Originating in diplomatic security measures implemented during the First World War, DSS was formally established in 1985 following the deadly 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

The origins of DSS go back to the early stages of the First World War, when the United States, which sought to maintain its neutrality, found itself the target of espionage, sabotage and passport fraud.

Tasked primarily with counterespionage and counterintelligence, the team also investigated passport fraud, protected U.S. and foreign diplomats on U.S. soil, and processed threat reports from overseas posts.

After the war ended, Congress passed laws requiring American citizens to return with passports and resident aliens to enter with visas.

In 1961, Otto Otepka, then a deputy director of SY, brought to the attention of the U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee deficiencies in the State Department clearance process.

The terse message from the then undersecretary for management announcing the immediate change made it clear that this action was against his best judgment and insinuated that it was done because then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ordered it.

[citation needed] This change stripped DSS out from under administration officers and placed the RSO directly under the deputy chief of mission (DCM) in the chain of command at an embassy.

Notable protection details include most major members of the British royal family, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, Princess Diana, Yasser Arafat,[18] Tsai Ing-wen and Boris Yeltsin.

During the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in September, DSS, as well as the U.S. Secret Service and other federal agencies, protect hundreds of foreign dignitaries as they visit New York City.

DSS special agents also investigate such cases as human and sex trafficking, document fraud, international parental kidnapping, child exploitation, violations of the Protect Act, assaults on federally protected persons, fugitive arrests overseas (with host nation assistance), counterterrorism and counterintelligence (CI) investigations and international organized crime cases.

If there is a nexus to passport and/or visa fraud, use of State Department documents, diplomatic activities, the U.S. Foreign Service, or terrorism, DSS is typically involved.

[23][24][25][26][27][28] Sometimes Americans, including Foreign Service officers (FSOs), are the target of DSS investigations, such as an FSO selling visas for personal gain.

Overseas DSS must take the role of local and state law enforcement when investigating issues such as spousal or child abuse by U.S. government personnel assigned to the embassy.

The division conducts numerous counterintelligence and security awareness training programs for all U.S. government personnel requesting or having access to sensitive Department of State facilities and information.

[37] The secretary of State is currently offering rewards for information that prevents or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property worldwide.

Unlike investigations conducted in the United States by other federal agencies, DSS agents have to work jointly with their foreign counterparts in often hostile areas of the world.

On January 28, 2009, CIA station chief Andrew Warren in Algiers, Algeria, was reportedly under investigation by DSS for having allegedly raped two local women.

[42] In 1995 DSS Special Agents Jeff Riner and Bill Miller, the RSOs assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan, along with Pakistani police and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), arrested Ramzi Yousef, who was the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City.

In another case, Jared Ravin Yaffe ran a child pornography ring between March and September 2008 by paying babysitters to give him access to children.

[44] On September 19, 2009, special agents from DSS located Derrick Yancey, a former deputy sheriff from DeKalb County, Georgia, in Punta Gorda, Belize.

Marshals Service, Guatemalan National Police, and INTERPOL to locate alleged murder suspect 24-year-old Ariel Beau Patrick, who was taken into custody in Guatemala.

Accused of murdering cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson, Armstrong attempted to evade arrest by hiding in Santa Teresa, a small Costa Rican town popular with surfers and yoga enthusiasts.

Likewise, hundreds of DSS agents assigned overseas travel to New York on TDY to support the United Nations General Assembly every year.

[71] Embedded in 120 diplomatic posts across 85 countries, there are roughly 130 OCIs who conduct criminal investigations and work with foreign governments to build a global law enforcement network; they maintain formal partnerships and training programs with foreign police, immigration, and customs officials to target a wide range of criminals, including forgers, smugglers, and terrorists.

With its global partners, OCIs help locate and return an average of 300 fugitives to the U.S. annually; missions have included dismantling major human smuggling networks, identifying criminals involved in child exploitation and pornography, ending international scams, and disrupting suspected terrorist travel.

[73][74][75][76] The DSS special agent hiring process is widely regarded as one of the most difficult and challenging within both the federal government and general law enforcement.

Special agent candidates must successfully pass an intensive multi-stage evaluation process that includes a series of written exams, knowledge-based exams, writing samples, panel interviews, and situational judgment exercises; a physical fitness test (PFT); a comprehensive medical examination granting worldwide availability; and an exhaustive background investigation for security clearance at the level of Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI).

A final suitability review and vote by a Foreign Service panel evaluates a candidate's overall ability to represent the interests of the United States abroad.

As members of the Foreign Service, DSS special agents spend nearly half of their careers living and working overseas, often in hazardous environments and/or less developed countries throughout the world.

[83] As of March 2016, a further 133 locally engaged DSS staff, host country law enforcement personnel and members of the US military had been killed while undertaking diplomatic security duties.