I Spent 23 Years in the Secret Service — Here's What It Was Really Like | John Constantine
October 11, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readI Spent 23 Years in the Secret Service — Here's What It Was Really Like
John Constantine spent 23 years in the Secret Service, including 15 years on the elite counter-assault team that protects U.S. presidents. He describes his path into the agency as accidental — he applied everywhere after 9/11, and the Secret Service was simply the first to hire him. But what he found inside was far more complicated than the movies suggest.
How He Got In and What He Found
Constantine grew up in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the son of Greek immigrants. He had no direction as a young man, wrestled at Rutgers, and picked his double major in exercise physiology and biochemistry by copying a friend. After 9/11, he applied to every federal agency he could think of. The Secret Service hired him within six months — part of a mass hiring push where, he says, "a lot of us got hired that probably shouldn't have."
Training lasted six months, and the physical parts were easy for a former wrestler. What hit him was the culture shock. "Not everybody was as good of a person as I would have liked them to be," he says. He was surprised by how big people's egos were, how petty the politics could be, and how much navigating internal dynamics became part of the job.
The Two-Tiered System Inside the Agency
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Locked In with Ian Bick
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Opening: Therapy's Quiet Impact & Advertisements** - Host Ian Bick reads ads for Grow Therapy, MIDI hormone care, and Jerry car insurance.
- 2 (02:25) **Defining the Job: "We Assault Assaulters"** - John Constantine introduces himself and defines his 15-year role on the Secret Service Counter Assault Team (CAT).
- 3 (03:16) **Origin Story: A Jersey Kid with No Direction** - John describes his upbringing as a first-generation Greek-American, his lack of ambition, and how he ended up at Rutgers University.
- 4 (11:50) **Training & First Surprises: Culture Shock Over Physicality** - John explains that the hardest part of training was not the physical demands, but the cultural shock of being around a diverse group of people from across the country.
- 5 (16:06) **First Assignment: Stuck in Newark** - John was assigned to the Newark field office, which he calls the “redheaded stepchild of New York,” handling overflow protection from major trips.
- 6 (33:40) **The Corruption of Power: "Rules for Friends, Enforced on Enemies"** - John explains the two-tiered justice system he witnessed within the government, where high-ranking officials and politicians were known to be corrupt but faced no consequences.
- 7 (42:49) **Joining the Counter Assault Team (CAT)** - John describes his transition to the elite CAT team, which he chose because it was one of the hardest things in the service that you could fail at.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
John Constantine spent 23 years in the United States Secret Service, including 15 years on the elite Counter Assault Team protecting four U.S. presidents and carrying out high-stakes protective operations in nearly 90 countries. He rose through leadership roles overseeing CAT operations, the Joint Operations Center, and the Dignitary Protective Division before retiring in 2025. Now, as the author of Hallways and Stairwells, John opens up about the side of the Secret Service most people never see — the pressure, ego, mental health struggles, loss of identity, transition back to normal life, and what redemption looks like after more than two decades protecting others.
_____________________________________________
Thank you to AG1 & HUNGRYROOT for sponsoring this episode:
AG1: Go to https://drinkag1.com/lockedin.com and for a limited time, get a free Immune Support Bundle, including a bottle of Omega-3 fish oil and a bottle of Vitamin D3K2, with your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro.
Hungryroot: Explore my digital cookbook on Hungryroot today and find recipes that are right for you. Go to https://www.hungryroot.com/lockedin to access my cookbook: The Commissary Upgrade.
_____________________________________________
Become an EXCLUSIVE Locked In: After Hours Member & receive a FREE merch box:
https://lockedin.supportingcast.fm/
_____________________________________________
Connect with John Constantine:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-constantine-754b65380 Book: https://www.amazon.com/Hallways-Stairwells-Unhealthy-Identities-Self-Worth-ebook/dp/B0H2JFPKXZ/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=ua0gO&content-id=amzn1.sym.ac827e48-2948-4721-83ef-3e7648ac35cb&pf_rd_p=ac827e48-2948-4721-83ef-3e7648ac35cb&pf_rd_r=139-6322356-3953107&pd_rd_wg=cSAPW&pd_rd_r=7d5c7d02-167a-48fe-b942-c41b1596ad61 Website: https://constantineunclassified.com/
_____________________________________________
Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick:
_____________________________________________
Timestamps:
00:00 Counter Assault Team Intro
00:35 Growing Up in New Jersey
01:54 Wrestling and Rutgers
04:43 9/11 and Joining the Secret Service
07:28 Choosing the Secret Service
08:40 Secret Service Training
12:50 First Assignment: Newark
16:50 First Big Investigation
21:00 Compassion in Investigations
26:20 Interviewing Suspects
29:50 Corruption and Two-Tier Justice
34:00 Power, Morality, and Authority
38:50 Corruption in Protection
39:50 Joining the Counter Assault Team
43:00 Life on the CAT Team
44:50 Becoming a Real Boy
48:00 White House and Dom
More from this podcast
Locked In with Ian Bick →