¶ United States Secret Service
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The United States Secret Service is a law enforcement agency of the United States Federal Government charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and visiting heads of state or government.[1] Originally founded in 1865 as a branch of the United States Department of the Treasury, the agency has operated under the United States Department of Homeland Security since 2003.[2]
¶ History
The Secret Service was established on July 5, 1865 as an investigative unit within the Department of Treasury in order to investigate counterfeit currency. Two years later, the agency expanded its focus to investigations of mail theft, bootlegging, smuggling and fraud.[2:1]
In 1894, the Secret Service uncovered a plot to assassinate President Grover Cleveland while probing a group of gamblers. This led to the agency's first assignment to protect a President.
President William McKinley was also provided protection by the Secret Service during the Spanish-American War of 1898, and to a lesser degree following the conclusion of the conflict.[3] President McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901.[4]
In 1906, the United States Congress first appropriated funds to officially task the Secret Service with the protection of the President.[1:1] This was expanded to include the President-elect in 1908.[5]
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.[6] After his brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was also killed in 1968, the Secret Service's mandate was expanded to also include prominent presidential candidates.
¶ 9/11
The Secret Service's New York Field Office was housed in Building 7 of the World Trade Center, which collapsed as a result of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Agent Craig Miller was killed during the buildings' collapse.[5:1]
Following 9/11, the Secret Service took on additional duties including "overseeing security at non-political events that could be targets for terrorists, like the Super Bowl."[2:2]
The Secret Service was one of 22 governmental departments that were transferred to the control of the newly-created United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as of March 1, 2003.[7]
¶ 2008 presidential election
Senator Barack Obama was granted Secret Service protection on May 3, 2007. The move is described by the agency as "the earliest initiation of Secret Service protection for any candidate in history,"[5:2] coming nearly nine months before voting began in the Democratic primaries and over a year before the 2008 presidential election. Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the agency was not aware of any specific threat against Obama that would prompt his early protection. Obama was already under the protection of a private security firm at the time and for the prior four months of campaigning.[8]
His opponent, John McCain, was offered Secret Service protection at the same time, but declined it until almost a year later.[9]
¶ 2016 presidential election
Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson applied for Secret Service protection in October 2015.[10] Both requests were granted in early November 2015 (around a year before election day), making them the first candidates to receive agency details in the 2016 presidential election cycle.[11]
According to a message published by the Secret Service on Twitter, the agency claimed to have secured 3,220 campaign stops and screened over 3 million people between November 2015 and election day in November 2016.[12]
¶ 2020 presidential election
On November 5, 2019, representatives from the Secret Service participated in a counter-terrorism exercise called Operation Blackout, simulating an attack on the 2020 United States presidential election. It was organized by Cybereason, and participants included the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Department of Homeland Security and the law firm Venable.[13]
¶ Organization
| Name | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kimberly Cheatle | Director[14] | PepsiCo |
¶ Subsidiaries
- Office of Protective Operations
¶ External links
¶ Further reading
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August 3, 2023: "Why No Secret Service Protection?" by Liam Sturgess, published by The Kennedy Beacon
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September 25, 2024: "Examination of U.S. Secret Service Planning and Security Failures Related to the July 13, 2024 Assassination Attempt - Interim Joint Report" published by the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Reese, S. (2014). The U.S. Secret Service: History and Missions. Congressional Research Service. https://web.archive.org/web/20230801183105/https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/RL34603.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎
CNN Library. (2019, May 3). Secret Service Fast Facts. CNN. https://web.archive.org/web/20190531070231/https://www.cnn.com/2016/04/18/us/secret-service-fast-facts/index.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Kaiser, F. M. (1988). Origins of Secret Service Protection of the President: Personal, Interagency, and Institutional Conflict. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 18(1), 112. https://web.archive.org/web/20211022203342/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27550537 ↩︎
On this day, McKinley is shot while Roosevelt is traveling. (2022, September 6). National Constitution Center. https://web.archive.org/web/20230801191628/https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-mckinley-is-shot-while-roosevelt-is-traveling ↩︎
Timeline of Our History. United States Secret Service. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from http://archive.today/2021.09.21-091641/https://www.secretservice.gov/about/history/timeline ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
November 22, 1963: Death of the President. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.11.21-002856/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president ↩︎
Coast Guard joins Homeland Security Department. (2003, February 26). CNN. https://web.archive.org/web/20190603190655/http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/02/25/homeland.security/index.html?iref=mpstoryview ↩︎
Zeleny, J. (2007, May 4). Secret Service Guards Obama, Taking Unusually Early Step. The New York Times. http://archive.today/2014.10.03-060108/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/politics/04obama.html?_r=0 ↩︎
ABC News Radio. (2019, April 20). Which presidential candidate gets Secret Service protection comes down to a few factors: ANALYSIS. WBAL. https://web.archive.org/web/20230801195654/https://www.wbal.com/article/384717/3/which-presidential-candidate-gets-secret-service-protection-comes-down-to-a-few-factors-analysis ↩︎
Reuters. (2015, October 19). Donald Trump and Ben Carson ask for 24-hour Secret Service protection. The Guardian. http://archive.today/2023.08.01-194712/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/19/donald-trump-ben-carson-secret-service-protection ↩︎
Acosta, J., & Diamond, J. (2015, November 5). Donald Trump, Ben Carson getting Secret Service protection. CNN Politics. http://archive.today/2023.08.01-194708/https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/donald-trump-ben-carson-secret-service/index.html ↩︎
U.S. Secret Service [@SecretService]. (2016, November 8). “From Nov 2015 to #ElectionDay @SecretService secured 3,220 #Campaign2016 stops & screened over 3 million people. Protection never rests.” [Tweet]. Twitter. https://web.archive.org/web/20201104014550/https://twitter.com/SecretService/status/796105321911582720 ↩︎
Operation Blackout Summary of Events. (2019, November 5). Cybereason. https://web.archive.org/web/20210701201116/https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6548629/Operation-Blackout-Wrap-Up-Report-November-2019.pdf ↩︎
Director Kimberly A. Cheatle. United States Secret Service. Retrieved July 18, 2024, from https://web.archive.org/web/20240718020923/https://www.secretservice.gov/about/leadership/director ↩︎