United States Secret Service

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.

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 fourteen known survivors from this mintage year is authorized to be owned or sold.

Additionally, the Secret Service runs the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), which provides law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges with cyber training and information to combat cybercrime.

[22] 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.

[23][24] 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.

On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, approached Blair House with the intent to assassinate President Truman.

In 1971, the first five official female Special Agents were sworn in - Laurie Anderson, Sue Baker, Kathryn Clark, Holly Hufschmidt, and Phyllis Shantz.

[citation needed] On March 1, 1990, the Secret Service served a search warrant on Steve Jackson Games, a small company in Austin, Texas, seizing three computers and over 300 floppy disks.

[44] 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.

[47] On July 6, 2009, the U.S. Secret Service expanded its fight on cybercrime by creating the first European Electronic Crime Task Force, based on the successful U.S. domestic model, through a memorandum of understanding with Italian police and postal officials.

[48][49] Both task forces are said to concentrate on a wide range of "computer-based criminal activity," including: In September 2014, the United States Secret Service came under criticism following two high-profile incidents involving intruders at the White House.

[53] On June 1, 2020, during a peaceful protest outside Lafayette Square, the U.S. Secret Service acted contrary to an operational plan and began advancing seven minutes before U.S. Park Police gave any dispersal warnings.

[54] Attorney General William Barr spoke with the U.S. Park Police operational commander seven minutes before the Secret Service began advancing, and again later, before President Trump visited a nearby Parish House to pose for a photo while holding a Bible.

[58] On January 6, Secret Service agents provided security in and around the United States Capitol, as well as evacuating Vice President Mike Pence during the riot.

[59] Testimony in Congress indicates Pence was concerned his security detail would remove him from the Capitol, stopping him from completing his duty to oversee the final count of electoral college votes.

[61] In April 2022, four Secret Service agents, one of whom was assigned to First Lady Jill Biden, were placed on leave after accepting lavish gifts, rent free apartments, and other bribes from two men ultimately convicted of impersonating federal officers.

[64] On November 12, 2023, a Secret Service agent guarding Naomi Biden fired shots at three people seen breaking into an unoccupied government vehicle in Georgetown.

[87] 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.

[90] 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.

[95] 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.

[98] Due to the nature of their work, Secret Service agents are regularly eligible for overtime pay in addition to LEAP, and are compensated up to $225,700 per year (Level II of the Executive Schedule).

Secret Service Uniformed Division 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.

[110] 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.

[117] 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.

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]".

[120] 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.

[121][122] 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.

Secret Service agents conducting electronic investigations
Sign at the Obama family home in 2021 stating the area is protected by the Secret Service
Logo of the United States Secret Service
First female operative Florence Bolan
Secret Service analyst examining counterfeit documents [ 35 ]
Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF)
Secret Service Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Task Force (AFMLTF)
Secret Service Cyber Intelligence Center (CIS)
Secret Service agents responding to the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981
Secret Service agents guard President George W. Bush in 2008
Secret Service agents protecting President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama
Secret Service agents executing a protective operation
Secret Service agent trainees at the James J. Rowley Training Center (RTC)
Secret Service agent trainees practice executing a search warrant.
Secret Service officer and his police dog as part of the Emergency Response Team (ERT)
Two men on a roof with rifles positioned on tripods
Two snipers protect Vice President Mike Pence in Indianapolis in 2017
Secret Service counter-sniper marksman on top of the White House's roof, armed with a sniper rifle
Secret Service agent in business suit working President Obama's protection detail
Ford Taurus of the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service
An Allegheny County Police officer and his working dog screening a US Secret Service vehicle for explosives
Secret Service field offices, as of September 2014