Cool Facts About The US Secret Service You Didn’t Know
The Secret Service may have a 'secretive' name, but their mission is straightforward: Protecting the U.S. president, the president's family, and presidential candidates.
How they got here is a little bit unexpected though, as this government agency started out with quite a different mission. Learn a little more about these stern, sunglass-wearing security gurus with our list of facts about the United States Secret Service.
They were founded to combat counterfeiting.
Modern currency is full of security features as anti-counterfeiting measures — and that's to say nothing of how many transactions have become paperless. But while counterfeiting is a different beast in the 21st century, it was absolutely rampant in the 19th century.
This issue is at the core of the Secret Service's founding. The agency was created in 1865 to fight counterfeiting. In these post-Civil War times, it's estimated that a third of all currency in the U.S. was counterfeit.
The agency was created by Lincoln on the day he was assassinated.
The Secret Service was created in 1865, the same year as another significant American historical event — the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In fact, Lincoln created the agency on April 14, the same day he was gunned down by John Wilkes Booth.
While it seems like poor timing, creating the agency earlier wouldn't have helped his chances. After all, the agency wasn't dedicated to presidential security in its early days.
They moved into presidential security in 1901.
After the assassinations of Lincoln (in 1865), Garfield (in 1881), and finally McKinley (in 1901), lawmakers decided that presidential security should probably be more of a priority after seeing three presidents gunned down in under 40 years.
Thus, after McKinley was killed in 1901, the agency's duties shifted to the full-time protection of the President of the United States. These duties have only grown over the years, but remain the main focus of the Secret Service.
They were the first of their kind.
While many Secret Service duties amount to day-to-day security work, the agency is also tasked with assessing risk levels and investigating potential threats. This was true even in the early days of presidential security.
While there are numerous intelligence and counterintelligence agencies in the U.S. today, the Secret Service was the first U.S. domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. The FBI wasn't created until 1908.
They created a huge security detail for President Taft.
President Taft met with Mexican president Porfirio Diaz in 1909, in a tense visit that was marked by numerous assassination plots. For the summit, the Secret Service — which was a small agency at the time — enlisted the help of literally thousands of men.
A team of Texas Rangers, 4,000 U.S. and Mexican troops, U.S. Marshals, assorted private security teams, and — yes, the Secret Service — provided security at the event. At least one would-be assassin was thwarted.
Florence Bolan was a trailblazer.
In modern times, women are eligible for employment in all of the same agencies as men — but in the 1920s, things were quite a bit different. Still, Florence Bolan was so good at the required work that she was hired by the Secret Service in 1917.
In 1924, she was promoted to operative in a role that had her sometimes taking part in fieldwork. While she wasn't officially an agent, she performed many of the same duties.
An agent died protecting Harry Truman.
An assassination attempt on Harry Truman in 1950 ended with the death of the would-be assassin — and, sadly, a Secret Service agent. Two Puerto Rican nationalists attacked Truman at home in 1950, and Secret Service agent Leslie Coffelt returned fire.
Coffelt killed one of the assassins and wounded the other, who would be sentenced to 29 years in prison for the attempt. Unfortunately, Coffelt was struck by gunfire and died of his injuries.
Their duties expanded in the 1960s.
Like the final decades of the 19th century, the 1960s were marked by a series of assassinations and assassination attempts. When presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in 1968, Congress authorized protection of not just presidents, but also major candidates and nominees.
Around this time, Congress also approved lifetime protection of close family members of former presidents. This mostly means spouses, but also children if they're below a certain age.
The first female officer wasn't sworn in until 1970.
Florence Bolan may have set a few firsts as a member of the Secret Service, but the first female agent officially sworn into the Secret Service Uniformed Division (called the Executive Protective Service at the time) was Phyllis Shantz in 1970.
The following year, the Secret Service swore in additional female Special Agents: Laurie Anderson, Sue Baker, Kathryn Clark, and Holly Huffschmidt. Shantz was also promoted to Special Agent at this time.
They've been in the cybersecurity game for decades.
The passage of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act by Congress in 1984 added to the list of duties for the Secret Service by authorizing them to investigate various types of electronic fraud, including credit card and computer fraud.
The move was a forward-thinking one that has repercussions that are still being felt today. It was also somewhat of a throwback, as it returned the Secret Service to their roots of hunting down counterfeiters.
They tried, and failed, to take down hackers.
Operation Sundevil, a 1990 project started by the Secret Service, turned into an unmitigated disaster. While the operation was designed to take down hackers who targeted telephone services, it didn't result in any convictions.
To add to the sense of failure, it also targeted numerous innocent people. The Secret Service was actually sued for their role in the project and was forced to pay damages. A judge called their work "sloppy."
Bill Clinton put them in charge of event security.
Presidential Decision Directive 62, signed by President Clinton in 1998, expanded the agency's jurisdiction to include responsibility for security at certain events. This placed the Secret Service, rather than local police, as the responsible party for rallies by U.S. presidents and presidential candidates.
The move was designed to amalgamate security and streamline the chain of commands for events at which high-ranking politicians might be president. It came during a surge in international terrorist events.
They switched teams in 2003.
In 2003, the Secret Service officially left their spot from underneath the umbrella of the U.S. Treasury. This wasn't a bad break-up, though — it was simply part of the reorganization of federal agencies.
This was when the Department of Homeland Security was created, and the Secret Service — whose purview is all about protecting the security of the president — was a natural fit for the new department.
They protect more than just the president.
While the Secret Service is synonymous with presidential protection, they protect more than just presidents and those adjacent to them. The agency is also responsible for the entire White House Complex, along with the Naval Observatory.
The Secret Service has a heavy presence in Washington, and much of this owes to the fact that they're responsible for the security of any foreign embassies and consulates in the area.
Former presidents have a choice.
While the sitting president and vice president (and their immediate family) have no choice but to accept Secret Service protection, rules aren't so rigid once they leave office.
They're welcome to continue this protection as they're entitled to it for life, but they're also allowed to decline lifelong protection. In these cases, they're welcome to hire their own security detail if they've had enough of the Secret Service formalities.
They're always ready to save the president's life.
Secret Service agents are always visible in the background anytime the president attends an event, but this protection goes deeper than you might think. For instance, plans ensure that wherever the president appears, that they're no further than ten minutes from the nearest trauma center.
To add to the security, agents are tasked with carrying bags of the president's blood just in case an emergency transfusion might be necessary in the field.
They're always filming.
It makes sense that Secret Service agents would have optical equipment like binoculars and cameras to scout out crowds in order to assess threats — but agents are generally filming the president as well.
It might sound voyeuristic but there's good reason for this, as the footage helps not only with training, but would also be invaluable evidence in the case of any attack or attempted attack on the president.
They inspect the president's food.
Secret Service agents are responsible for the safety of any food the president eats. This is pretty easy to keep tabs on for anything that's prepared at home in the White House, but can be challenging when the president is campaigning.
This also means that any outside food that's brought into the White House for presidential consumption has to be assessed for threats — even if it's just a bunch of McDonald's takeout.
They've got elevator repair people on speed dial.
Secret Service agents need to be ready for every contingency. When the president is staying at a hotel, they'll typically book an entire floor or two of the building for the entourage and staff it with heavy security.
Of course, if something goes wrong, the president will need to get out of there fast. This is why the Secret Service always has an elevator repair crew on standby in case they need a broken elevator quickly fixed.
Sometimes they have to take on hobbies.
Agents will sometimes pick up hobbies like running or horseback riding that they have to participate in while on the job. This isn't done for fun — it's done because they're responsible for the president 24/7, even during the commander in chief's leisure time.
If the president is a runner, agents will have to run with them. If the president rides horses, agents will have to ride horses with them.
There's nothing sinister about the sunglasses.
The ubiquitous sunglasses worn by Secret Service agents give them a certain panache, and in some cases these dark glasses might help protect the agents from projectiles or help them scan a crowd without being seen.
That said, the sunglasses are generally worn for an unsurprising reason: Protecting the eyes from the sun. Many events at which agents are seen take place in broad daylight, and their duties often force them to look in the direction of the sun.
They moonlight at other big events.
Big entertainment events like the Super Bowl are subject to tight security, as they're seen as potential targets for an attack. While the sitting president doesn't usually attend the Super Bowl, the Secret Service generally attends the event.
This isn't so they can watch the game — it's more of a networking and information-sharing scheme to meet up with other federal agencies in order to prevent future attacks.
They're the reason the FBI exists.
The Secret Service was founded in the 1860s and moved to presidential detail in 1901. The FBI wasn't created until 1908. What happened amounts to a lot of red tape and political wrangling, but ultimately, the first FBI special agents were hired out of the Secret Service.
The FBI — which was called simply the Bureau of Investigation at the time — was created so there'd be a federal investigatory body that reports to the attorney general rather than their own director.
Their agents are loyal.
No matter how rigorous and scrupulous the hiring process might be, it seems inevitable that federal agencies will occasionally hire a traitor. It's happened to the FBI, CIA, and NSA after all. But in more than 150 years of Secret Service history, there's never been a traitor or a mole in the agency's ranks that we know of.
Whether this is simply a matter of luck or loyalty is unknown, but it's fortunate. Having a spy with direct access to the president could be disastrous.
They've stayed true to their roots.
The Secret Service is primarily tasked with presidential protection, but that doesn't mean that their original mission of cracking down on counterfeiting has fallen by the wayside.
The agency still investigates cases of counterfeiting, credit card fraud, financial crimes, identity theft and computer fraud. Thanks to Congressional approval over the years, these responsibilities have expanded as electronic crimes have become more sophisticated.
They're all about the code names.
Agents need a quick and low-key way to refer to the people they're tasked with protecting, and this has led to a bunch of fun code names over the decades.
Gerald Ford was Passkey, while wife Betty was Pinafore. George W. Bush was Tumbler, but was later renamed Trailblazer. His wife Laura and daughters Barbara and Jenna were Tempo, Turquoise, and Twinkle respectively.
They have thousands of employees.
The immediate security detail for the president might be a relatively small group — and security details for former presidents would be even smaller — but the agency sprawls around the globe.
In all, more than 3,000 Secret Service agents are in service at any given time. They're spread across about 150 offices in the U.S. and abroad. About 1,300 of them are members of the Uniformed Division, which is directly associated with White House security.
They'll put their lives on the line.
Agent Leslie Coffelt was gunned down in 1950 — and 31 years later, Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy almost met the same fate. He dove to block attempted assassin John Hinckley Jr. as he shot at President Reagan.
McCarthy was hit by gunfire in his heroic act, and was able to recover. Two others — Press Secretary James Brady and a Washington police officer — were also hit.
They help find missing kids.
The Secret Service isn't directly involved — in a boots on the ground way at least — with finding missing kids. But in 1994, Congress authorized the agency to help the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This partnership enables the Secret Service to share their intelligence with local, state and federal agencies as they search for missing kids, along with providing forensic and technical assistance to these same law enforcement agencies.
Agents have died in attacks.
Two noteworthy attacks of the '90s and 2000s — the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and September 11th — claimed Secret Service agents on their long list of victims.
The Oklahoma City attack killed six Secret Service employees, as the agency had an office inside the building. The September 11th attack killed Secret Service Special Officer Craig Miller.
They've occasionally partied too hard.
An embarrassing 2012 incident saw 11 Secret Service agents fired from their positions after misconduct allegations arose from their posting in Colombia.
An investigation found that the agents consorted with prostitutes at their hotel in Cartagena, bringing them back to their rooms. This, of course, violates all sorts of professional and ethical rules, and led to a black eye for the agency.
It isn't easy to get in.
While many of the thousands of Secret Service jobs are largely office positions, the selection criteria for being a special agent — a uniformed member — is very picky.
In 2011, it was said that the service accepted less than one percent of the 15,600 people who applied to be a special agent. A successful applicant needs to be between 21 and 37 years of age, with good eyesight, and in good physical health.
It's a heavy work week.
Working 40 hours a week is more than enough for most of us, but Secret Service special agents typically work around 50 hours a week. This entitles them to Law Enforcement Availability Pay, or LEAP, which stacks a 25 percent bonus on top of their salary.
This means that, depending on an agent's experience level, annual pay for a special agent starts at around $71,000 and ranges all the way up to $191,000.
Dogs have a role as well.
Secret Service agents — at least those in the Uniformed Division — might be assigned to any number of specialized teams, including emergency response, counter-sniper, motorcade support, crime scene search, and the special operations section.
Of course, the most appealing just might be the canine unit. This team deals with dogs (of course) to assist with running security sweeps and sniffing out potential threats in crowds.
They're supposed to blend in.
It's somewhat of a stereotype that Secret Service agents all wear suits and sunglasses, but this isn't always the case. Rather than having a strict dress code, the key is to blend in.
That means that agents will wear suits in settings in which others are wearing suits — but they might be required to dress up in a tuxedo, or dress down in running attire, depending on their specific security detail.
They have bespoke vehicles.
Secret Service agents may be seen driving around in standard police cars (with Secret Service livery), but their range of vehicles includes specialized and one-of-a-kind cars used in presidential motorcades.
The current motorcade vehicle, aptly nicknamed "The Beast" is a custom-built armored Cadillac limousine. Three of them were built. Each was supposed to cost around $1.5 million, but the overall cost ballooned to more than $15 million.
They're well armed.
Secret Service agents need to respond to threats at a second's notice, so it stands to reason that they're all well armed, even those who aren't directly involved with sniper response.
Officers are trained to use everything from handguns to shotguns to machine guns. They're also equipped with non-lethal options like batons and pepper spray. More specialized agents have weapons that can do everything from breach a door to shoot long distances.
They may have saved Mrs. Kennedy.
While John F. Kennedy was killed at Dealey Plaza in 1963, the sad incident showcased the bravery of his Secret Service detail. As soon as the attack began, Agent Clive Hill jumped out of his car in the motorcade and jumped into the Kennedys' car.
Once there, he guided the First Lady onto the floor of the rear seat. Once there, he used his body to shield both the President and the First Lady.
The Kennedy assassination changed everything.
Understandably, the assassination of a sitting president will cause the service charged with his protection to assess their gameplan. The JFK assassination led to the end of presidents touring around in public inside open-topped cars, for obvious reasons.
The years that followed led the agency to drastically overhaul its procedures. The biggest impact of this was that the agency focused on protecting the president 24/7, rather than just during big events.
Training takes 31 weeks.
Applicants who are accepted as Secret Service special agents are trained in two locations: The Department of Homeland Security's training facility in Glynco, Georgia, and the Special Agent Training Course at the Secret Service Academy in Laurel, Maryland.
The two training courses last around 31 weeks in total — 13 weeks for the DHS portion, and then 18 more for the specific Secret Service training.
