The agent was adjusting a shotgun mounted to the side of a vehicle in President George W. Bush's motorcade when the weapon was accidentally discharged, sending a bullet in the direction of the Iranian leader, write Marc Ambinder and D.B. Grady in 'Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry.'
The uncomfortably close call was recorded in a memo shared with a dozen high-level Bush administration officials.
'A U.S. Secret Service agent, in an apparent accident, discharged his shotgun as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was loading his motorcade at the InterContinental Hotel yesterday,' the memo read, according to an official cited in the book.
'When I read that, I remember closing my eyes,' the official said.
Ahmadinejad was in town for an annual gathering of the United Nations.
When the shot was fired, 'Everyone just stopped,' the official recalled. 'The Iranians looked at us and we looked at the Iranians. The agent began to apologize. Ahmadinejad just turned his head and got into his car.'
Bush administration officials were concerned that Ahmadinejad might try and claim that the Secret Service had tried to assassinate him and cause a public outcry during the UN assembly, where sanctions were being considered against his government.
But Ahmadinejad never said anything about the incident and it was tucked away into history - until now.
'Deep State,' which promises to unravel the 'secrecy apparatus of the United States,' will hit store shelves in April. Ambinder is an author and former White House correspondent and D.B. Grady is an Army veteran and writer.
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