An Exodus of Agents Left the Secret Service Unprepared for 2024

In November, Michael Ebey, a Secret Service special agent, found himself working another 12-hour shift. Like so many before, it was grueling.

This time, he was part of the detail providing protection for President Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Pangs of fatigue snaked up his legs from hours of standing on a concrete floor of the Moscone Center in San Francisco, about 3,000 miles from his home.

“I got to the point where I just said, ‘You know, I don’t think I want to do it anymore.’” Mr. Ebey put in his papers to retire in January. He was 52 years old.

For months, alarm had been spreading through the executive offices on the eighth floor of the Secret Service headquarters in Washington over the flight of experienced talent like Mr. Ebey.

The agency knew it would face an avalanche in 2024. There would be presidential campaigns. Political conventions. A NATO summit. It was looking to be one of the busiest years in the Secret Service’s recent history, even as threats of violence against political leaders were rising.