Former Female Secret Service Agent Tackles Some of the World’s Most Challenging Investigative Missions

Dr. Mary Beth Wilkas Janke’s journey from the Secret Service to working in executive protection in places like Lima, Peru and Haiti are not for the faint of heart and are captured in great detail in her recent book, ‘The Protector: A Woman’s Journey from the Secret Service to Guarding VIPs and Working in Some of the World’s Most Dangerous Places’

​In this episode, Fred and Mary Beth discuss the title of the book, how she got into the Secret Service and the field of protection, and some of her most memorable investigations. Her caliber of storytelling makes it easy to imagine the challenges of being the only female on a 10 person team in a remote and very conservative country.

Mary Beth has more than 25 years of psychology, security, and investigative experience. She earned a doctorate in Clinical Psychology after an illustrious and varied career that included being a Special Agent in the Washington Field Office of the United States Secret Service. She went on to become a protection agent on numerous government contracts and was the only female to ever officially protect a foreign president outside of the United States.

She currently works as a consultant in the fields of forensic and clinical psychology and continues to consult in the areas of threat assessment and protective security. In April of 2020, she published her book – a memoir of her life as told through the exciting and dangerous missions she accepted as one of the few females in the world of international executive protection.