The U.S. Secret Service -- Falling Down on the Job?

On November 18, 2010 I was interviewed at my residence by two Special Agents of the U.S. Secret Service about a law enforcement matter. 

During the interview one of the agents asked how I occupied my days.  I said, among of other things, I liked to read, and I pointed to two bookcases in my apartment stacked with books.  One of the agents, laudably, noticed that I had a book about Lee Harvey Oswald on the shelf.  The book, by Edward Jay Epstein, is titled Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald.  The agent said, more or less, "I'll tell you what concerns me.  You have a book about Lee Harvey Oswald."

Then the agents did a most remarkable thing.  They proceeded with the interview, totally ignoring the Oswald book.  One would have thought that one of the agents would have taken the trouble to pull the book off the shelf and glance through it.  Was the book worn?  Did the book contain notes?  Did the book contain any underlining?  Were any passages highlighted?  How did I come into possession of the book?  When did I acquire it?  Do I have any other books about presidential assassins?

Nothing!  The agents said nothing about my book about Lee Harvey Oswald.  I found that a tad askew.

It was as if the Secret Service agents were actors doing improv.  "Now, you are Secret Service agents, and your job is to make it appear to a citizen that he has made statements that raise law enforcement concerns.  Basically, your job is to play the part of law enforcement officers doing an interview.  OK.  Let's start.  First, show your badge."  And so on.

I also noticed that when one of the agents searched my apartment he expressly declined to look through the box containing my dirty laundry.  Do people not hide weapons in dirty laundry any more?  A word of advice to violent criminals: Hide your weapons in boxes of dirty laundry.  They never search there!