the chief investigator

baptism by fire

like most americans, Secret Service Chief John E. Wilkie remembers precisely where and when he learned that President McKinley had been shot. he was in his office adjusting a picture while his president was gunned down in the presence of three secret service agents Wilkie hand-picked for security that day. it was the third time in less than forty years a US president had been slain, and the first time such a tragedy OCCURRED under wilkie's watch.

Now empowered by congress to provide full-time presidential security for the first time in history, Wilkie is determined to make sure no further TRAGEDIES befall the nation. Even if it means employing some experimental methods to outfox his deadly adversaries.

the silencer

Who is John Wilkie, really? The man has many enemies, and some of them point to his prior writing as Fred S. Ellmore ("Fred Sell More") to hurt his image. If they only knew the truth, for as far as secrets go, Yellow JOURNALISM is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to men like Wilkie.

Changing Roles

At the request of then-president Theodore Roosevelt and under the advisement of chief wilkie, the Secret Service TRANSFERRED nine agents to the Justice Department on July 26, 1908 to form an experimental detective bureau unlike any the uS GOVERNMENT had seen. It was the nation's first federal intelligence agency, and according to president Roosevelt himself: "Chief Wilkie should be transferred to the department of justice, and put at the head of the force therein organized."

although hotly contested by congress and never even given an official name, this so-called "Special Agent force" marked the birth of what would eventually become the FBI.