Men in black are not all, nor should they be, men. In fact, there are advantages to having more women work in the Secret Service.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and other public figures brought up the idea recently of having more women protecting national and visiting foreign leaders after 12 Secret Service agents and a dozen more military personnel were implicated in a prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia.
“I can’t help but wonder if there’d been more women as part of that detail, if this ever would have happened,” Collins said on ABC News.
Whether the incident could have been avoided if more than 11 percent of Secret Service agents were women can’t be known. But Collins’ statement brings up an important point: More women should serve in the agency.
Not necessarily because they will prevent scandals. Not because they don’t hire prostitutes or cheat. But because they might be better at keeping it, well, secret.
That’s meant to be a good thing.
Secret Service agents shouldn’t hire prostitutes, period. And they certainly shouldn’t lie about it. But women’s ability to cover their tracks, pay attention to details and talk their way out of difficult situations would serve them well as agents.
The Secret Service should hire the most qualified people. And women fit the job description. You can read about it in a book by Dan Abrams where the title explains all: “Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt that Women are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers and just about Everything Else.”
In the book, Abrams collects research to disprove myths about women. He argues that women make better soldiers because they don’t complain as much about pain. They are better at remembering words and faces. And they’re more adept spies because they are good at getting people to talk. Their presence also arouses less suspicion.
A study by Barclays Wealth and Ledbury Research found that women tend to be better investors because they don’t take as many risks. Why? Because they are not as overconfident. That’s a good attribute for a Secret Service agent.
Greater composure would work well. Research shows that women police officers often rely less on physical force and more on communication skills to defuse potentially violent situations, according to the National Center for Women & Policing.
And they might be better at understanding facial cues. About two-thirds of people polled in a British study believe women are better than men at catching someone in a lie.
Women now are more likely to get bachelor’s degrees than men, complete their degrees faster and get better grades, according to U.S. Department of Education statistics. The Secret Service would be smart to hire more women.
LOL They can hide their misdeeds better? Ha! This is off the scale moronic.
It’s what we have come to expect from a Bangor Daily News editorial.
Hey, didn’t they just “revolve” the latest person into the job? I’m pretty sure it’s a woman, too.
http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2012/04/bill_clinton_did_somebody_say_colombian_prostitute.html
Like they didn’t know about that guy, either. Yeah right they’re all dirty. Politicians, that is. Every last one of ’em.
Oh and hiring women as Secret Service agents, isn’t going to solve the problem. You’ll just have pregnant SS agents! But I could totally see a pregnant woman in a uniform, holding a Mauser pistol, with a little Obama logo arm-band. Very 1942-ish.
Hiring women isn’t going to change anything but the type of scandals we’ll see on TV. That’s about it. People haven’t changed in thousands of years. What makes us better than animals, really? I mean if a woman is able and willing to be a Secret Service agent, I don’t see why not hire them.
Is this not better suited to the opinion pages?
Oh yeah,we need to feminize America more than it already is. When women begin to rule a society it is because the men aren’t doing their job. Replacing them with women in this kind of position is idiotic at best. At least this was simply an opinion page.Who was the author?
The women agents could ingest BPA and grow little beards to blend in…LOL…
I believe that if a woman is qualified she should be part of the Secret Service as anyone should be. I also support more women being recruited as the Secret Service seems to have become some kind of frat party fueled by testosterone, machismo and booze. It also seems to have led to an “I can do anything I please” attitude with no regards for morals or the sensitive security level of their position. This has been going on for way too long and changes need to be made.
Maybe we should take the same approach with presidents. If a woman were president, would she have oral sex with an intern? Replace woman with any classification and then choose your stereotype. The County…for example. With all the business that goes on in Aroostook County, and all the growth that’s happening, why would anyone hire a person from Aroostook County to legislate if we as a nation and state NEED more jobs. We wouldn’t…it’s that simple. We have to assume that our good Senetor is a product of The County, not the reason the job growth is on the decline. Simply being “male” can not be a stereotype for promiscuity…can it be? Or should we assume that a woman equiped to be a prostitute will sooner or later end up a prostitute. Is that what we should expect from our Secret Service ladies? They are much more likely than men to turn out to be prostitutes. So if we find a female elementary school teacher that sells sexual favors on the side….does that mean that it’s ok for members of congress to ask the question, with a strait face, “I wonder, if we would have this problem if we hired more men?” It’s all crap. Judge people on the merits, don’t even allow sex, race or religion on the application for employment.
“But because they might be better at keeping it, well, secret.” – Bangor Daily News. Quite humorous! As was the “Names” section on page A-3 in Friday’s paper mentioning that former Libertarian vice -presidential candidate and Tea Party funder David H. Koch donated $15 million in 2009 and $35 million this year to the big government Smithsonian Institution. :^)
This really takes the cake! I like the part where the woman can cover their tracks better. If there were any woman SS agents in Columbia, the men would not have had to pay for it.
This is the deal people, you hire the best for the job, period. If only 10% of woman are good enough for the job, then that is all you hire. Same for the men, if they are not the best for the job, then don’t hire them.
Don’t be like the fire department and hire woman that cannot pass the physical fitness tests just so you can say your hire woman. Some jobs are meant for mostly men, some for mostly woman. Yes you get the occasional person that bucks the trend, fine, hire that person.