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secret service

 
Dictionary: secret service

n.
    1. Intelligence-gathering activities conducted secretly by a government agency.
    2. A government agency engaged in intelligence-gathering activities.
  1. Secret Service A branch of the U.S. Treasury Department concerned especially with protection of the President.

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American Theater Guide: Secret Service
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Secret Service (1896), a play by William Gillette. [ Garrick Theatre, 176 perf.] Lewis Dumont (Gillette), a Northern agent posing as the Confederate officer Captain Thorne, comes to Richmond, where he wins the affection of loyal Virginian Edith Varney (Amy Busby). Benton Arrelsford (Campbell Gollan) of the War Office suspects that Thorne is a spy, but Thorne cleverly confounds all of Arrelsford's attempts to expose him. However, Edith has come to realize Thorne's real position, so she offers him a means of escape. He rejects the chance, yet he is sufficiently shamed that he revokes forged orders that he has telegraphed to Confederate lines and which would have prompted an unnecessary retreat. When he is arrested and sent to prison, Edith promises to wait for his release. A gripping, soundly constructed melodrama, in which, as Quinn noted, “Not a word is wasted and not an action,” it was originally tried out with Maurice Barrymore as Dumont. Withdrawn for revisions by producer Charles Frohman, it later gave Gillette one of his greatest successes. The melodrama was frequently revived until the time of World War I, though a splendid Phoenix Theatre mounting in 1976 with John Lithgow and Meryl Streep was well received.

US Military Dictionary: secret service
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1. a government department concerned with espionage.

2. Secret Service a branch of the Treasury Department dealing with counterfeiting and providing protection for the President.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

US History Encyclopedia: Secret Service
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On 5 July 1865, the Secret Service was established as a division of the Department of the Treasury to combat the widespread counterfeiting of United States currency. At the time, a loosely organized monetary system contributed greatly to the instability of the nation's currency. State governments issued their own bank notes through private banks. During the early 1860s, more than 1,600 of these banks designed and printed their own bills. Efforts to adopt a national currency were also hampered by counterfeiters. The result was that during the Civil War, as much as one-third of American currency was counterfeit.

With the appointment of William P. Wood as its first chief, the Treasury Department's Secret Service used organized investigative efforts that produced a considerable impact in suppressing counterfeiting. The Secret Service also was asked to investigate other crimes that, in time, would be tasked to other government agencies. These included mail fraud, armed robberies, Ku Klux Klan activities, drug smuggling, naturalization scams, peonage cases, fraud involving land and oil reserves, and counter-espionage during the Spanish-American War and World Wars I and II.

After President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, presidential protection of Theodore Roosevelt became part of the Secret Service mission. In 1906, Congress passed legislation that officially delegated the Secret Service to provide Presidential protection. This was extended to the President-elect in 1913, and for members of the President's immediate family beginning in 1917. In that same year, Congress enacted legislation making it a crime to threaten the President by mail or by any other manner.

The Secret Service is now authorized to protect the president, vice president, president-elect, vice president-elect; the immediate families of these individuals; former presidents and their spouses (presidents taking office after 1996 receive protection for ten years following the end of their term); children of former presidents until age sixteen; visiting heads of foreign state or governments and their spouses; major presidential and vice presidential candidates; and other individuals as directed by the president.

The United States Secret Service Uniformed Division assists in the organization's protective mission. Its mission includes providing protection at the White House and surrounding buildings; numerous embassies and missions in the Washington, D.C., area; and the vice president's residence. This is accomplished through a series of fixed posts, vehicular and foot patrols, and specialized support units.

On 16 July 1951, Public Law 82-79 was passed making the Secret Service a permanent organization of the federal government. Until that time, the Secret Service existed without the benefit of a basic enabling act being passed by Congress. Prior to the passage of PL 82-79, the Secret Service's operational duties and responsibilities derived from annual appropriation acts.

The organization has expanded its role to investigate the dramatic rise in financial crimes. Other criminal activities that have fallen under the purview of the Secret Service include telecommunication fraud, computer crime, and fraudulent identification usage.

The effects of globalization combined with advances in communications, technology, and transportation have allowed such crimes to expand to new areas, both geographic and technological. Open economies, growing interdependence, and the instantaneous nature of financial transactions can all be exploited by criminals. The explosive growth of these crimes has resulted in the evolution of the Secret Service into an agency that is recognized worldwide for its expertise in the investigation of all types of financial and electronic crime.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: United States Secret Service
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Secret Service, United States, a law enforcement division (since 2003) of the Dept. of Homeland Security. It was established in 1865 in the the Dept. of the Treasury to investigate and prevent counterfeiting of currency, officially becoming a distinct organization within the department in 1883. The Secret Service enforces federal laws relating to currency, coins, obligations, and the securities of the United States and foreign governments, including forgery and fraudulent electronic transfer. After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, the force was charged with protecting the president. This protection was later extended to the members of the immediate families of the president, vice president, president-elect, and vice president-elect; major presidential and vice presidential candidates; former presidents and their spouses; widows of former presidents until their death or remarriage; minor children of a former president; and visiting heads of state.

Bibliography

See study by J. Bamford (1983).


Intelligence Encyclopedia: Secret Service, United States
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The United States Secret Service (USSS) has two missions that, while sharply distinguished from one another, are united by the principle of protection. On the one hand, in its more visible role, the service provides protection of the president, vice president, and other dignitaries and their families. On the other hand, USSS's larger mission protects securities, including federal currency and other documents. Established in 1865 as an office under the Department of the Treasury, USSS was transferred in 2003 to the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Early history. At the time Secret Service was founded, approximately one-third of all currency in circulation was counterfeit. Only in 1877 did Congress pass its first law against the production of counterfeit currency, and even then, the law only encompassed counterfeit coins. By then, the mission of USSS had broadened, with an order in 1867 charging it with "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government"—a mission that soon put the service on the trail of a range of lawbreakers ranging from bootleggers to members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The personal protection mission of USSS had its beginnings in 1894, when it first provided protection to President Grover Cleveland on an informal and part-time basis. Following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, Congress officially requested USSS protection for presidents, and in 1902 the Secret Service assumed full-time protective duties for the Chief Executive. At that time, the White House detail numbered just two agents.

The first half of the twentieth century. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt transferred eight USSS agents to the Department of Justice, where they formed a small contingent that would ultimately become the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Congress in 1913 authorized USSS to provide permanent protection to U.S. presidents, and in 1917 it assigned them to protect presidents' immediate families as well. Also in that year, it became a federal crime to make threats against the president. At the request of President Warren G. Harding, a White House police force was created in 1922, and in 1930 Congress placed this force under USSS direction.

On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists attempting to assassinate President Harry S Truman shot and killed White House police officer Leslie Coffelt. This led Congress to pass legislation formalizing USSS permanent protection for presidents and their immediate families, as well for the president-elect and the vice president. In 1962 Congress again expanded these provisions to include the vice president-elect.

The modern Secret Service. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, awareness of the threat to presidents' lives increased dramatically. The mission of USSS also expanded with regard to the persons under its protection. Congress in late 1963 authorized protection for Mrs. Kennedy and her children for two years, and legislation in 1965 provided protection for a president's spouse, as well as minor children until the age of 16. In June 1968, while on the presidential campaign trail, Kennedy's brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated. This led to new laws providing Secret Service protection for major presidential and vice presidential candidates and nominees.

The White House Police Force became the Executive Protective Service in 1970, and to its duties was added responsibility for protecting diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C. In the next year, visiting heads of state or government, as well as other official guests, were granted USSS protection. By 1975, the Executive Protective Service was detailed to guard foreign diplomatic missions throughout the United States and its territories. On November 15, 1977, the Executive Protective Service became the Secret Service Uniformed Division, and in October 1986 it absorbed the Treasury Police Force.

Since the Kennedy assassination, only three persons under Secret Service protection have been the target of direct assassination attempts: Alabama governor and third-party presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972, President Gerald Ford in 1975 (twice), and President Ronald Reagan in 1981. All three survived, a circumstance that— particularly in the last instance, when several agents were wounded—owed much to the work of Secret Service.

From the 1980s onward. At the same time, USSS continued work in its other field, protecting securities. In 1984 Congress made credit-and debit-card fraud a federal violation, and authorized Secret Service to investigate those crimes, as well as fraud involving identification documents. USSS in 1990 received concurrent jurisdiction with Department of Justice law enforcement personnel to conduct civil and criminal investigations relating to federally insured financial institutions. In 1994 new legislation provided for the prosecution of persons counterfeiting U.S. currency abroad, assessing them with the same penalties as if they had committed the crime on American soil.

Also in 1994, Congress reduced the lifetime-protection provisions for presidents. All chief executives elected after January 1, 1997, would receive protection only for the first 10 years after leaving office. Under the provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Secret Service moved to the new DHS.

Though its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., just three blocks from the White House, Secret Service operates more than 120 field offices in all 50 U.S. states. It also has more than a dozen offices in foreign countries. It employs 2,100 special agents, another 1,200 uniformed agents, and some 1,700 support personnel.

Uniformed and special agents. Requirements for special agents are somewhat higher than for uniformed officers— for example, a bachelor's degree is a condition of eligibility for the former and not the latter—but standards for both are high, and applicants must pass an extensive series of tests and background checks. Those selected by Secret Service undergo a nine-week training course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, followed by specialized training. Special-agent candidates take an additional 11-week course at the Secret Service Training Academy in Beltsville, Maryland. Uniformed officers receive varying types of training.

Agents serving in the Uniformed Division provide protection at the White House and a number of other key sites in Washington. They often work with support teams that include countersniper, emergency response, and canine units. Special agents usually spend their first six to eight years in a field office, then are assigned to provide personal protection for three to five years. After this assignment, they may choose a number of paths, continuing in a protective detail, serving in the field, or working in some other capacity.

Further Reading

Books

Department of the Treasury. Excerpts from the History of the United States Secret Service, 1865–1875. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Treasury, 1978.

McCarthy, Dennis V. N. with Philip W. Smith. Protecting the President: The Inside Story of a Secret Service Agent. New York: William Morrow, 1985.

Melanson, Philip H. The Politics of Protection: The U.S. Secret Service in the Terrorist Age. New York: Praeger, 1984.

Motto, Carmine J. In Crime's Way: A Generation of U.S. Secret Service Adventures. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2000.

Electronic

United States Secret Service. <http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/> (February 5, 2003).

Politics: Secret Service
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A division of the United States Department of the Treasury, responsible for apprehending counterfeiters; investigating a variety of federal crimes; and protecting presidents and their families, presidential candidates, and foreign dignitaries visiting the United States.

Wikipedia: United States Secret Service
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United States Secret Service
Common name Secret Service
Abbreviation USSS
US-SecretService-StarLogo.svg
USSS star logo
Mission statement The mission of the United States Secret Service is to safeguard the nation's financial infrastructure and payment systems to preserve the integrity of the economy, and to protect national leaders, visiting heads of state and government, designated sites and National Special Security Events.
Agency overview
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency USA
General nature
Specialist jurisdiction
Operational structure
Sworn members 4,400
Agency executive Mark J. Sullivan, Director
Parent agency United States Department of Homeland Security
Field Offices 136
Facilities
Resident Agent Offices 68
Overseas Offices 19
Website
http://www.SecretService.gov

The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security.[1] The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States Department of Treasury.[2]

The U.S. Secret Service has two distinct areas of responsibility:

  • Treasury roles, covering missions such as prevention and investigation of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. treasury bonds notes and investigation of major fraud.
  • Protective roles, ensuring the safety of national VIPs such as the President, past presidents, vice presidents, presidential candidates, their families, foreign embassies (per an agreement with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) Office of Foreign Missions (OFM)), etc.[3]

The Secret Service began as an agency for the investigation of crimes related to the Treasury, and then evolved into the United States' first domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. Many of the previous missions of the Secret Service were later taken over by subsequent agencies such as the FBI, ATF, and IRS and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)

Contents

Roles

Secret Service Special Agents (foreground) protecting the President of the United States in 2007.

The Secret Service has primary jurisdiction over the prevention and investigation of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. treasury bonds notes. However, this agency is best known for their work protecting the President.

Today, the Secret Service is authorized by law to protect:

  • The president, the vice president, secretary of state (or other individuals next in order of succession to the Office of the President), the president-elect and vice president-elect.
  • The immediate families of the above individuals.
  • Former presidents and their spouses for their lifetimes, except when the spouse remarries. In 1997, Congressional legislation became effective limiting Secret Service protection to former presidents for a period of not more than 10 years from the date the former president leaves office.
  • Children of former presidents until age 16.
  • Former Vice Presidents six months after their term ends (the Secretary of Homeland Security can extend the protection time).
  • Families of former Vice Presidents six months after term ends.
  • Visiting heads of foreign states or governments and their spouses traveling with them, other distinguished foreign visitors to the United States, and official representatives of the United States performing special missions abroad.
  • Major presidential and vice presidential candidates, and their spouses within 120 days of a general presidential election.
  • Other individuals as designated per Executive Order of the President.
  • National Special Security Events, when designated as such by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Secret Service also investigates a wide variety of financial fraud crimes and identity theft and provides forensics assistance for some local crimes. The United States Secret Service Uniformed Division (UD) assists in the protection of foreign embassies, the United States Naval Observatory and the White House within Washington, D.C. Due to the discretion of this organization, many details about the Secret Service are currently classified.

Appearance

Secret Service agents provide security for Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, D.C. Agents are identified by their lapel pins.

Special Agents of the Secret Service wear attire that is appropriate for the surroundings. In many circumstances, the attire is a conservative business suit, but attire can range from a dinner jacket to blue jeans. Photographs often show them wearing sunglasses and a communication earpiece. They also wear lapel pins of a color and shape that, for security purposes, varies regularly, but each design prominently features the service's star emblem in the center. These lapel pins are usually changed hourly when agents travel with the President. The attire for Uniformed Division Officers includes standard police uniforms, or utility uniforms and ballistic/identification vests for members of the countersniper team, Emergency Response Team (ERT), and canine officers.

The shoulder patch of the USSS Uniformed Division consists of the presidential seal on white or black depending on the garment to which it is attached. While there is no official patch indicating "Secret Service", Special Agents have occasionally designed and purchased unofficial patches to trade in their extensive collaborations with uniformed law enforcement officers.[4]

History

Secret Service Uniformed Division vehicle in Washington D.C.
Secret Service Uniformed Division

With a reported one third of the currency in circulation being counterfeit, the Secret Service was commissioned on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C. as the "Secret Service Division" of the Department of the Treasury and was originally tasked with the suppression of counterfeiting. Ironically, the legislation creating the agency was on Abraham Lincoln's desk the night he was assassinated.[5] 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 that the Secret Service begin to provide presidential protection. A year later, the Secret Service assumed full-time responsibility for protection of the President. In 1902, William Craig became the first Secret Service agent to be killed while riding in the presidential carriage, in a road accident.

Secret Service was the first U.S. domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency, hence its name, "Secret Service". Domestic intelligence collection and counterintelligence responsibilities were vested in the Federal Bureau of Investigation after the FBI's creation in 1908. The U.S. Secret Service is not part of the U.S. Intelligence Community.[6]

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman was residing in the Blair House, across the street from the White House, while the executive mansion was undergoing renovations. Two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, approached the 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 Luger to his chest and abdomen, Private Coffelt returned fire, killing Torresola with a single shot to his head. To this day, Coffelt is the only member of the Secret Service to be killed while protecting a U.S. President against an assassination attempt. Collazo was also shot, but survived his injuries and served 29 years in prison before returning to Puerto Rico in 1979. 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 abdomen, but made a full recovery.

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

Although the most visible role of the Secret Service today, 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 early 20th century, there were a limited quantity of federal services with the necessary abilities and resources. The FBI, IRS, ATF, ICE, 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.

Secret Service Uniformed Division cruiser in Washington D.C. at the White House

The Secret Service has over 6,500 employees: 3,200 Special Agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division Officers, and 2,000 technical and administrative employees.[7] Special agents serve on protective details, special teams or sometimes investigate certain financial and homeland security-related crimes.

The United States Secret Service Uniformed Division is similar to the United States 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 placed under the command of the Chief of the Secret Service in 1930. In 1970, the role of the force, then called the Executive Protective Service (EPS), was expanded. The name United States Secret Service Uniformed Division was adopted 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 (Pub.L. 90-331). Congress also authorized protection of the spouses of deceased presidents unless they remarry and of the children of former presidents until age 16.[2]

Congress passed legislation in 1994 stating that presidents who enter office after January 1, 1997 will receive Secret Service protection for 10 years after leaving office. Presidents who entered office prior to January 1, 1997 will continue to receive lifetime protection (Treasury Department Appropriations Act, 1995: Pub.L. 103-329).

While primarily responsible for presidential protection, the Secret Service may also investigate forgery of government checks, forgery of currency equivalents (such as travelers' or cashiers' 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 with the FBI over certain violations of federal computer crime laws. They have created a network of 24 Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) across the United States. 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.

Attacks on Presidents

Secret Service agent Clint Hill on the back of the presidential limousine moments after John F. Kennedy was shot

Since the 1960s, Presidents John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush have been attacked while appearing in public. President Ford was not injured, despite being attacked twice. President Reagan was seriously injured but survived, and President Kennedy died from the attack. President Bush was also not injured, when a hand grenade thrown towards the podium where he was speaking failed to detonate.[8][9] Others who have been on scene though not injured during attacks on Presidents include Clint Hill, James Rowley, William Greer, and Roy Kellerman. One of the more distinguished Secret Service 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 the deputy to Jerry S. Parr, the SAIC of PPD during the Reagan assassination attempt on March 30, 1981. [10][11]

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 was taking place, Hill leapt 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 the trunk she had climbed on 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.

Secret Service agents protect President Ronald Reagan during the assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. on March 30, 1981

The other agent whose bravery was spotlighted during the assassination was Rufus Youngblood, who was riding in the vice presidential car. When the shots were fired, he vaulted over the back of the front seat, threw his body over Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who would become president, and sprawled over him to minimize chances he might be injured. Youngblood would later recall some of this in his memoir, Twenty Years in the Secret Service. That evening, Johnson called Secret Service Chief James J. Rowley and cited Youngblood's bravery.[12]

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.[13] Nevertheless, 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 highlighted the bravery of 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.[14] McCarthy took one .22-caliber round in the abdomen, which was successfully removed by surgeons at George Washington University Hospital (also where Reagan was taken and recovered). For his bravery, McCarthy received the NCAA Award of Valor in 1982. After the near-successful assassination of Ronald Reagan, it was very clear that the Secret Service needed to increase its efficiency to protect the President.

Protection of former Presidents and First Ladies

In 1965, Congress authorized the Secret Service (Public Law 89-186)[15] to protect a former president and his spouse during their lifetime, unless they decline protection. In 1997, Congress enacted legislation that limits Secret Service protection for former presidents to ten years after leaving office. Under this new law, individuals who were in office before January 1, 1997 will continue to receive Secret Service protection for their lifetime. Individuals entering office after that time will receive protection for ten years after leaving office. Therefore, former President Bill Clinton will be the last president to receive lifetime protection, and former President George W. Bush is the first to receive protection for only ten years (until 2019).

Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Reagan will continue to receive full-time protection for life, as former First Ladies. Laura Bush will be the first to receive protection for only ten years (until 2019). The Secret Service uses code names for U.S. Presidents, First Ladies, Vice Presidents, their spouses, children, and other prominent persons and locations.

Protective operations, protective-function training and weaponry

Secret Service agents (foreground, right) guard President George W. Bush in 2008

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.

The Uniformed Division has three branches: the White House Branch, Foreign Missions, and the Naval Observatory Branch. Together they provide protection for the following: The President and Vice President of the United States and their immediate families, presidential candidates, the White House Complex, the Vice President’s Residence, the Main Treasury Department building and its annex facility, and foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.[16]

Special Agents and Uniformed Division Officers carry either the SIG Sauer P229 pistol chambered for the .357 SIG cartridge or the FN Five-seven pistol chambered for the 5.7x28mm cartridge. In addition to their sidearms, they are also trained on several close-combat weapons such as the Remington Model 870 shotgun, the M4 carbine, the IMI Uzi, FN P90, and the HK MP5 (including the MP5KA4) submachine guns among others. They are also issued radios and surveillance kits in order to maintain communication with a central command post and other personnel.[17]

Rescue attempts during September 11, 2001 attacks

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 evacuating people from the towers. One Secret Service employee, Master Special Officer Craig Miller,[18] 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 during the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Directors

  • 1. William P. Wood (1865 – 1869)
  • 2. Herman C. Whitley (1869 – 1874)
  • 3. Elmer Washburn (1874 – 1876)
  • 4. James Brooks (1876 – 1888)
  • 5. John S. Bell (1888 – 1890)
  • 6. A.L. Drummond (1891 – 1894)
  • 7. William P. Hazen (1894 – 1898)
  • 8. John E. Wilkie (1898 – 1911)
  • 9. William J. Flynn (1912 – 1917)
  • 10. William H. Moran (1917 – 1936)
  • 11. Frank J. Wilson (1937 – 1946)

Field offices

The Secret Service has agents assigned to 136 field offices and the headquarters in Washington, D.C. while the field offices are located in cities throughout the United States and in Brazil (Brasilia), Bulgaria (Sofia), Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver), Colombia (Bogota [de Francisco]), China (Hong Kong), France (Paris), INTERPOL, Germany (Frankfurt), Italy (Rome), Mexico (Mexico City), EUROPOL (Netherlands/The Hague), Romania (Bucharest), Russia (Moscow), South Africa (Pretoria), Spain (Madrid), Thailand (Bangkok), and the United Kingdom (London).

Similar organizations

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions". Congressional Research Service. 2008-07-31. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL34603.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-08. 
  2. ^ a b "Secret Service History". United States Secret Service. http://www.secretservice.gov/history.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-09. 
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ The American Presidency
  5. ^ Petro, Joeseph; Jeffery Robinson (2005). Standing Next to History, An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 16. ISBN 0312332211. 
  6. ^ http://www.intelligence.gov/1-members.shtml
  7. ^ http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml#faq8
  8. ^ Secret Service told grenade landed near Bush
  9. ^ "Bush grenade attacker gets life". CNN. 2006-01-11. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/11/georgia.grenade/index.html. Retrieved 2007-01-03. 
  10. ^ Petro, Joeseph; Jeffery Robinson (2005). Standing Next to History, An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 140–141 & 202–204. ISBN 0312332211. 
  11. ^ WVU Alumni | Robert L. DeProspero
  12. ^ "The Transfer of Power", Time magazine, November 29, 1963.
  13. ^ Twenty Years in the Secret Service by Rufus Youngblood, pages 147–149. Vince Palamara interviews with former agent Rufus Youngblood on 10/22/92 and 2/8/94—please see: Survivor's Guilt: The Secret Service and the Failure to Protect the President.
  14. ^ He Took A Bullet For Reagan "'In the Secret Service,' [McCarthy] continued, 'we're trained to cover and evacuate the president. And to cover the president, you have to get as large as you can, rather than hitting the deck.'"
  15. ^ Secret Service Frequently Asked Questions.
  16. ^ United States Secret Service
  17. ^ Eyeballing the US Secret Service Technical Security Division
  18. ^ Master Special Officer Craig J. Miller, United States Department of the Treasury - Secret Service Special Services Division

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Intelligence Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Politics. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "United States Secret Service" Read more