United States Secret Service

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The United States Secret Service is a United States federal government law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security (prior to the founding of that department in 2003, it was under the United States Department of the Treasury).

1 Role
2 Appearance
3 History
4 Attacks on presidents
5 Protection of Former Presidents and First Ladies
6 Protective Operations & Protective-Function Training & Weaponry
7 Secret Service involvement in rescue attempts during 9/11
8 Directors
9 Field Offices
10 Secret Service in popular culture
11 Trivia
12 See also
13 External links

[edit] Role

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The Secret Service has primary jurisdiction over the prevention of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. treasury bonds and notes, as well as protection of the President, Vice President, their immediate families, other high ranking government officials, past presidents and their spouses, certain candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, and visiting foreign heads of state and government (all called "protectees"). It also investigates a wide variety of financial fraud crimes and identity theft and provides forensics assistance for some local crimes. The Secret Service Uniformed Division assists in the protection of foreign embassies within Washington, D.C.

[edit] Appearance

Plainclothes agents of the Secret Service wear attire that is appropriate for the surroundings. In most circumstances, this means a conservative business suit. Photographs often show them wearing sunglasses and a communication earpiece. The attire for members of the Uniformed Division includes police dress uniforms for White House police officers, police work uniforms for investigative officers, and work clothes and identification vests for members of the countersniper team. Richard Nixon, after traveling through Europe, had his Secret Service agents wear elaborate uniforms to state functions. However, they were discontinued after being deemed too imperial.

[edit] History

The Secret Service was commissioned on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C. as the "Secret Service Division," to suppress counterfeit currency, which is why it was established under the United States Department of the Treasury. At the time, the only other federal law enforcement agencies were the United States Park Police, U.S. Post Office Department - Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations, now known as the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Marshals Service. The Marshals did not have the manpower to investigate all crime under federal jurisdiction, so the Secret Service was used to investigate everything from murder to bank robbery to illegal gambling. After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, Congress informally requested Secret Service presidential protection. A year later, the Secret Service assumed full-time responsibility for protection of the President. In 1902, William Craig was the first Secret Service agent killed while riding in the presidential motorcade.

The only member of the Secret Service to die while actually defending the president from an assassination attempt is Private Leslie Coffelt of the White House Police Force (now called the Secret Service Uniformed Division). In 1950, President Truman was residing in the Blair House, across the street from the White House, while the executive mansion was undergoing renovations. Two men approached the Blair House with the intent to assassinate President Truman. Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, who were Puerto Rican nationalists, opened fire on Private Coffelt and other White House Police officers. Though mortally wounded by three shots from a 9 mm 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 1979.

The Secret Service Presidential Protection Detail safeguards the President of the United States and his immediate family. They are heavily armed and work with local police and the military to safeguard the President when he travels, in Air Force One, Marine One, and by limousine in motorcades.

Although today this is the Secret Service's most visible role, personal protection is an anomaly in the responsibilities of an agency focused on fraud and counterfeiting. The reason for this combination of duties is that when the need for presidential protection became apparent in the late 19th century, there were a limited quantity of federal services with the necessary abilities and resources. The FBI, CIA, ATF, and DEA did not yet exist. The United States Marshals Service was the only other logical choice, and in fact the U.S. Marshals did provide protection for the president on a number of occasions. In the end, however, the job went to the Secret Service.

The Secret Service has over 5,000 employees: 2,100 special agents, 1,200 Uniformed Division employees, and 1,700 technical and administrative employees. Special agents either serve as bodyguards for public officials or investigate financial fraud.

Per Public Law 91-217, passed in 1970, Secret Service Uniformed Division police officers protect:

the White House Complex, the Main Treasury Building and Annex, and other presidential offices
the President and members of his immediate family
the official residence of the Vice President at the US Naval Observatory in the District of Columbia
the Vice President and members of his immediate family
the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates as well as their spouses during election years.

The United States Secret Service Uniformed Division is similar to the Capitol Police and is in charge of protecting the physical White House grounds and foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington, D.C. area. The Uniformed Division was originally a separate organization known as the White House Police Force, but was incorporated into the US Secret Service in 1971 as the Executive Protective Service and was renamed the Secret Service Uniformed Division in 1977.

In 1968, as a result of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, Congress authorized protection of major presidential and vice presidential candidates and nominees (Public Law 90-331). Congress also authorized protection of the widows of presidents until death or remarriage, and their children until age 16.

Congress passed legislation in 1994 stating that presidents elected to office after January 1, 1997, will receive Secret Service protection for 10 years after leaving office. Individuals elected to office prior to January 1, 1997, will continue to receive lifetime protection (Treasury Department Appropriations Act, 1995: Public Law 103-329).

The Service also investigates forgery of government checks, forgery of currency equivalents (such as travelers' checks), and certain instances of wire fraud (such as the so called Nigerian scam) and credit card fraud.

The Secret Service also has concurrent jurisdiction for violation of federal computer crime laws. They have created a network of 15 Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTF's) across the United States. The Secret Service will soon be establishing 9 more Electronic Crimes Task Forces. These task forces create partnerships between the Service, federal/state and local law enforcement, the private sector and academia aimed at combating technology based crimes.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton signed Presidential Decision Directive 62, which established National Special Security Events (NSSE). In that directive, it made the Secret Service the federal agency responsible for security at events given such a designation.

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

[edit] Attacks on presidents

Physical attacks on the President of the United States quickly remind everyone of the role the Secret Service plays in providing personal protection for the president and his family. In recent decades, Presidents John Kennedy, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan have been attacked while appearing in public. President Ford was not injured. President Reagan was seriously injured but survived, and President Kennedy died from the attack. The Kennedy assassination spotlighted the bravery of one Secret Service agent who was guarding Mrs. Kennedy. Her bodyguard, Clint Hill, was riding in the car directly behind the Presidential Limousine when the attack began. While the shooting was taking place, Hill leaped from the running board of the car he was riding on and sprinted up to the car carrying the President and the First Lady. He jumped on to the back of the moving car and guided Mrs. Kennedy off of the trunk where she had climbed and 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.

The period following the Kennedy assassination was probably 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, reports that caused President Lyndon B. Johnson to call agent Rufus Youngblood and threaten to replace the Secret Service with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (The call was recorded and released several years ago.)

The agency investigated charges that agents were out carousing in local saloons until all hours during the trip to Dallas. (No agent was ever disciplined for what happened in Dallas, however.)

Nevertheless, the agency overhauled its procedures in the wake of the Kennedy killing. Training, which heretofore had been confined largely to "on-the-job" efforts, was systematized and regularized. As duties expanded, so did the agency, growing from about 300 agents in the early 1960s to over 2,000 today.

[edit] Protection of Former Presidents and First Ladies

In 1965, Congress authorized the Secret Service (Public Law 89-186) to protect a former president and his/her spouse during their lifetime, unless they decline protection. Congress recently enacted legislation that limits Secret Service protection for former presidents to ten years after leaving office. Under this new law, individuals who are in office before January 1, 1997, will continue to receive Secret Service protection for their lifetime. Individuals elected to office after that time will receive protection for ten years after leaving office. Therefore, former president Clinton will be the last president to receive lifetime protection.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) continues to receive full-time protection as a former First Lady. She is the only member of the Senate with full-time protection, which, some critics have charged, unfairly enables her to keep hecklers or protestors at a distance.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Protective Operations & Protective-Function Training & Weaponry

Due to the importance of the Secret Service's protective function, the personnel of the agency receive the latest weapons and training. The agents of the Protective Operations Division receive the latest military technology (See: the Presidential Protection Assistance Act of 1976, codified in the notes of Title 18, Section 3056 of the U.S. Code Annotated). Due to specific legislation and directives, the United States military must fully comply with requests for assistance with providing protection for the president and all other people under protection, providing equipment, and even military personnel at no cost to the Secret Service.

According to its website, agents and officers carry the Sig Sauer P229, 357 caliber pistol. They also are trained on the Remington Model 870 shotgun, the Uzi submachine gun, and the MP5 automatic weapon.

[edit] Secret Service involvement in rescue attempts during 9/11

The Secret Service New York City Field office was located at 7 World Trade Center. Immediately after the attacks, Special Agents and other Secret Service employees stationed at the New York Field office were among the first to respond with first aid trauma kits. Sixty-seven Special Agents in New York City, at and near the New York Field Office, assisted local fire and Police rescue teams by helping to set up triage areas and evacuate people from the towers. One Secret Service employee, Master Special Officer Craig Miller, died during the rescue efforts.

On August 20, 2002, Director Brian L. Stafford recognized the bravery and heroism of 67 Secret Service employees in the New York Field Office, by awarding the Director's Valor Award to employees who assisted in the rescue attempts in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

[edit] Directors

[edit] Field Offices

Main article: List of United States Secret Service Field Offices

The Secret Service has agents assigned to approximately 125 offices located in cities throughout the United States and in select foreign cities.

[edit] Secret Service in popular culture

24 - The Secret Service is regularly shown in action during scenes involving the President of the United States in this televised political action-drama. Glenn Morshower portrays veteran Special Agent and recurring team leader Aaron Pierce.
Air Force One - Action film starring Harrison Ford. A group of Russian terrorists hijack Air Force One and hold the president's family and staff hostage. The Secret Service figures prominently.
Along Came a Spider - mystery novel and film, about a kidnapping investigated by a police officer and a Secret Service agent.
Chasing Liberty - A film starring Mandy Moore as the president's teenage daughter who travels Europe with an incognito Secret Service agent.
Commander in Chief - An ABC television series starring Geena Davis as the nation's first female president. The secret service features prominently in their interactions with the president's children, who are in the district's public schools.
Dave - A film that shows the camaraderie between the body double of a comatose president, Kevin Kline, and his primary Secret Service agent, Ving Rhames.
DAG, a short-lived situation comedy about an inept Secret Service agent assigned to protect the First Lady.
Debt of Honor - Tom Clancy book where Secret Service agents attempt to protect the president during the war with Japan. In addition the Secret Service plays smaller roles in other Tom Clancy stories.
First Daughter - A film starring Katie Holmes as the daughter of the president, Michael Keaton which showcases the protective lengths her father takes to protect his college-bound girl.
First Kid - Sinbad stars as a Secret Service agent assigned to protect the President's son.
Guarding Tess - Film about a Secret Service agent assigned to guard a former First Lady.
In the Line of Fire - Popular film about a presidential assassination plot, starring Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent.
The Interpreter - Nicole Kidman plays an interpreter at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Sean Penn plays the Secret Service agent protecting her.
Murder at 1600 - The head of the Secret Service interferes the investigation of a murder in the White House.
My Date with the President's Daughter - A movie that follows the president's daughter and her date as they avoid Secret Service agents in order to have some fun.
"My Fellow Americans" - A movie about two former presidents and a scandal. A Secret Service agent snipes a main character.
Prison Break - A Fox TV series where Secret Service agents are middlemen in a government conspiracy.
Resident Evil 4 A survival horror game. The game's main protagonist, Leon Kennedy, is revealed to be working for the United States Secret Service on his first mission.
Rush Hour 2 - An action/comedy film starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. They work for the Secret Service in order to thwart a counterfeit money operation and catch the villain behind it.
The Sentinel - Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland are Secret Service agents looking for a traitor within the agency.
Taxi Driver - Secret Service agents foil an assassination attempt by the protagonist (Robert De Niro)
To Live and Die in L.A. - A film about a Secret Service agent (William L. Petersen) determined to bring down a counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) by any means necessary.
The West Wing - A popular TV series about the West Wing of the White House starring Martin Sheen as the president. The show has featured the Secret Service in many capacities over its seven seasons, including the agency's reaction to an apparent assassination attempt.
Wild Wild West - Western parody starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline. In the final scene, President Ulysses S. Grant declares Smith and Kline to be the first Secret Service men. The movie was a reinterpretation of an older television show, The Wild Wild West, in which Robert Conrad and Ross Martin played early Secret Service agents.
Area 7- Book about the President going to a secret base and some rougue Air Force unit tries to assisinate the President. The Secret Service are shown as great protectors of the President but the President's protection detail is almost wiped out. The Marine detail that is put in Marine 1, the President's helicopter, have to come save the day.

[edit] Trivia

Secret Service special agents, special officers, and technicians carry the Sig Sauer P229 pistol chambered in .357 SIG. They also are trained on the Remington Model 870 shotgun, and the MP5 submachine gun (MP5KA4 Variation) as well as a variety of other weaponry.
The Secret Service employs approximately 3,500 special agents, 1,200 Uniformed Division officers, and approximately 1,700 other technical, professional, and administrative support personnel. The Secret Service Uniformed Division is a uniformed force whose members protect the White House Complex, the Vice President's residence and foreign embassies and missions in the Washington, D.C. area. Members of the Uniformed Division also perform other missions in support of the protection of the President, such as operating magnetometers, countersnipers, canine handlers, and special operations posts.
The Secret Service's mandate was altered to include presidential protection after the assassination of William McKinley. After the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968, the Service's mandate was altered futher to include protection of presidential candidates.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

et:United States Secret Service fr:United States Secret Service he:השירות החשאי של ארצות הברית ja:アメリカ合衆国シークレットサービス no:U.S. Secret Service pl:United States Secret Service pt:United States Secret Service ru:Секретная служба США sl:Tajna služba ZDA sv:Secret Service (USA) zh:美国经济情报局

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