Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
John Constantine spent almost 23 years in the United States Secret Service. Fifteen of them on the Counter Assault Team — the assaulters who exist for the day everything goes wrong. Team leader. Instructor. Operations supervisor. He stood with a rifle next to four presidential administrations, worked in almost 90 countries, and finished out in the Dignitary Protective Division running foreign heads of state. He wrote a book about the part of it nobody sees. It's called Hallways and Stairwells.
He breaks down what actually happened at the Correspondents' Dinner, why the security plan worked even though the magnetometer checkpoint didn't, and how far that guy really was from the President. Butler gets the same treatment. The layers of security people never see. Why hunkering down has never worked, anywhere, ever.
Then it goes past tactics. Mission, men, then you. Getting swatted at his own house over a function fire and suspended for it. Refusing to send guys and guns overseas as a favor unless somebody put it in writing. Two thousand eight hundred agents doing the work of ten thousand.
And the part that almost killed him. His identity got ripped out with the job. His wife found him on the bathroom floor. He talks about the climb back.
Hallways and Stairwells: https://a.co/d/00SrmoEJ
Take the Operator Code Assessment: theoperatorcode.com
Today's Sponsors:
Black Rifle Coffee:
blackriflecoffee.com
LMNT:
drinklmnt.com
Timestamps:
0:00 Leadership, service culture, and the next book
5:20 Wrestling background and jiu-jitsu training
9:47 Secret Service careers and CAT selection
16:32 Correspondents’ Dinner security breach
26:27 Butler shooting and getting off the X
36:18 Investigating threats without conspiracy theories
45:22 Social media, lowered inhibitions, and protests
53:30 Building stronger people and better leaders
1:07:31 Hiring and retaining Secret Service personnel
1:19:58 Tactical mindset, CAT history, and innovation
1:40:32 Training reps without real-world kinetic experience
1:58:58 What a Secret Service career demands
2:10:02 Risk-taking, institutional conflict, and accountability
2:37:38 Leading teams with standards and humility
3:01:37 Book, leadership philosophy, and recruiting
3:09:03 Closing gift and second-book invitation
John Constantine spent almost 23 years in the United States Secret Service. Fifteen of them on the Counter Assault Team — the assaulters who exist for the day everything goes wrong. Team leader. Instructor. Operations supervisor. He stood with a rifle next to four presidential administrations, worked in almost 90 countries, and finished out in the Dignitary Protective Division running foreign heads of state. He wrote a book about the part of it nobody sees. It's called Hallways and Stairwells.
He breaks down what actually happened at the Correspondents' Dinner, why the security plan worked even though the magnetometer checkpoint didn't, and how far that guy really was from the President. Butler gets the same treatment. The layers of security people never see. Why hunkering down has never worked, anywhere, ever.
Then it goes past tactics. Mission, men, then you. Getting swatted at his own house over a function fire and suspended for it. Refusing to send guys and guns overseas as a favor unless somebody put it in writing. Two thousand eight hundred agents doing the work of ten thousand.
And the part that almost killed him. His identity got ripped out with the job. His wife found him on the bathroom floor. He talks about the climb back.
Hallways and Stairwells: https://a.co/d/00SrmoEJ
Take the Operator Code Assessment: theoperatorcode.com
Today's Sponsors:
Black Rifle Coffee:
blackriflecoffee.com
LMNT:
drinklmnt.com
Timestamps:
0:00 Leadership, service culture, and the next book
5:20 Wrestling background and jiu-jitsu training
9:47 Secret Service careers and CAT selection
16:32 Correspondents’ Dinner security breach
26:27 Butler shooting and getting off the X
36:18 Investigating threats without conspiracy theories
45:22 Social media, lowered inhibitions, and protests
53:30 Building stronger people and better leaders
1:07:31 Hiring and retaining Secret Service personnel
1:19:58 Tactical mindset, CAT history, and innovation
1:40:32 Training reps without real-world kinetic experience
1:58:58 What a Secret Service career demands
2:10:02 Risk-taking, institutional conflict, and accountability
2:37:38 Leading teams with standards and humility
3:01:37 Book, leadership philosophy, and recruiting
3:09:03 Closing gift and second-book invitation
