--- title: Secret Service: Kenneth Tate Speaks on Barack Obama Elevator Ride description: “I didn’t know it was going to be my job” canonical: https://time.com/3554369/secret-service-scandal-barack-obama-kenneth-tate/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-03T14:20:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:10:44.709Z article:section: Politics og:title: Secret Service: Kenneth Tate Speaks on Barack Obama Elevator Ride og:description: “I didn’t know it was going to be my job” og:url: https://time.com/3554369/secret-service-scandal-barack-obama-kenneth-tate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Secret Service: Kenneth Tate Speaks on Barack Obama Elevator Ride twitter:description: “I didn’t know it was going to be my job” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Security Guard Fired After Armed Elevator Ride with Obama Says His Life Is Ruined by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 3, 2014 2:20 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 3, 2014 2:20 PM UTC The security guard whose shared elevator ride with President Barack Obama while carrying a gun sparked controversy and led to his firing [said in a new interview](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/us/one-day-in-an-elevator-with-obama-then-out-of-a-job.html?%5Fr=0) that the ride and events that followed have ruined his life. “This was unjust and has been a nightmare,” Kenneth Tate told the New York _Times_. “I’ve tried to rationalize it. It won’t go away.” Revelations of Tate’s ride with the President, during which he carried a gun in violation of Secret Service protocol, came as the agency was already dealing with a scandal over security breaches, and helped lead the Secret Service director to resign. [Read more at the _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/us/one-day-in-an-elevator-with-obama-then-out-of-a-job.html?%5Fr=0) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3554369/secret-service-scandal-barack-obama-kenneth-tate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3554369/secret-service-scandal-barack-obama-kenneth-tate/"},"headline":"Security Guard Fired After Armed Elevator Ride with Obama Says His Life Is Ruined","datePublished":"2014-11-03T14:20:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:10:44.709Z","description":"“I didn’t know it was going to be my job”","url":"https://time.com/3554369/secret-service-scandal-barack-obama-kenneth-tate/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3554369/secret-service-scandal-barack-obama-kenneth-tate/","name":"Security Guard Fired After Armed Elevator Ride with Obama Says His Life Is Ruined"}}]}] ```