Meeting Obama Leads to Guard's Firing from Dream Job

A dream day on the job for security guard Kenneth Tate – meeting the president of the United States – has turned into a nightmare of accusations, media mistakes and the loss of the best job Tate has ever had.

Tate, a guard at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, was selected on Sept. 16 to run the elevator that took President Barack Obama to his meeting with some of the country’s top health officials.

“I was just proud,” Tate told The New York Times. “That was a big accomplishment to me.”

But Tate was wearing a handgun, as he did every day on his job, in violation of Secret Service rules. Two week later, he was fired.

Obama flew into Atlanta as fears about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus spiraled, with the president outlining plans to control the outbreak, coordinate a global response, and boost Africa’s public health care system, reports WXIA TV.

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Tate told the Times the CDC and the contractor he worked for -- Professional Security Corporation – have not explained why he was fired. The agencies won’t detail what happened, but have said Tate’s account of his actions during the presidential visit is not accurate.

News outlets across the country, including CNN, reported Tate’s armed presence in the elevator with President Obama as a security breach. Tate says he was issued a .40-caliber duty weapon that day as usual, after he had been tapped to operate the elevator with the president.

Unnamed sources told The Washington Post that Tate aroused concern “when he acted oddly and did not comply with (Secret Service) orders to stop using a cellphone camera to record the president in the elevator.

But the Secret Service apparently didn’t know Tate was armed until after Obama left the building. The incident was the final straw in the firestorm that led to its then-director, Julia Pierson, resigning. She was already in hot water after a man carrying a knife jumped a fence and entered the White House.

“The problems about the elevator breach were a) that it happened, b) that no one told the White House about it in the midst of two weeks of many discussions with them about security and then c) that the president didn’t find out till just before the media was about to report it,” a source told CNN of Tate’s encounter.

Tate told the Times his encounter with President Obama was something that would make his mother proud.

“He acknowledged me, said, ‘How you are doing?’ He said, ‘What’s your name?’ I told him my name, and he extended his hand, shook my hand, and I said it’s a pleasure to meet him. And I proceeded to escort him upstairs,” Tate told the Times.

Compounding Tate’s misdeeds in the eyes of the Secret Service was his move as the presidential motorcade pulled away from the CDC to snap a few photos with his cell phone.

Secret Service agents told Tate he had gotten too close to the presidential limo and ordered him to delete the photos; Tate told the Times he complied. After he was questioned by the Secret Service, Tate’s CDC badge was confiscated and the next week he was fired.

Media outlets – from CNN to The Washingon Post– reported that Tate was a convicted felon, which was incorrect. Tate had been arrested on charges of robbery and assault, but never convicted, the Times reports.

Troubles for the Tate family only increased when his son — who had worked at the CDC as a contractor for seven years — lost his job in “downsizing” two weeks after the president’s visit.