United States Secret Service

Primary missions

The Secret Service is mandated by Congress with two distinct and critical national security missions: protecting the nation's leaders and safeguarding the financial and critical infrastructure of the United States.

Protective mission

The Secret Service is tasked with ensuring the safety of the president, the vice president, the president-elect, the vice president–elect, and their immediate families; former presidents, their spouses and their children under the age of 16; those in the presidential line of succession, major presidential and vice-presidential candidates and their spouses; and visiting foreign heads of state and heads of government. By custom, it also provides protection to the secretary of the treasury and secretary of homeland security, as well as other people as directed by the president (usually the White House chief of staff and national security advisor, among others). Former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle told the congressional oversight committee that as of July 22, 2024 the secret service has a total of 36 protectees. By federal statute, the president and vice president may not refuse this protection. The Secret Service also provides physical security for the White House Complex; the neighboring Treasury Department building; the vice president's residence; the principal private residences of the president, vice president and former presidents; and all foreign diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. The protective mission includes protective operations to coordinate manpower and logistics with state and local law enforcement in the US, protective advances to conduct site and venue assessments for protectees, and protective intelligence to investigate all manners of threats made against protectees. The Secret Service is the lead agency in charge of the planning, coordination, and implementation of security operations for events designated as National Special Security Events (NSSE). As part of the service's mission of preventing an incident before it occurs, the agency relies on advance work and threat assessments developed by its Intelligence Division to identify potential risks to protectees.

Investigative mission

The Secret Service is tasked with safeguarding the payment and financial systems of the United States from a wide range of financial and cyber-based crimes. Financial investigations include counterfeit U.S. currency, bank and financial institution fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, illicit financing operations, and major conspiracies. Cyber investigations include cybercrime, network intrusions, identity theft, access device fraud, credit card fraud, and intellectual property crimes. The Secret Service is also a member of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which investigates and combats terrorism on a national and international scale. Also, the Secret Service investigates missing and exploited children and is a partner of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

The Secret Service's initial responsibility was to investigate the counterfeiting of U.S. currency, which was rampant following the American Civil War. The agency then evolved into the United States' first domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. Many of the agency's missions were later taken over by subsequent agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI).

The Secret Service is also tasked with investigating reports of the existence of specimens of the extremely rare 1933 double eagle gold coin, as only a single example of the thirteen known survivors from this mintage year is authorized to be owned or sold.

Dual objective

The Secret Service combines the two responsibilities into a dual objective. The two core missions of protection and investigation synergize with each other, providing benefits to special agents during the course of their careers. Skills developed during the course of investigations which are also used in an agent's protective duties include but are not limited to:

Partnerships that are created between field offices and local law enforcement during the course of investigations being used to gather both protective intelligence and in coordinating protection events.

Tactical operation (e.g., surveillance, arrests, and search warrants) and law enforcement writing (e.g., affidavits, after-action reports, and operations plans) skills being applied to both investigative and protective duties.

Proficiency in analyzing handwriting and forgery techniques being applied in protective investigations of handwritten letters and suspicious-package threats.

Expertise in investigating electronic and financial crimes being applied in protective investigations of threats made against the nation's leaders on the Internet.

Protection of the nation's highest elected leaders and other government officials is one of the primary missions of the Secret Service. After the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley, Congress directed the Secret Service to protect the president of the United States. The Secret Service investigates thousands of incidents each year of individuals threatening the president of the United States.

The Secret Service is authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 3056(a) to protect:

The president, vice president (or the next individual in the order of succession, should the vice presidency be vacant), president-elect and vice president–elect

The immediate families of the above individuals

History

Early years

Following the Civil War, counterfeiting of U.S. currency was a problem. Abraham Lincoln established a commission to make recommendations to remedy the problem. According to a Clinton White House archive, the day that Abraham Lincoln signed the approval of starting the Secret Service, Lincoln was shot. The Secret Service was later established on July 5, 1865, in Washington, D.C., Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch. It was commissioned in Washington, D.C., as the "Secret Service Division" of the Department of the Treasury with the mission of suppressing counterfeiting. At the time, the only other federal law enforcement agencies were the U.S. Post Office Department's Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations (originally created by the first postmaster general Benjamin Franklin in 1772 as the position of surveyor and becoming an agency in 1830, now known as the United States Postal Inspection Service since 1954), United States Customs Service (formed July 31, 1789), the United States Marshals Service (formed September 24, 1789) and the United States Park Police (originally formed in 1791 as the Park Watchman by George Washington & becoming the Park Police on December 14, 1919). In 1867 Secret Service responsibilities were broadened to include "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government" with them investigating the Ku Klux Klan, illegal distillers, smugglers, mail theft and land fraud. In 1870 Secret Service headquarters was moved to New York City but was returned to Washington D.C. four years later in 1874, where it remains to this day.

20th century; Presidential Security mandate added

After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, Congress informally requested that the Secret Service provide presidential protection. A year later, the Secret Service assumed full-time responsibility for presidential protection. In 1902, William Craig became the first Secret Service agent to die while on duty, in a road accident while riding in the presidential carriage.

The Secret Service was the first U.S. domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. Domestic intelligence collection and counterintelligence responsibilities were later vested in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In 1909, President William H. Taft agreed to meet with Mexican president Porfirio Díaz in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the first meeting between a U.S. and a Mexican president and also the first time an American president visited Mexico. The historic summit resulted in serious assassination threats and other security concerns for the nascent Secret Service, so the Texas Rangers, 4,000 U.S. and Mexican troops, BOI agents, U.S. Marshals, and an additional 250-man private security detail led by Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated scout, were all called in by Chief John Wilkie to provide added security. On October 16, the day of the summit, Burnham discovered a man holding a concealed palm pistol standing at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce building along the procession route. The man was captured and disarmed only a few feet from Díaz and Taft.

The first unofficial female special agent was Florence Bolan. She joined the service in 1917. In 1924, Bolan was promoted to operative (the title preceding special agent) where she performed duties, such as searching female prisoners and engaging in occasional fieldwork.

The Secret Service assisted in arresting Japanese American leaders and in the Japanese American internment during World War II.

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman was residing in Blair House while the White House, across the street, was undergoing renovations. On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, approached Blair House with the intent to assassinate President Truman. Collazo and Torresola opened fire on Private Leslie Coffelt and other White House Police officers. Though mortally wounded by three shots from a 9 mm German Luger to his chest and abdomen, Private Coffelt returned fire, killing Torresola with a single shot to his head. Collazo was also shot, but survived his injuries and served 29 years in prison before returning to Puerto Rico in late 1979. Coffelt is the only member of the Secret Service killed while protecting a US president against an assassination attempt (Special Agent Tim McCarthy stepped in front of President Ronald Reagan during the assassination attempt of March 30, 1981, and took a bullet to the chest but made a full recovery).

2000s

The New York City Field office was located at 7 World Trade Center. Immediately after the World Trade Center was attacked as part of the September 11 attacks, Special Agents and other New York Field office employees were among the first to respond with first aid. 67 Special Agents in New York City, at and near the New York Field Office, helped to set up triage areas and evacuate the towers. One Secret Service employee, Master Special Officer Craig Miller, died during the rescue efforts. On August 20, 2002, Director Brian L. Stafford awarded the Director's Valor Award to employees who assisted in the rescue attempts.

Effective March 1, 2003, the Secret Service transferred from the Treasury to the newly established Department of Homeland Security.

The USA Patriot Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, mandated the Secret Service to establish a nationwide network of ECTFs in addition to the one already active in New York. As such, this mandate expanded on the agency's first ECTF—the New York Electronic Crimes Task Force, formed in 1995—which brought together federal, state and local law enforcement, prosecutors, private-industry companies, and academia. These bodies collectively provide necessary support and resources to field investigations that meet any one of the following criteria: significant economic or community impact; participation of organized criminal groups involving multiple districts or transnational organizations; or use of schemes involving new technology.

The network prioritizes investigations that meet the following criteria:

Significant economic or community impact,

Participation of multiple-district or transnational organized criminal groups,

Use of new technology as a means to commit crime.

Investigations conducted by ECTFs include crimes such as computer generated counterfeit currency; bank fraud; virus and worm proliferation; access device fraud; telecommunications fraud; Internet threats; computer system intrusions and cyberattacks; phishing/spoofing; assistance with Internet-related child pornography and exploitation; and identity theft.

Attacks on presidents

Since the 1960s, presidents John F. Kennedy (killed), Gerald Ford (twice attacked, but uninjured), Ronald Reagan (seriously wounded), and Donald Trump (injured) have been attacked while appearing in public. Agents on scene, though not injured, during attacks on presidents include William Greer and Roy Kellerman. One of the agents was Robert DeProspero, the Special Agent In Charge (SAIC) of Reagan's Presidential Protective Division (PPD) from January 1982 to April 1985. DeProspero was deputy to Jerry Parr, the SAIC of PPD during the Reagan assassination attempt on March 30, 1981.

The Kennedy assassination spotlighted the bravery of two Secret Service agents. First, an agent protecting Mrs. Kennedy, Clint Hill, was riding in the car directly behind the presidential limousine when the attack began. While the shooting continued, Hill leaped from the running board of the car he was riding on and jumped onto the back of the president's moving car and guided Mrs. Kennedy from the trunk back into the rear seat of the car. He then shielded the president and the first lady with his body until the car arrived at the hospital.

Rufus Youngblood was riding in the vice-presidential car. When the shots were fired, he vaulted over the front seat and threw his body over Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. That evening, Johnson called Secret Service Chief James J. Rowley and cited Youngblood's bravery. Youngblood would later recall some of this in his memoir, Twenty Years in the Secret Service.

The period following the Kennedy assassination was the most difficult in the modern history of the agency. Press reports indicated that morale among the agents was "low" for months following the assassination. The agency overhauled its procedures in the wake of the Kennedy killing. Training, which until that time had been confined largely to "on-the-job" efforts, was systematized and regularized.

The Reagan assassination attempt also involved several Secret Service agents, particularly agent Tim McCarthy, who spread his stance to protect Reagan as six bullets were being fired by the would-be assassin, John Hinckley Jr. McCarthy survived a .22-caliber round in the abdomen. For his bravery, McCarthy received the NCAA Award of Valor in 1982. Jerry Parr, the agent who pushed President Reagan into the limousine, and made the critical decision to divert the presidential motorcade to George Washington University Hospital instead of returning to the White House, was also honored with U.S. Congress commendations for his actions that day.

Significant investigations

One significant Secret Service investigation was the arrest and indictment of Max Ray Butler, co-founder of the Carders Market carding website. Butler was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after his September 5, 2007 arrest, on wire fraud and identity theft charges. According to the indictment, Butler hacked into computers at financial institutions and credit card processing centers over the Internet and sold the tens of thousands of credit card numbers that he acquired in the process.

Operation Firewall

In October 2004, 28 suspects—located across eight U.S. states and six countries—were arrested on charges of identity theft, computer fraud, credit-card fraud, and conspiracy. Nearly 30 national and foreign field offices of the U.S. Secret Service, including the newly established national ECTFs, and countless local enforcement agencies from around the globe, were involved in this operation. Collectively, the arrested suspects trafficked in at least 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers, which amounted to $4.3 million of losses to financial institutions. However, authorities estimated that prevented loss to the industry was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The operation, which started in July 2003 and lasted for more than a year, led investigators to identify three cybercriminal groups: Shadowcrew, Carderplanet, and Darkprofits.

From the investigation, there was the arrest and indictment of Albert Gonzalez and 11 other individuals: three U.S. citizens, one from Estonia, three from Ukraine, two from the People's Republic of China, one from Belarus, and one known only by an online alias. They were arrested on August 5, 2008, for the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from major U.S. retailers, including TJX Companies, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, and DSW. Gonzalez, the main organizer of the scheme, was charged with computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy for his leading role in the crime.

Personnel

As of 2010, the service had over 6,500 employees: 3,200 Special Agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division Officers, and 2,000 technical and administrative employees. Special agents serve on protective details and investigate financial, cyber, and homeland security-related crimes.

Special Agent

The Secret Service's most familiar personnel are the plain-clothes investigators and personal protectors, who form almost half their total number. This special agent position is highly selective, with for example in 2011, the service accepting less than 1% of its 15,600 special agent applicants.

At a minimum, a prospective agent must be a U.S. citizen, possess a current valid driver's license, be in excellent health and physical condition, possess visual acuity no worse than 20/100 uncorrected or correctable to 20/20 in each eye, and be between age 21–37 at the time of appointment, but eligible veterans may apply past age 37. In 2009, the Office of Personnel Management issued implementation guidance on the Isabella v. Department of State court decision: OPM Letter.

Prospective agents must also qualify for a TS/SCI (Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information) clearance, and undergo an extensive background investigation, to include in-depth interviews, drug screening, medical diagnosis, and full-scope polygraph examination.

Special agents receive training in two locations, totaling approximately 31 weeks. The first phase, the Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) is conducted at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia, lasting approximately 13 weeks. The second phase, the Special Agent Training Course (SATC) is conducted at the Secret Service Academy, James J. Rowley Training Center (JJRTC), just outside Washington, D.C. in Laurel, Maryland, lasting approximately 18 weeks.

A typical special agent career path, depending upon performance and promotions that affect individual assignments, begins with the first six to eight years on the job assigned to a field office. Applicants are directed to list their office location preference during the application process, and upon receiving a final job offer, usually have several locations to choose from. After their field office experience, agents are usually transferred to a protective assignment where they will stay for three to five years. Following their protective assignment, many agents return to a field office for the rest of their careers, or opt for a headquarters based assignment located in Washington, D.C. During their careers, agents also have the opportunity to work overseas in one of the agency's international field offices. This typically requires foreign language training to ensure language proficiency when working alongside the agency's foreign law enforcement counterparts.

Uniformed Division

The Uniformed Division, sometimes referred to as the Secret Service Police, is similar to the U.S. Capitol Police or DHS Federal Protective Service, with "police" rather than "agent"-style ranks. It is in charge of protecting the physical White House grounds and foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington, D.C. area. Established in 1922 as the White House Police, this organization was fully integrated into the Secret Service in 1930. In 1970, the protection of foreign diplomatic missions was added to the force's responsibilities, and its name was changed to the Executive Protective Service. The name United States Secret Service Uniformed Division was adopted in 1977.

Secret Service Police officers provide protection for the White House Complex, the vice president's residence, the main Treasury Building and Annex, and foreign diplomatic missions and embassies in the Washington, D.C., area. Additionally, uniformed officers travel in support of presidential, vice presidential and foreign head of state government missions. Officers may, as their careers progress, be selected to participate in one of several specialized units, including the:

Canine Unit: Performing security sweeps and responding to bomb threats and suspicious packages.

Emergency Response Team: Providing a coordinated tactical response for the White House and other protected facilities.

Counter-sniper Team: Utilizing observation, sighting equipment and high-performance weapons to provide a secure environment for protectees.

Motorcade Support Unit: Providing motorcycle tactical support for official movements of motorcades.

Crime Scene Search Unit: Photographing, collecting and processing physical and latent evidence.

Office of Training: Serving as firearms and classroom instructors or recruiters.

Special Operations Section: Handling special duties and functions at the White House Complex, including conducting the daily congressional and public tours of the White House.

Weapons and equipment

Since the agency's inception, a variety of weapons have been carried by its agents.

As a non-lethal option, Special Agents, Special Officers, and Uniformed Division Officers are armed with the ASP 16" expandable baton, and Uniformed Division officers also carry pepper spray.

Attire

Special agents and special officers of the Secret Service wear attire that is appropriate for their surroundings, in order to blend in as much as possible. In most circumstances, the attire of a close protection shift is a conservative suit, but it can range from a tuxedo to casual clothing as required by the environment. Stereotypically, Secret Service agents are often portrayed wearing reflective sunglasses and a communication earpiece. Often their attire is customized to conceal the wide array of equipment worn in service. Agents wear a distinctive lapel pin that identifies them to other agents.

The attire for Uniformed Division Officers includes standard police uniforms or utility uniforms and ballistic/identification vests for members of the counter-sniper team, Emergency Response Team (ERT), and canine officers. The shoulder patch of the Uniformed Division consists of the U.S. coat of arms on white or black, depending on the garment. Also, the shoulder patch is embroidered with "U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Police" around the emblem.

Vehicles

When transporting the president in a motorcade, the Secret Service uses a fleet of custom-built armored Cadillac Limousines, the newest and largest version of which is known as "The Beast". Armored Chevrolet Suburbans are also used when logistics require such a vehicle or when a more low-profile appearance is required. For official movement, the limousine is affixed with U.S. and presidential flags and the presidential seal on the rear doors. For unofficial events, the vehicles are left sterile and unadorned.

Government audits have criticized the Secret Service for a "slow embrace of technology", according to The New York Times.

Field offices

The Secret Service has agents assigned to 136 field offices and field agencies, and the headquarters in Washington, D.C. The service's offices are located in cities throughout the United States and the world. The offices in Lyon (France) and The Hague (Netherlands) are respectively responsible for liaison with the headquarters of Interpol and Europol, located in those cities.

Misconduct

On April 14, 2012, the U.S. Secret Service placed 11 agents on administrative leave as the agency investigated allegations that the men brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, Colombia, while on assignment to protect President Obama and that a dispute ensued with one of the women over payment the following morning.

After the incident was publicized, the Secret Service implemented new rules for its personnel. The rules prohibit personnel from visiting "non-reputable establishments" and from consuming alcohol less than ten hours before starting work. Additionally, they restrict who is allowed in hotel rooms.

In 2015, two inebriated senior Secret Service agents drove an official car into the White House complex and collided with a barrier. Chairperson of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Jason Chaffetz, investigated the incident. In September 2015, it was revealed that 18 Secret Service employees or supervisors, including Assistant Director Ed Lowery, accessed an unsuccessful 2003 application by Chaffetz for employment with the agency and discussed leaking the information to the media in retaliation for Chaffetz' investigations of agency misconduct. The confidential personal information was later leaked to The Daily Beast. Agency Director Joe Clancy apologized to Chaffetz and said that disciplinary action would be taken against those responsible.

In March 2017, a member of Vice President Mike Pence's detail was suspended after the agent was caught visiting a prostitute at a hotel in Maryland.

In July 2022, during President Biden's trip to the Middle East, a Secret Service agent was sent back to the United States from Israel after indiscriminately assaulting a woman who was walking in the street, next to a bar in Machane Yehuda. A Secret Service spokesman said in a statement that the agency was informed of the encounter, and the agent, who was working in Israel, was "briefly detained and questioned by Israeli police, who released him without charges."

On July 15, 2022, The Intercept reported that a letter from the Department of Homeland Security revealed the Secret Service had erased text messages from the day before and day of the January 6 insurrection, shortly after those messages were requested by oversight officials investigating the agency’s response to the US Capitol riots. The agency claimed that the messages “were erased as part of a device-replacement program,” although the agency is bound by regulation to preserve all records of its activity (including text messages, emails, and other electronic communications). According to Politico on July 19, 2022, as new material becomes available to the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, "a potential second round of hearings gets slated for the fall [of 2022]". Such related new materials may include further details regarding “the potential unauthorized deletion” of text messages, particularly those from around January 5 and 6, 2021, by the Secret Service, then headed by Director James M. Murray, an appointee by then-President Trump in 2019. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general has initiated a criminal investigation into the erasure of text messages exchanged by Secret Service agents relating to the January 6 Capitol breach.