, get home. What are you doing? You know, because I think they got so wound up in the work that they forgot that there was a family. And I think back to my time in Washington. I would drive to my home. And all of a sudden it seemed like my mind would click off, and I think about home, I think about the little league baseball games and all these things. And then on the way back, I get a certain spot in the road my mind would click on about, well, this is what I have to do at work. And that, yeah. I know some cases I carried home, but for the majority of the time I didn't.

I was lucky. So I would think you have to be type A, you have to be compassionate, and you have to be able to try to understand what things take a priority today, but maybe not tomorrow. 

And you have to be able to, to balance it out. And the Secret Service, I will say, was very good at that. We worked with the Institute of Mental Health. And they brought in a lot of things that we could do better.

So that came into your training, how to handle stress and all that and how to balance your life. 

Brianne: Yeah. Sounds like also being able to change on a dime, like your strategy.

Rad: Oh, yes. You learn that especially when you're a police officer.

You never say, oh, it's a slow day because the radio is going to go off and it's a bad tragedy, and you never know when that may happen, but to me that was a thrill of the work because you went out there and the radio went off and you responded to it and you were there to help somebody, but then also the downside is don't carry it home. 

Brianne: So Isaiah 41:10 that you read, coincides with your career and everything that you've dealt with coming to the rescue of people.

Rad: Jesus, you know, is helping people, helping the downtrodden and all that. Cause that's really what you're dealing with. You're dealing with people that are experiencing the worst time in their life, and so they really need someone to lift them up. And if you can be that person, you never know what you do or don't do that will impact a person's future.

Outro:

Thank you so much for joining us today on Loving the Imperfect. Join us next time for an interview with world class figure skater Nancy Jones, who happens to be married to Rad Jones, who you just heard from. I hope you enjoy this new season. Please consider subscribing or writing a review. Have a good rest of your week.

See you next time. Bye bye.