Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Ladies and gentlemen, listeners of the Tron podcast, this is your host, Rashad Woods. And I have an honor and privilege today to be able to talk to a very special guest today. And I hope everybody tunes into this because this doesn't happen very often. We have retired Secret Service agent, author of the book Tell Me Everything, Brad Bealer. Thank you very much.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Appreciate the opportunity. Rashad, thanks for having me on.
[00:00:18] Speaker A: Yeah, this is big time, you know, because, you know, I think, let me start off by saying the movies don't always match the reality. And so we always. I mean, sure, you've heard that a dozen times.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: So.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: So first of all, what you can tell us obviously, about your background, I'm really looking forward for you. Tell your story.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. No, I appreciate it. Small town kid went to college a little, you know, in criminology.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Was blessed to be able to do an internship with the Secret Service. And there I saw the men and women were just an amazing, dedicated group that had a dual role mission a lot of people don't understand. We do investigations. That's how we were founded in 1865, and we took up protection in 1901. So during that internship, got to see kind of the protection and investigative side, got to meet President Clinton. And when that happened, I think I was more drawn to the counter assault team, the counter sniper team, the Presidential protection team. And that's kind of really what got me dialed in as far as this is something I want to pursue. So after grad school, was blessed to be able to start in Chicago, I got in polygraph in Chicago and then did former President Bush as far as a protective detail. Got back to St. Louis, Columbia, South Carolina, here, there and everywhere, but was honored to spend 17 of those 25 years as a polygraph examiner. So that's most of my experience. Secret Service, Yeah. In addition to protection.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Well, I thought it was interesting when I researched about the Secret Service a long time ago, and I was looking up, you know, more for you on a personal level, was that the Secret Service, to your point, didn't even exist until after like two or three presidents had been assassinated. Right. And it took a while for them to actually establish that branch of the, of the service because they were like, it's going to be military, is going to be police. And then it kind of came, like you said, In 1901, I forgot the name of the president that got shot in the subway station. At the time, the name eludes me. But that's when they finally decided McKinley. Yes, William McKinley. And that's when it finally decided that they have to take this more seriously to actually give service for the president.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So 1865, Abraham Lincoln, weeks before he's assassinated, actually gets with Alan Pinkerton and signs the Secret Service into law to stop counterfeiting. Because it was.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Yep. And it wasn't until three presidents later, you're correct. And then Secret Service came into being in 1901, 160 year history, roughly. It's great organization, wonderful men and women that truly are purpose driven and honorable.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Right. And so, so now you're in the Secret Service, like. And so. And again, it's more from my what I've heard and read, it's a lot more desk duty, a lot more clerical work than it is, you know, the Tom Clancy novel, so to speak. So at best that you can give information about what entails the life and particularly in your polygraph career. Like, you know, when it comes to strategizing, establishing authority. I saw, you know, podcast you did where even like a normal handshake versus a presidential or dignitary handshake is different than, you know, establishing a regular handshake between two people.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So kind of along the way we've picked up little ways to hopefully accomplish our mission. I mean, you brought up handshakes. For me, handshake is the first thing you do in an interaction. It's the last thing you do in an interaction. And with the way the brain kind of compartmentalizes our interactions, those are, those are the two most important things. The first five seconds and the last five seconds, that's what we really remember. So too often it's, it's an oversight. And the world's perfect handshake is dry, it's warm, it's with eye contact.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: One of the things I do is put antiperspirant on my hands when I'm going to have that. Or I actually will see if I'm seated really at a table, I will sit on my hand to warm it up and also get any moisture that's off of it. Because people look at a wet handshake and they think, oh, this person's nervous. This person doesn't have their act together. So little hacks like that and it's, it's not a shake, it's truly just a hold. And it's while you're using their first name and also looking them in their eyes. And if you do that, that's a great hack for anybody in business, job interviews, whatever the case may be. But that was something that we would do both on the protection side, but also on the investigation side to try and hack that first impression to our benefit.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Does it. Does it. Does it say something about somebody where they don't look you in your eyes when you shake their hand immediately?
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Some of that's generational, you know, and some of it's based upon power dynamic. A lot of times applicants would be a little timid in that regard because, you know, that's a big life event for them to come in for their polygraph.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Right.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: Also, so many people nowadays, you know, they. They grab their phones and they're. They're so used to doing this that they don't look in the eyes. But that's something where we should be in about that 70% eye contact range, Rashad. If you do that and. And have soft eyes, we don't come off as creepy. If we look like that, we come off creepy. Right. So what I always suggest to people is imagine you had like duct tape on your forehead.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Or you go get Botox. Either. Either way. But to where you have a soft eyes. And what I mean by that is the worst thing you can do when you meet people is give them that. That little furrowed brow. It's a big, cold, wet blanket on a conversation. So I like to give a quick eyebrow flash. Use their preferred name. So if we were meeting, I'd say, hey, can I call you Rashad? Your friends call you Rashad. And then what I would do is I'd say, do you mind if I refer to you as that I get the permission? Because let's say you go by your middle name. That is a huge nails on the chalkboard if I get your first name wrong. Oh, my gosh. Day and day where my birth certificates. Bradley. But last time I was called Bradley was probably my mom when she was whooping me when I was 10, 11 years old. Right. That's got a negative connotation to it. So.
Yeah. So I really want people to, you know, use the first name appropriately. Guys, 70% eye contact. Every once in a while, tilt the head over to the shoulder a little bit. That exposes the carotid. Ventrally fronted, meaning not guarded, not not bladed. With our body, that shows, hey, we trust you. We trust you to give you the vulnerable parts of our body. I'm trusting Rashad right now. And when I say eye contact as far as is important, Rashad, you got to think of it this way. I have a camera right in the middle of my screen where I can not only look like I'm looking you in the eyes by using that camera. But also I can see right now if you're tracking what I'm saying. Meaning you're giving me a minimal encourager. You're making a minimal encourager statement like, okay. Oh, I get it.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Whereas if I didn't have that and you furrowed your brow, I wouldn't understand that. So that's why eye contact and observation is so important, whether you're talking to a crowd, business meeting, or just even on a zoom call, where I'm looking in the eyes and I can see. Do you understand what I'm saying and do I need to clarify?
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Well, I think the hard part about sometimes doing these podcasts is I have to look right straight ahead. Right. As opposed to looking at me on the screen itself. Right. And that matters. Right. Because then after a while, when I started doing. Doing enough podcasts, I'm like, I wasn't actually staring into the camera and I didn't even know it. Right. You just intrinsically look directly here. And meanwhile, I'm not giving my vertical look talking to Brad. And so, you know, it's. It's crazy that, like, in a 10, 15 second interaction, there's all these intricate details that are actually given just from a handshake because you're not even, you know, you don't even think of it. Right. And I have to. It's nuts.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah. So first impressions are.
The thing about first impressions is we go back hundreds of thousands of years ago, and that was about eyes and hands. In that I use my eyesight to determine is the person across from me going to hurt me. And I'm going to focus on their eyes, and I'm going to focus on their face, and I'm going to focus on their hands. Meaning do they have a weapon? Does their face look like it has ill will towards me?
[00:07:23] Speaker A: For sure.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: That's the only good that a first impression has from the standpoint of personal safety. Too many times, though, people utilize that first impression and it can be taken advantage of. Meaning there's people, you've probably met, Rashad, over the years that they made a great first impression on you. And it turned out maybe they had ill will or maybe, you know what, they just were somebody that in the long term was not to your best.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: Bennett, you know, absolutely, 100% and vice versa.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: You've probably had some great friends over the years, Rashad, that they made a horrible first impression, but you had multiple, you know, interactions with them, and they, they kind of got into that friend zone as time went On.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: You have to be very, very careful about using first impressions prematurely in personal and professional relationships.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I have to ask a.
Does, does height matter when it comes to eye contact? Because I'm. I'm five, eight, I still make a point of to look everybody in the eyes. But when people are taller than you, shorter than you, is there a presence difference that you have to have to make sure that you don't look like you're dominating or domineering over them because of height differences?
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I will agree with you. I mean, you know, people say, you know, height. If you look at US presidents traditionally and CEOs, a lot of times those individuals are going to have certain benefits because the way height is perceived as far as competence. Those times, which I think is been disproven many, many times, but too many times we look into those things. But I will say this. I don't know if heights as big of an issue as physical presence from the standpoint of size. I'm a bigger guy.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: So sometimes what I'll do is I will soften those eyes. I will lower my eye contact. I'll maybe look in their nose area. I don't want that intense because that can be part of an overall package. I might come across as a little overbearing. So I would say if you got somebody that's, you know, 6, 5, 300 pounds, you know, and they're staring right through you, they're going to look like a bouncer at the club.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: That's probably not what we're looking for. So the key for me with eye contact is, once again, those soft eyes. Right. Is I want my eyebrows to almost keep that anytime they straighten out. That's always a bad thing for me when it comes to personal interactions.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Got it, Got it. So now we're talking about, you know, I want to get to your book because I find that very fascinating, but I have to ask this question before the book. In the era of digital digitization and artificial intelligence, how has that made the job of, of law enforcement, Secret Service agents that much more difficult with discerning the real from the fake?
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: A deep fake from everything else. You know, how does that impact your job or your former job?
[00:09:49] Speaker B: Terrible. From, you know, from when I was with the Secret Service, you'd see that with threat cases, you would see that with the way things could be anonymized, made it difficult to follow through on investigation. A lot of my investigations, especially with polygraph, were with child exploitation, child sexual abuse imagery, and AI has had A dramatic impact upon that. And so it's made once again, the challenges of law enforcement, which sometimes we're not the most tech savvy to really stay on the cutting edge of that type of new technology. So we have to realize how do we leverage that? So think of it this way. When I look for the perfect way to communicate, Rashad, I'm trying to emulate what social, like a social media reel is doing. So what I mean by that is if I go into your social media profile before we interact and I find out your likes, your interests, favorite sports teams, I am trying to create a almost once again, social media reel that's your most likely to interact with and not swipe left or swipe right on. I want you to stay on that channel. And so having preparation ahead of time is something that is extremely helpful for me to keep you engaged. And then also, I want to use tactical curiosity. So in addition to having prep on the front end, I want to feel like you're teaching me things. And when you're teaching me things, your dopamine is going to be popping. Your cortisol, which is your stress hormone, is going to be relaxed. And you'd be surprised at how people will open up when they feel like they're teaching you something.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Oh, you know, and I have to imagine that you. You have an opportunity, and I'm. This is my guess. Right. Of playing to people's ego a little bit. So if you're. You have that information, it can almost become like a sense of pride that they're actually revealing this information, or they, quote, unquote, feel like they're smarter than you, so to speak.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: You know, I mean, like, even though you may have already had the information, I'm sure you had to have a very stoic, you know, understanding of it to make sure that, hey, you're revealing this. I'm just gonna let it come out organically from you.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's interesting you bring that up, because one of the biggest counterfeiters I ever worked was, like, the first case I had on the Secret Service. He did about $8 million in counterfeit. And he viewed himself truly as a master counterfeiter.
So what I really wanted to play to is, hey, I flew in on the Gulf Stream to come talk to you. We don't have a goal stream. You know, hey, please teach me. You know, he had his. He had his picture in Rolling stone magazine on $100bill. So you can imagine what that does to your ego. But I made sure I had it Framed. And I provided it to him. And I said, would you please sign this for me?
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Right, right, right.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. You know, so really nice guy. You know, he could have been successful in anything that he did. He just unfortunately chose counterfeiting at.
But there are times and places where you do play to people's pride. You know, we get ego and pride confused sometimes. I will always view it as pride because I think that's a better conversational point. And we all have our addictions, right? Yours may be video games. It may be working out, whatever that may be. I find out what your addiction is, and then I let you talk about it. Here's something, Rashad, and I'm sure you've seen this. Let's say you're a runner and you're talking to somebody and, hey, what'd you do this weekend? I went for. Did a 5k. What is. Ultimately, almost everybody did. Oh, yeah. So I did a 5K.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: The one upmanship. The one upmanship.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: It's unbelievable. The one up machine let people bathe in their story, right? And I don't care if they're a friend or they're a stranger, I let them talk about it. And especially if they're a stranger, I'll throw in. If it's something that I'm interested in, I'll throw in little targeted bits of informed knowledge. And then maybe about after five minutes, they'll be like, oh, do you run, too? So, yeah, now I can bring my expertise in it versus ultimately in a group of four people. When a conversation comes up, there's always that one person that says, yeah, I did this, of course.
Shut up. Would you please shut up?
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Yeah, people talk. It's funny, right? Because it's almost like. Like, I do martial arts, right? I have a black belt, Tang Soo do. I have a brown belt, Taekwondo. I do Brazilian Jiu jitsu and Muay Thai. I haven't done Brazilian Jiu jitsu, Muay Thai quite a bit, but my primary was. Was. Was martial arts. And it's so funny you mentioned that, because even people who haven't done martial arts will swear up and down that they'll talk about that time they were 11 years old and they took the karate class. And it's like, you know, man, like, well, give me some details. Yeah, let's test this out.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: Rashad. So what brought you to bjj? What brought you to Brazilian jiu jitsu?
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Honestly, because in addition to ufc, I had almost gotten to the point in karate where I felt like I was not. Not good Enough, but wanted to try something different. Get out of my comfort zone. Yeah.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: Maybe complete your game a little bit, you know, from stand up to now the ground, since 80% of things end up on the ground.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Right, Absolutely.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: You thought about that, right?
[00:14:20] Speaker A: I sure did.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: How far did you get in bj?
[00:14:23] Speaker A: I'm still a glorified white belt. Right. So.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: All right. Yeah. But been in there about two years.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: What's your favorite? If you would say what your game is in bjj, what would it be?
[00:14:31] Speaker A: It would have to be. I like sweeps a lot because I did judo for a little bit in college, so I like to try to stand on my feet and try to do leg sweeps on people or tosses and throws, you know, so I can stay off my back.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: I mean. Yeah, we always hate going against those judo guys. So here's the thing. I would keep talking to you for a minute.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: And eventually, based upon what we were talking about, you'd be like, hey, do you train? And I'd be like, I've done jiu jitsu for 12 years. I'm a brown belt.
And then you would be like, oh, okay. And then we'd start talking like that versus if I first asked that question. And then I'm like, yeah, I'm a brown belt.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: That's the end of beginning of conversation.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I learned nothing about you, right?
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: So it's just. It's just an interesting thing as far as when we get in communications, let people bathe in their dopamine, let them educate you. You learn from anybody, and at a certain point, you can get your little. Your bits in.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Towards the end, what I thought was fascinating, what you were doing, too, is you kept asking me leading questions to make me talk more about myself. Right. Too.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: And people like, you're talking about yourself. You're associating me with. With that good feeling that you have. Right.
So we may be here talking about bad things, prison type stuff, and, you know, that's coming. So you've. You've got a bunch of stress hormone built up. But now, okay, I'm asking about leisure activities, about, you know, all the martial arts that you've spent all this leisure time in. And you're really feeling comfortable now. Your heart rate's coming down. Now, whether you did that bad thing or whether you didn't do that bad thing, I can now connect with you at a normal conversational level.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: Unbelievable. It really is a strategical strategy and tactics. So, you know, I thought one of the things that was interesting was, is that when you talked about new applicants that are coming into the Secret Service and obviously like their social media can come back to haunt them or their, you know, or just in general, the new digitization era. So how do new applicants navigate this very new space that you all didn't really have to deal with when you're coming in there?
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Yeah, we didn't have cell phone cameras when we were kids. Right. That's probably a good thing for people in my generation. All right. You know, Rashad, you. You probably did have cell phones or at least lower quality cell phones when you.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: I did.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: And, you know, now it's. Everybody's recording. When you're doing that potential bad thing or you're saying that one statement that you probably shouldn't say. And we've seen this with college football players that they're recruited by, you know, these big division one programs. Somebody will go back eight years and they made a TikTok video that they said the wrong word.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Right. And it almost derailed Josh Allen. Right. Like 10 years ago.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Right. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:16:53] Speaker B: You know, so it's a definite cautionary tale both on that end, but also we see these, even these really high level high school athletes that are being sex stored because they're getting involved, you know, on the Internet. Is that, let's say, 20, 30 years ago, if I had something I would want to put in a diary, I would write it down on a piece of paper, I'd lock it, I'd put it, you know, in a file cabinet nowadays, you know, and some of that's just with the way things are now is everybody throws their diary information online. And sure, for sure, if you're a criminal, let's say, let's go to a dating site. Let's just say some of your listeners are on. I won't mention a specific one, but whatever type of dating site, and they meet someone.
Well, if, if I can find out what your actual name is or what your social media handles are before we meet, imagine what people could do to weaponize that information against ill will. Meaning they could come off like the ultimate Prince Charming, of course. And as you're sitting down having drinks or you're having dinner, they're hitting upon every one of those dopamine hits that you've put on the Internet that you like, or worse yet, they can avoid what you hate.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: And so now they've created this perfect stream of information that you are most likely to interact with and that can be really utilized not just on the dating scene. But we see a lot of people get scammed online where we see, you know, they. They become friends with you on Facebook, and before you know it, you know, they get all the other informations from the Internet.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: And then they approach you, and you become in a virtual relationship. And the next thing you know, $500,000 is gone from your retirement.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: So you gotta be really, really careful about what you put out there.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: Right.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: You know, 20, 30 years ago, as I said, we'd just go talk to neighbors, and neighbors didn't usually say a lot. Oh, he was a nice kid.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: But now you're giving it to us as a freebie as far as what you've done along that timeframe. And you may think that you're getting rid of it, but it's somewhere, all right.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: So absolutely, it's readily available. I have a friend who's a customs border agent. I remember getting the phone call. It took him a year just to become in a customs. And I remember getting the phone call. You know, we were dorm mates, and it was crazy because the details they asked me had to be so specific of where he was in the dorm. And then the question that got asked was, would he ever betray the United States? And I'm like, listen, I went to college with this guy. And, like, you're not even for a civilian to process that question for that level of government. It's like a hard thing to even, like, kind of like get your mind warped around that. I'm being asked this question, Right?
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, very intensive. I know my former organization with the Secret Service, we would have a very intense background check, but most of the information we got was from a polygraph session. There are polygraph people that love it 100%, hate it 100%, and then there's all shades in the middle. I will say this. If any of your listeners are going to take a polygraph, especially if it's an applicant polygraph, be a hundred percent honest when you fill out that application, because all the questions you're going to be asked are based upon what you provide on that application. So if you're honest there, it's gonna make for a much shorter day. Got it. Don't jump on the Internet. Don't type in how to pass a polygraph, because it's not gonna be useful information. You're gonna come across. All right? You're gonna come across some very bad information. And trust me, these polygraph examiners have seen what is on the Internet. Of course it's gonna be a Problem for you, unfortunately, is that don't take that TikTok advice when it comes to how to pass a polygraph. Be honest on your application, get a good night's sleep, get something to eat in the morning and bare your soul. And chances are you're going to have a positive outcome.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: That's fantastic. You know, and like I said, I mean, you see it in the movies, and then, you know, now here's my question, and if you can't share it, that's fine. How accurate is it from somebody's nervousness of being actually polygraphed versus they truly didn't disclose something, and there's more there than what they gave?
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So let me hit this. Two specific questions I usually get asked about polygraph. Okay, so in the Secret Service, when we would travel to another city, we'd have to. If we flew, we had to stop by, talk to the pilot. We would talk to the pilot. We'd say, hey, I'm agent so and so. I'm traveling here. And typically, they'd be like, what are you doing? The Secret Service? Oh, I'm a polygraph examiner. Polygraph man. I thought those things didn't work. And I thought, you know, you could. You could beat it. And I said, okay. Well, I said, you know, captain, I said, a bunch of people are getting on this plane that just went through TSA security. They just went through a magnetometer. If that magnetometer didn't work, do you think TSA would still use it? And I said, polygraph for us is our magnetometer.
If it didn't work, CIA, Secret Service, FBI wouldn't use it. There's obviously, wives tales are there. It's not perfect. It needs to be used in the right set of circumstances at the right time with the right person. But I said, that is as far as accuracy levels, Right?
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:25] Speaker B: For instance, let's say it's a mammogram. Level of accuracy, 88, 90% accuracy. Okay. It's not 100%. Would we want to stop doing mammograms?
[00:21:34] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: No. My wife's. My wife's a perfect example of that. She had a mammograph that came up that showed something. She went and got additional tests. It identified the cancer early.
She was able to get chemotherapy and. And be a survivor as a result. So it needs to be part of an overall screening process. So that would be the first thing I would say.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: The next thing I would say, Rashad, is when it comes to countermeasures, because that's. I hear that term all the time, something will be posted on my Instagram or something, and people will be like, I beat a polygraph. It's easy to beat a polygraph. And I'm like, okay, all right. If you say right, and you're coming.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: To the source, they're coming to you. Right.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: We're not going to ever. As a federal polygraph examiner, we would never get out there and post online. Guess what this knucklehead did? I gotcha. You're never seeing the failed cases, Right? But what I would tell the pilot in that interaction is I would say, look, if you read. If somebody read a flight manual on how to fly a 747, they knew everything about it. They studied this one manual for years, but they never got in the cockpit the day that they were ready, and they got in the cockpit and they're like, I know how to fly a 747. Meaning they know everything about polygraph. The problem is what they were taught on how to influence it positively or negatively. Put a tack in your shoe, do this, do that. They don't see. Let's just say as you're flying that plane, all the instrumentation goes out.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: Correct?
[00:22:54] Speaker B: And then it's pitch black. So you don't know what your throttle is doing, what you're pulling back on the stick is doing. You don't see how that input is affecting the way that the plane is flying. And that's the problem. You do whatever you want on this side of the computer. You don't see what you're producing on this side. And when the polygraph examiner is used to see normal physiology. Oh, man, the abnormal physiology, that's no bueno.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: You know, it's kind of like what, the martial arts analogy, right? You can only fake it for so long before they find out what you don't know.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Hey, the mats. The mats don't lie.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: No, no. God, no. Well, what's funny about that? Just briefly. I'm sorry I cut you off. Go ahead. I just don't know.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: The mats don't lie. You're right. You can say you're this, that, and the other, and you trained and you did this. There's that big controversy right now with Moneyburg with getting his black belt in three and a half years in Brazilian jiu jitsu. And it's like if you were a true black belt. I want to see you in ibb, jf. I want to see you in a competition, right?
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Oh, my. Yeah, no doubt. And, like, what's funny is, coming from karate, even when I was Coming into bjj, right, People could tell I did martial arts before. Even just when I would be like. And I knew, like, I was, I never wrestled, so I knew, had no background in grappling. But even when people would interact with me and the way I would move, they'd be like, what do you know? I'm like, I have a black belt crowd. Like, I could tell, like right away. They could just tell, like, your way, your way you move, pivot and kind of look certain ways. And I'm like, dang, man, you guys just had that third eye, so to speak. And I never even said anything. So it's kind of fascinating in that regard. Let's talk about your book real quick. Yeah, tell me everything because let's, let's dive right into that. What does that encompass, sir?
[00:24:27] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I appreciate you asking, Rashad, is that several years ago, I started putting some thoughts down on paper and it was one of these things where I was going to write a law enforcement book. I've been fortunate enough to be able to train thousands of federal agents on communication, interrogation, interviewing, those types of things. And I started off just writing a law enforcement book. But the more and more I started writing and the more and more I had a really good support group that was reading it for me. They said, you know what this is a communication teacher, parent, business, business owner is going to be able to benefit from making a good first impression, using all your senses in conversation, lowering your own anxiety and the anxiety of the person you're talking to, picking the right time, the right place to have a communication, active listening, detecting deception. And then when somebody's not honest with you, getting them to open up with you. So those are all the kind of principles in the book that we lay out. And I do overlay it with a lot of the cases that I've worked over the years that try to highlight some of those points. But as we went along, I was blessed to have a great editor and Simon and Schuster picked it up. Distribution and wow, you know, five months from now, it's, it's coming out and I, you know, just, just trying to get the pre orders up now as much as possible. Once again, I appreciate you, appreciate you asking. And it's, it's been a journey going through this.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: You know, it well, you know what it is is that like, you guys are like, I think sometimes the Secret Service doesn't seem like human, right? Like, and I say that respectful, right? Like, and people have these misconceptions that we're being, I have to ask this question that we're being spied on or we're being watched all the time and that, you know, your ring camera is. I mean, obviously there are things that you have to be cognizant of, but for intents and purposes, like the Secret Service isn't going to just suddenly decide to knock on Rashad woods his door for the sake of good.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Yeah, you're good, Rashad.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: You know, there's conspiracies out there and media has lost faith with a lot of sides. And you know, the one thing about the Secret Service is we protect all different sides of the political spectrum. When foreign heads of state come into the United States, we protect their world leaders. So I've been over the 25 years I protected communists, libertarians, Republicans, Democrats, socialists. And you see that people are people. Right. But the problem we have in society today is we tend to get our information from one source, whatever that source may be.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: In that echo chamber. And a lot of times you never even hear the arguments from the other side because anything they say, they're wrong. Right, Right.
So that's one thing that polygraph protection really, really taught me at the Secret Service is trying to be apolitical, trying to get your information from a true non biased source. Right.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: And the one thing that I've tried with this show more than anything else is like, you know, I don't know if you've seen any previous episodes, but I don't. I never tried to make this a political show. If somebody has a perspective that was shaped bait like you protect the president of a Republican, you protect the president who's Democrat to the point. But I'm never going to be that show where it's like, tell me how this other side sucks. Tell me why your experience was bad from this. Because the key to this show is that pathways are built in different ways and you're shaped and molded from different perspectives. And to your point, that echo chamber, it's like I could think I'm the. Karate could be the greatest martial arts in the world, but it means jack crap if I get my, my limbs taken away. So I owed it to see what something else could function and be functionality wise. Right.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: Yeah. It's interesting you bring that point up because I compare in my book communication and everybody thinking that this is the best way to do an interview or this is the best way to approach someone is it's almost like UFC won the Ultimate Fighting Championship one in that when that happened, I think it was 93.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: Oh my goodness.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Every different camp thought they were the.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: Best secret sauce in the world. 150%.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: I mean, taekwondo, right? Sambo boxing, sumo boxing. The guy with the one boxing.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Art Jimison. Art Jimison, yeah.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Yeah, he was a great boxer.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: Phenomenal. Phenomenal.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: The problem is, when Hoist Gracie takes you to the ground, it's probably not going to work out to your benefit.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: Oh, for sure. So sure.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: The thing about that is, is that was a great display of echo chambers colliding.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: And then even after they collided, guess what? The. The mixed martial art community and life adapts super, super quick, Right. So within two or three iterations, you had to do more than just Brazilian jiu jitsu. You had to have a complete game, right?
[00:28:36] Speaker A: Yes. And, you know, and perfect example of it, you know, decades later is, you know, Ronda Rousey, if, you know, world class judoka, had no answer for somebody who could stand up and nullify her judo. So everything comes full circle. And I say, I just said this to a guest the other day. I said, the reason I make this show, you know, I don't go down that pathway. Not to deviate this conversation is because everything turns when it comes to how you feel about a particular point of view. You may one day be happy something's taking place, but the same thing that makes you happy will make you cry a couple years later.
So it's very important to just stay even keel.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Hey, but those are. It's interesting because, look, jiu jitsu brings me joy and it brings me. It pisses me off, right? Ask a golfer what are their greatest days in golf. They probably cried and laughed and cussed on all the same days, right?
[00:29:20] Speaker A: Is that.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: That if everything is just vanilla and, you know, keeping it between the lines, it's probably not too enjoyable. So for sure, that's interesting you bring that up because jiu jitsu has brought a lot of pain and anger to me, but it's also brought a lot of joy.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: It definitely did. So, you know, you know, and I haven't made it nearly as far as you have, but I've had blessed opportunity to train some really great people. So, yeah, what tidbits can people leave from this conversation? Because like I said, 30 minutes, 25 minutes is not a justice to what you've actually accomplished when it comes to, you know, being police officer, being secret service agent, now an author, and also a speaker as well, too. I want to touch on that too, because you also, you know, are, you know, give lessons and speeches and, and have dived into, from my understanding, consulting as well, too.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: Yeah, No, I appreciate that. I would just say, you know, overarching theme. Be curious, not judgmental. It's a nice Ted Lasso theme that he falsely attributed to Walt Whitman. But if you are curious with people, and I just throw that out there and then I'll give a backstory is. Communication is about three different levels. It's the words that we speak, it's the way we enunciate the words, and it's how we look when we're enunciating them. And we have to put all of that together. The analogy I like to give is it's kind of Milli Vanilli, the group.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: There's a good documentary on Paramount.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: Plus, it's a sad. It's a sad documentary that, you know. You know, because I was at the front, you know, I was at Six Flags Over Mid America in the front row in 1989 watching Rob and Fav. You know. You know, blame it on the rain. Right?
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: Is that this was a group that was lip syncing. Right. But what was the most important mode of that communication is they look the part.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: And they could dance. Right?
[00:30:59] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:30:59] Speaker B: It wasn't about even how they sounded and the words, you know, don't try to say that. That's poetry. Right.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: It was.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: It's too many people worry about, I got to pick the perfect word and they don't realize that how does my face look when I'm speaking? How does my body look when I'm speaking?
[00:31:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:14] Speaker B: How does my vocal tonality? How is the hardware speaking the words? And then what is the body language that I am doing to bring all that together? And I learned that because my best friend's deaf for the last 30 years. I had to look in his face. I had to learn sign language. I had to understand, you know, how is he. Does he receive what I'm, you know, saying to him? And how can I spice up the conversation? And I think I've kind of tried to take that into my professional life in making sure that I'm heard. But to kind of circle back to all that as far as being curious. If you are curious with people and you let them do the majority of the talking, it's amazing how people. Well, you know, I think Carnegie said it about 80 years ago. Dale Carnegie, he basically said interest to be the most interested person in the room. To be the most interesting person in the room.
[00:32:01] Speaker A: Right.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: If you're curious and if you're interested, it'll make you a great podcaster. And it'll make you great in your professional life as well.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: I think the one thing that I took from this speech was that, from what you just said was I saw a little bit of myself even when you said that. Because you owe it to yourself to not accept everything at face value because you know, you can go on autopilot, drive past the same stores. You know. Exactly. You can time the lights in your neighborhood. You know exactly what's going to happen, when it's going to happen because you're programmed. And that's very detrimental to your personal growth. Right. Because you owe it to yourself. I would never, without this podcast, had a chance to talk to a former Secret Service agent who gave me insight on posture, handshakes, and just body language. In five in. In five minutes, Right. And there's books written about that. Five minutes. Right?
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, no, you're getting the distilled version from every guest that you talk to. Right. And you're probably getting an SME, a subject matter expert. So you're doing this, if you're doing this on Sundays and maybe you're getting three or four interviews a Sunday, think about how you're leveling up your own game.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: And if, you know, if the listeners like you look at some of these big podcasters and you sit there and you think, who does Joe Rogan get to talk to every single day?
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, man. Oh, right.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: Stephen Bartlett on Diary of CEO get to talk to every single day. People that people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to sit down with. And now I can ask him any question.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:33:19] Speaker B: I want to ask. So that, that's an amazing forum for you to be able to do. And the fact that you are once again not in that mode of, you know, too many people get in that mode. It's almost like you're driving home from work and you can't even remember how you got home because you're just so out of it.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: You got to stay curious. You got to stay non judgmental. I talked to child molesters and some of the worst people on the planet. And I don't judge. In my eyes, my eyes look just like they look with you right now is because anytime you shut you people down non verbally or through judgment, it'd be like in the Catholic faith if somebody walked into a confessional and they're sitting there trying to open up and the pastor says, really?
[00:33:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: Are you serious?
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: And then they take their microphone and say, hey, why don't you talk into the mic. Like you need privacy, you need non judgment and you need curiosity. If you do that, your communications will go much better.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: Absolutely. And you know, I really appreciate your time. I'm looking forward for you.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: To reading your book because I tell you one thing I'm not. I'll be honest with yourself. I, I'm full disclosure, I'm probably not the best book reader. But for you and that book, I'm putting that at the top of the list. You know, whether it's.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: We'll get to the audiobook, we'll get you the.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Yeah, man, I gotta have that. So real quick, briefly, where can people find Brad Beeler, his book and his story and everything that you've accomplished?
[00:34:27] Speaker B: Yeah, so the book doesn't come out till February, but bradleybeeler.com and then Instagram and LinkedIn. I try to put a lot of stuff on, on both those channels and it's Brad Beeler and that's basically the year the Secret Service was founded. So kind of easy to remember. But I try to put some content on there and if it can be helpful, feel free to join.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: Appreciate your time and thank you very much for being on the Tron podcast, sir.
[00:34:46] Speaker B: Thank you, Rashad.
