US Secret Service: Five Interesting Facts

When you see the President of the United States, you likely see members of the Secret Service alongside him, performing one of their most important duties: being ready to protect the commander in chief. But this is only one aspect of the work of the agency, which also protects the vice president and his family, former presidents and heads of foreign states visiting the United States, writes the state portal “Share America«.

Photo: Shutterstock

Along with this, the duties of the Secret Service, one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies, include investigating crimes against the financial system of the United States, including cybercrime. It consists of about 6,5 thousands of employees, including special agents, operational staff and support staff. The service has offices in every state and abroad.

Here are some interesting facts:

At first, the Secret Service did not defend the president.

“Fate decreed that President Lincoln signed a bill to create the Secret Service the day before he was killed,” says Mickey Nelson, former Assistant Director of the Secret Service, and now an employee of consulting firm Command Consulting Group. “Then the service had nothing to do with the protection of the president.”

Fighting money counterfeiting is still an important feature of the Secret Service.

The agency continues to investigate counterfeiting of American banknotes both within the United States and abroad. In November, the Secret Service confiscated counterfeit bills in the amount of 2016 million dollars in Peru on the territory of Peru. This was the largest arrest of bills in its history.

Presidential 24-hour security is held from 1901 onwards.

At the end of the 19th century, the Secret Service unofficially protected President Grover Cleveland. After the assassination of President William McKinley, which took place in 1901, and became the third assassination of the President of the United States during 36 years, Congress ordered the Secret Service to guard the President day and night. In the first group of guards who worked in the White House, there were only 2 people.

Most of the work to protect the president is done well in advance.

For 1-2 weeks before, any event outside of Washington with the participation of the president, advanced Secret Service teams arrive at the scene. They lay out the main, spare and emergency routes for auto tuples, inspect hospitals and prepare security plans for each object that the president will visit.

“Advance planning is central to the work of the Secret Service and ensures its effectiveness,” Nelson said. “People always see agents surrounding the president, but what they don’t see is many days and hours of hard work even before the president’s arrival. For example, the full-scale planning for the inauguration of the 2017 of the year began 18 months ago. ”

What secrets are we talking about?

The origin of the name of the agency has nothing to do with modernity and is completely connected with its original task of fighting counterfeiters. “At the time, it was a group of operatives,” explains Nelson. “They worked undercover, hence the name Secret Service.”

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