By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
OCT. 3, 2025 | What are the odds that two graduates of Central Gwinnett High School in Lawrenceville, a few years apart, would join the Secret Service?
On Tuesday, we told the story of Secret Service Agent Yvette Summerour, who grew up in Lawrenceville. Today you will learn of Chuck Brand, 61, the son of Dot and Charles Brand of Lawrenceville, who owned a downtown drug store for years, also became a Secret Service agent for 28 years. He is a 1982 class member of Central Gwinnett, and then graduated from North Georgia College, where for four years, he was in the Marine Reserves.
Early on, Chuck wanted to be a Georgia State Patrolman. His first patrol job was as a radio operator in Swainsboro. He became a highway trooper in 1988 working out of several nearby patrol locations, the last out of Madison. When with the Patrol, he often worked alongside the Secret Service, especially with motorcades.
It was in 1996 that Chuck joined the Secret Service. Among his training sites were the Glynco Law Enforcement Training Center at Brunswick, and a Secret Service training school in Washington, D.C. His initial assignment was to the Atlanta field office, with dual role of protection and investigation. The Secret Service has responsibility for counterfeit money and government check fraud. Brand remained in Atlanta for five years, until 2001.
“We had temporary protective assignments within the perimeter for President Bill Clinton, and the First Lady, and for Vice President Al Gore. ‘\When we were in Washington, I was on the full time detail for President George W. Bush until 2005, and later with President Barack Obama for three years.” Altogether, Chuck was stationed in the Washington area for 11 years. Part of those years was driving for President Bush for 1.5 years.
While he spent most of his Secret Service career in Atlanta, he retired as the assistant to the special agent in charge in 2024 at age 57, mandatory for the Secret Service agents.
“What I enjoyed was both the protection, and then the investigation aspects, which is the bread and butter of the Secret Service. Both could be a challenge, whether local or overseas.”
After retirement he was employed in contract security and logistics details. Among them, were travels with Evangelist Franklin Graham, going all over the world. He also was in contract security work with Linda McMann of the American First Policy Institute, even going to Saudi Arabia and meeting their crown prince.
In 2024, Chuck began a full-time job as the first security officer for Power South Energy Corporation in Andalusia, Ala. This is a company with four power plants and 6,000 miles of transmission lines.
It was in 1988, when in Washington, he married Lee Ann Everett of Maryland, who grew up in Covington, Ga. The couple had three children, Chase, now deceased; Chad, in Baltimore; and Anna, who lives in Dunwoody. Chuck and Linda have three granddaughters and live in Chuck’s parent’s house on Simonton Road in Lawrenceville. He also has a place near Enterprise, Ala., which he is restoring for when he is in Alabama.
Chuck Brand says of his security career: “It has taken me to many places in the world, and has been a good career. Who would think back when there were far less people in Gwinnett, that a boy growing up in Gwinnett would become a Secret Service agent?”
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