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This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with Cheryl Tyler, a former Secret Service Special Agent who served on protective duty for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. She is the founder and owner of CLT3 Security Logistics in Washington, DC. and author of Trailblazer: The Story of the First Black Female Secret Service Agent to Protect the President and Her Fight for Justice.
The full transcript of this episode of In Black America is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Announcer From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is In Black America.
Cheryl Tyler: I grew up in a household that believed in whatever it is that you think you want to do. Sounds okay. We’ll support you. We may not know what it is, but we’ll help you in every way possible. So I was very fortunate to have parents and family members bench and instilled that in me. And then when I went off to Spelman, Spelman reinforced that you can do and be anything you want to and put no limitations on yourself. So having a foundation like that and then it being extended even more by attending an HBCU, I thought I could conquer the world. Not know just wasn’t there. I can do whatever it was that I put my mind to. So, yes, I. I achieved it. I became the first Black female ever on a president detail, which was a huge accomplishment.
John L. Hanson: Jr. Cheryl Tyler, retired Secret Service special agent who served under protective duty for President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, founder and owner of CLT3 Security Logistics in Washington, DC, and author of Trailblazer The story of the first Black Female Secret Service Agent to Protect the President and a Fight for Justice. Tyler is a skilled and trailblazing federal law enforcement officer and a tireless advocate for equality. She was the first African-American female agent in the Presidential Protective Division of the United States Secret Service. In 1999, Tyler retired from the Secret Service after being told the Secret Service was, quote, not ready and a quote for an African-American female supervisor agent. At the time, she was the longest serving African-American female agent and there had never been an African-American female supervisor agent. I’m Janelle Hansen Jr, and welcome to another edition of In Black America. On this week’s program, retired Secret Service Special Agent Cheryl Tyler. In Black America.
Cheryl Tyler: It’s one I think people need to realize that we exist and that there are Black women who have done this work and are doing this work. There are a lot of us out there. Numbers are never disclosed, but we’re there. And because of the nature of the job, you don’t disclose a lot of things. But I think it’s it’s important for people to know and I think it’s more important for young Black kids to realize that there are people who do jobs that they never even thought about. You know, people I hear people say, why don’t who is your role model? My role model was me. My role model. There were only men there and there were African-American men on the job. But as a woman, that’s it. Sometimes you’re by yourself.
John L. Hanson Jr: It took the Secret Service nearly a century to hire its first African-American special agent in 1956. Another 15 years will pass before the organization brought on his first female agent. And still, a few more years went by before the first African-American woman in that role. In 1974, Cheryl was a trailblazer who paved the path for African-American women in the Secret Service and in federal law enforcement. She spent 15 years as a Secret Service agent assigned to September 11th, 2001, attack. She joined forces with several colleagues in the security and intelligence community to work for the newly formed Transportation Security Administration, TSA, where she served as special agent in the Office of Internal Affairs and the Office of Inspection in 1984. Taylor joined the Secret Service. She protected President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, becoming the first African-American woman personally assigned to a presidential security detail recently In Black America, spoke with Joe Tyler.
Cheryl Tyler: I was raised and born in Palestine, as they say, Palestine, Texas. And my family left there when I was a little over two months, 24 months old, and we moved to St Louis, where I grew up and lived and stayed until I went off to college.
John L. Hanson Jr: And what college did you attend?
Cheryl Tyler: I attended Spelman College and then six months later went on to graduate school at what is now Clark Atlanta University. And it was just Atlanta University back then.
John L. Hanson Jr.: And your major?
Cheryl Tyler: My major was in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice.
John L. Hanson Jr: And what sparked that interest in those two disciplines?
Cheryl Tyler: Well, it really wasn’t that disciplines were. It was as a little girl, my dad and I, our bonding time watched the television shows, the Wild, Wild West and the Untouchables and. I just took a liking to those shows simply because I was watching them all the time with my dad and set up one day to myself. I wanted to grow up and be like Eliot Ness and Adam West, but as a female who looked and dressed impeccable but did the work and knew how to use a weapon and solve crimes in a very smooth and calm way.
John L. Hanson Jr.: And have you achieve that?
Cheryl Tyler:I did. I really did. And I’m thankful for that. Especially it was a time where people of not only Black people didn’t know about those opportunities, didn’t seek out those opportunities, weren’t exposed to those opportunities. But I grew up in a household that believed in whatever it is that you think you want to do. Sounds okay. We’ll support you. We may not know what it is, but we’ll help you in every way possible. So I was very fortunate to have parents and family members that just instilled that in me. And then when I went off to Spelman, Spelman reinforced that you can do and be anything you want to and put no limitations on yourself. So having a foundation like that and then it being extended even more by attending an HBCU, I thought I could conquer the world know just wasn’t there. I can do whatever it was that I put my mind to. So, yes, I achieved it. I became the first Black female ever on a president’s detail, which was a huge accomplishment. Unfortunately, it didn’t end well. But I don’t say I regret and I don’t say it really didn’t end well, because out of the lawsuit, which happened, a positive thing happened for others and happened for African-American agents on the job. So I look at every challenge in life, and that was a challenge as a stepping stone to another chapter in your life. And everything that I learned at the Secret Service, everything I became a part of. All the exposure that I had domestically and internationally helped me later when I decided to own my own company. And I take those skills that I learned there, and they’ve been a part of my life ever since. So I don’t regret anything that happened in my life. I just look at it as a lesson and to keep moving forward.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Prior to you joining the Secret Service, were there any law enforcement experience?
Cheryl Tyler: I worked for the Internal Revenue Service in their tax fraud and investigative division for a very short stint while I was in the midst of looking for a job after I graduated. And I spent my lunch time interviewing and talking with representatives from the FBI, from DEA, and then right up the street to the Secret Service. I always knew that’s where I was going to end. But I wanted to interview with others just to make sure that was the agency that I wanted to work for. And you need to do your homework to understand what each agency is responsible for, what their jurisdictions are. And if that fits with your goal. Then you go to the agency that fits with your goal.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Now, prior to you actually being assigned, what are some of the things you had to ascertain to become an agent?
Cheryl Tyler: You had to have a college degree. That was number one. They would have preferred some people with law enforcement background, but not everybody did have a law enforcement background and you needed to be physically fit. I was pretty athletic growing up, but I wasn’t the type of athlete that I became after I got on the job. But I was in good health, in good condition, and knew how to run track, knew how. I didn’t know how to do pullups until I got on the job. So I learned I did not know how to use a weapon that wasn’t. I knew about guns, but I wasn’t a gun shooter. So I learned and I learned the way they shoot and I learned the proper way to shoot. So those were the basic criterias of being able to even be considered to working in an agency such as that. Once you pass the test, once you get through the interviewing process, then you go off to their academy. And their academy is in southern Georgia. The whole process is probably about a year between two academies that you have to attend. So you finish that school, you come back to your your base office. At that point, mine was Atlanta. And then probably a couple of weeks you head off to D.C.. And you go to their academy, the Secret Services Academy. And that’s where you learn the specialized things that pertain strictly to that agency. And that’s about another eight, ten weeks maybe. And once you graduate there, then you go back to your field office. Once you’re there, you start working cases and you’re learning to do things. But you’re in a year’s probation so they can fire you at will within that first year. And then once you get past that first year, then you are pretty much, as they say, vetted. And so you can stay, you know, you’re there. And then you start working on different kind of cases. I mean, I worked counterfeit. I work credit card fraud. I worked computer crimes. I did undercover work. People don’t really understand all of the things that the Secret Service is responsible for. They only think that we protect the president. We protect the president of the United States. We protect the vice president United States. We protect the first family. We protect foreign heads of countries. So whatever a foreign dignitary, if they are the head of that country, they fall on the jurisdiction of the Secret Service. In the meantime, you still have all your investigative cases that you have to complete and prosecute and go to court.
John L. Hanson Jr.: On what makes these individuals special.
Cheryl Tyler: It’s a tough job. I kid you not. It’s a tough job. It’s tough mentally. It’s tough emotionally and it’s tough physically. And you do find that you are special. You’re special in the sense that everybody can’t do this job. They really can’t. And in the recent attempted assassination of the former president, in the testimonies on the Hill, you heard the acting director make the comment and talk about the difficulties of hiring people, hiring practices, a very difficult, very challenging for various reasons. However, he did make the comment and let Congress know. Only 2% of those that apply even can make it. And that’s a very small percentage. And the Secret Service is not a large agency. We’re very small. So the competitiveness even higher, the expectations are even higher. So it’s not a job, as I tell people, it’s a career. It’s a lifestyle change. It changes you, your relationship with your friends, with your family. You, you, you yourself change mentally and emotionally. That’s why, you know, it may sound kind of, you know, primo, you say, well, you’re special. What makes you special? That does make you special because within the agency there are people that have different specialties that they’re very good at. And for instance, I go back to the attempted assassination, the team, which was all of controversy to the counter sniper team. That is a specialty. That is a special training. That’s a special school. Those guys do different training. They do more than the average agent does. Not to say that the agent training is less. That’s just a specialty that you want to get into. And so you have to go through even more training for that.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Did you have a special training?
Cheryl Tyler: I was training, and especially I was a training instructor. And I taught in the training academy in the D.C. area and taught protection specifically. So, you know, you have people talk about, you know, when the president goes skiing or horseback riding, there’s a specialty. There’s some people who like that kind of extra work in extracurricular activities, I’ll say. But that’s part of their job. So you have people who know how to ski, water, ski, snow, ski, even know how to drive boats. We have presidents who like to do boating. So those are extra things that you have to learn how to do. But the agency has to make sure we have people who are trained to the best of your ability to be able to be out there. If that president or first lady wants to go do those things.
John L. Hanson Jr.: When you were assigned to the presidential Protective Division, is that something you request or that’s something that you are assigned to.
Cheryl Tyler: When it comes time to get to the details which the top two or what people. Strive for the presidential detail and the vice president of detail. That’s not just something that is like, a checkbox. You know, you go to this office and you go here and you go there. You have to really show throughout your career, people are watching you. They’re watching how you perform. They watch how you handle yourself. They watch how you do investigations. They watch how your career moves throughout the time you’re there. And when openings do come up and they do announce them when there’s positions available, then there’s a bid process and you go in and you put your paperwork in for do you have to bid on it? It’s not an easy, I’m getting this next, then go like that.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Were the other female African-Americans part of the division when you were there?
Cheryl Tyler: When I came to well, first, when I came on for the first time, right when I came on the Secret Service, there were only five African-American females in the entire country. And when I went to the detail, I was the first. It took probably a few years later for another African-American female to come on to the detail. But that is because there’s timing in your career. You have to spend a certain amount of time in a field office, whether it be a large when or a small one, and that’s to get exposed to different things that the service is responsible for.
John L. Hanson Jr.: If you’re just joining us, I’m John L. Hanson Jr., and you’re listening to In Black America from KUT Radio. And we stream the show today. The first African-American female agent assigned to the Presidential Protective Division of the United States Secret Service. You’ve written a book entitled Trailblazer. Why So?
Cheryl Tyler: Several reasons. One, I think people need to realize that we exist and that there are Black women who have done this work and are doing this work. There are a lot of us out there. Numbers are never disclosed, but we’re there. And because of the nature of the job, you don’t disclose a lot of things. But I think it’s it’s important for people to know and I think it’s more important for young Black kids to realize that there are people who do jobs that they never even thought about. You know, people I hear people say, why don’t who is your role model? My role model was me. My role model. There were only men there and there were African-American men on the job. But as a woman, that’s it. Sometimes you’re by yourself and a lot of times you’re by yourself. So for young people to see you can be anything you want to, even if you just imagine it, even if you read about it, you see a movie. You can be whoever you want to be. And I think the more our children are exposed to seeing the achievements of African-American people in this country, in our contributions, the more they will realize that they can be whatever it is they want to be.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Obviously, there were some skills obtained by you at Spelman. What type of skills that you attained while you were in the service? Secret Service.
Cheryl Tyler: I learned a lot about myself. I learned about myself in stressful situations and how to respond, not respond. I also learn international diplomacy. I also learned a lot of patience. I also learned I had a hell of a lot of confidence in myself and knew I could do stuff that I never thought I could do. So you learn a lot about you. It is a lonely job, so you have to be one who can figure things out on your own. Also at the same time, not be afraid to ask a question because you have to be accountable for everything that you do. And if you are willing to be accountable and own up things, then that’s definitely not the job for you.
John L. Hanson Jr: Did you lose some friends when you became a civil servant?
Cheryl Tyler: Age You know, it was funny. When I was in school, everybody, you know, we had our classes at Morehouse and classes at Spelman and classes at Clark, Morehouse and Spelman are very, very close because one, two girls school ones, guys school and my classmates. And, you know, throughout your career out there time you’re in school, you’re always talking about what you’re going to be when you grow up and what you’re going to do to graduate and blah, blah, blah. I came to school knowing exactly what I wanted to do, which is very rare for any kid going to college and not change their mind. So my classmates all knew that that’s what. I wanted to do. I was the odd one because everybody else was either in the medical field or legal field or, you know, a science or something else other than what I was going to do. But when I finally graduated and we’d go back for reunions, it was like she always said she was gonna become one. And she sure did. And so I was kind of the odd one, but yet everybody was always very supportive.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Now, when you’re around the protective detail, I think you was all H.W. Bush’s detail and President Bill Clinton’s. Is there an attitude? Not on my watch.
Cheryl Tyler: That people have that that’s a good cliché statement of like, you’re not dying on my watch. You’re not getting sick on my watch. Okay? We don’t all stay alive. We all get up and we all go to work and we all go home. And so you you have to have that. That’s why I say, you know, you learn about yourself and the confidence. It’s not you do everything you can. You remember everything that you’ve been trained to do to fall into place. Yes. But what it ever happened.
John L. Hanson Jr.: When you were on a detail is that long term, as far as their their tenure in office or there’s a rotation.
Cheryl Tyler: There’s a rotation, you typically are there 4 to 5 years and you move on someplace else. Some go on to do more protection or some go to headquarters, some get transferred to other field offices. So after you finish that, there’s a there’s a career path within the service. Yes.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Obviously, there were some issues with you leaving the service and you found that your own company. Talk to us about that.
Cheryl Tyler: During that time, there was a lot of issues going on in the service, and most of it stemmed around fair promotion practices for African-Americans. And as I said earlier, when you see a position that comes open, you’d go into what we call the bid process and you apply. And there was paperwork to fill out for each position. And one gentleman who is the was the main plaintiff in our case put in 200 applications for the same job in a very short time span and was always overlooked and wasn’t because of numbers or or being the top five qualified to do the job. This, to me was commonly overlooked. Same thing happened for each one of us that was involved in that lawsuit. And we collectively sat there and we said, okay, enough is enough for us. We’re going to do something about it. And so we filed a lawsuit. It was 18 years total in the case being dismissed, coming back, being dismissed, coming back. And finally a ruling came in our favor. But it was not an easy 18 years. That’s a long time to sue someone, let alone to sue a very prominent federal law enforcement agency. So you can say we had guts, we had guts, we had nothing to lose. So we we just stuck together and we did it. The law firm that Representative Wellman and they stuck with us from day one. And in fact, we were their very first case.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Obviously, there must have been some emotional attached to this particular event. How did that personally affect you?
Cheryl Tyler: It was hard. It hurt me emotionally, mentally, spiritually, because I felt that for some reason, my dream was supposed to be halted simply because of my race, because of the color of my skin. You know, I can think of things being said. It’s like it’s your turn. Don’t leave. Well, the service just isn’t ready for a Black female to be a supervisor. You know, those are hard words to gulp down and to stay calm about because the people that are getting promoted, a lot of them are people that you train. So you’re battling with your allegiance to loving the job that you do to being discriminated against simply because they’re not ready. And we see it every day. It continues. But how I grew from that, I grew mentally from it. I grew to learn how to tactfully deal with situations that may seem adversarial to. To me and to my career. But I learned how to maneuver a different way. I learned how to process things a different way, which led me to be in my business now for over 15 years. And also being told that I wasn’t going to last past three and to be questioned. Who who owns the company? So it helped me later in life to realize that I’m still going to have to keep fighting certain things. And you learn how to fight them in a different way.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Now, what type of services the CEO T three provide?
Cheryl Tyler: We do security logistics for major events or high end clients, for entertainers or nonprofits, for government entities or conventions. We come in, we do the assessments, we tell you where we think your breaches are, how we can respond, how you can do certain things to enhance the venue so that you can keep out the elements that you don’t want to come and.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Talk to us about. What is Platinum Group? The security of a platinum group.
Cheryl Tyler: That’s a company that’s down in Florida that I help them on things when they have security issues. And concern is that they don’t have a real they did not have, I should say, a big presence in the protection world. And they wanted to branch their company in another direction. So I help them decide on different things and how to navigate some of that.
John L. Hanson Jr.: I guess the other question is why is it important for companies like you to exist?
Cheryl Tyler: Well, if we did, you’d have events where people would just not know how to deal with folks who like to walk into their places and not invited or throw things in that could cause harm to someone else.
John L. Hanson Jr.: Cheryl Tyler, retired Secret Service special agent who served on protective duty for President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, founder and owner of CLT3 Security Logistics in Washington, DC, and author of Trailblazer The story of the first Black Female Secret Service Agent to Protect the President and a Fight for Justice. If you have questions, comments or suggestions as to a future In Black America program, email us at inblackamerica.org. Also, let us know what radio station you heard is over. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Facebook and X. You can hear previous programs online at kut.org. Also, you can listen to a special collection of In Black America programs at American Archive of Public Broadcasting. That’s Americanarchives.org. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for technical producer David Alvarez, I’m John L. Hanson Jr. Thank you for joining us today. Please join us again next week.
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This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
