50 Fun Facts About Secret Service

What was the original mission of the Secret Service when it was founded in 1865?

After the Civil War fake money was rampant; the new division sat inside the Treasury Department for the next 138 years.

Which federal department has the Secret Service belonged to since 2003?

The transfer took effect on March 1, 2003, ending its long tenure at the Treasury.

Whose assassination prompted Congress to ask the Secret Service to protect the President?

The 1901 request was informal at first; full-time responsibility for presidential protection followed a year later.

What happened on the same day Abraham Lincoln approved the creation of the Secret Service?

The agency itself was formally established a few months later, on July 5, 1865.

Who was sworn in as the first Chief of the Secret Service in July 1865?

He was sworn in by Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch in Washington, D.C.

What is the nickname of the armored Cadillac presidential limousine introduced in 2018?

For unofficial events the limousines travel "sterile", stripped of flags and the presidential seal.

Which agent leapt onto President Kennedy's limousine in Dallas to shield the First Lady?

He was riding on the running board of the follow-up car and guided Mrs. Kennedy back into the rear seat.

Which agent threw his body over Vice President Lyndon Johnson when the shots rang out in Dallas?

Johnson phoned the Secret Service chief that evening to praise him; he later wrote the memoir Twenty Years in the Secret Service.

Which agent took a bullet in the abdomen while spreading his stance to shield President Reagan in 1981?

He made a full recovery and received the NCAA Award of Valor the following year.

Where did agent Jerry Parr divert Reagan's motorcade after the 1981 shooting?

The decision is widely credited with saving Reagan's life; Parr received commendations from Congress.

In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to assassinate President Truman at which residence?

Truman was living across the street from the White House while it underwent renovation.

Who is the only Secret Service agent killed protecting a president from assassination?

Mortally wounded, he still shot and killed one of the attackers with a single round.

How did William Craig, the first agent to die on duty, lose his life in 1902?

The agency had taken on full-time presidential protection only that year.

Whose 1968 assassination led Congress to authorize protection for major presidential candidates?

The same era brought lifetime protection for the spouses of deceased presidents unless they remarry.

Which two officials may not refuse Secret Service protection under federal law?

By custom the agency also guards the Treasury and Homeland Security secretaries, and others the President designates.

Until what age are the children of former presidents entitled to Secret Service protection?

Former presidents and their spouses get protection for life, unless the spouse remarries.

What is the code name for the White House as a whole?

"Crown" refers more narrowly to the Executive Mansion; the Situation Room is "Cement Mixer".

Which two code names are used for Air Force One?

The presidential state car is "Stagecoach" and the follow-up car is "Halfback".

What is the code name for the presidential retreat Camp David?

"Volcano" was Lyndon Johnson's ranch and "Roadhouse" is the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

Which building carries the Secret Service code name "Punch bowl"?

The Pentagon is "Calico" and FBI headquarters is "Cork".

Which organization actually maintains the list of code names that protectees choose from?

Candidates pick from the list, often choosing a word that resonates with them personally; family members traditionally share a first letter.

What was Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Service code name?

His wife Lynne was "Author" and his daughters "Apollo" and "Alpine", following the shared-initial tradition.

Which vice president had the code name "Hoosier"?

The nickname for an Indiana native fitted the former governor of that state; his wife Karen was "Hummingbird".

What was Kamala Harris's Secret Service code name?

Her husband Doug Emhoff was "Playmaker" and stepdaughter Ella was, delightfully, "Pickle".

Which entertainer was given the code name "Napoleon" by the Secret Service?

Antonio Banderas got "Zorro" and Pope John Paul II was "Halo".

What was Queen Elizabeth II's Secret Service code name?

King Charles III has been "Principal" or "Unicorn"; Israel's Menachem Begin was "Cedar".

What is the code name of the Secret Service counter-sniper team?

The counterassault team is "Hawkeye" and the motorcade itself is "Bamboo".

The Uniformed Division was established in 1922 under what name?

It became the Executive Protective Service in 1970 and took its current name in 1977.

Besides the White House complex, what does the Uniformed Division protect throughout Washington, D.C.?

That duty was added in 1970, when the force was renamed the Executive Protective Service.

Roughly what fraction of special agent applicants did the Secret Service accept in 2011?

There were 15,600 applicants that year; recruits must be aged 21 to 37 and pass a full-scope polygraph.

What is the maximum age for a new special agent appointment, unless the applicant is an eligible veteran?

Applicants also need uncorrected vision no worse than 20/100 and a top-secret clearance.

Which rare gold coin is the Secret Service tasked with investigating whenever a specimen is reported?

Only one of the thirteen known survivors may legally be owned or sold.

Which 1984 law extended Secret Service jurisdiction to credit card and computer fraud?

Today the agency runs 24 Electronic Crimes Task Forces across the country.

Which 1990 anti-hacker sting led to a lawsuit and a judge calling the agency's warrant work "sloppy"?

Agents raided Steve Jackson Games in Austin, seizing three computers and over 300 floppy disks; the story became Bruce Sterling's The Hacker Crackdown.

Which small game company in Austin, Texas, did the Secret Service raid in March 1990?

The company sued and won; the case became a landmark for online civil liberties.

In which building was the Secret Service's New York field office located on September 11, 2001?

Sixty-seven agents helped set up triage areas and evacuate the towers; Master Special Officer Craig Miller died in the rescue efforts.

Which hacker, arrested in 2008, was charged with stealing 40 million-plus card numbers from retailers like TJX?

The case grew out of Operation Firewall, which had identified the Shadowcrew, Carderplanet and Darkprofits groups.

In 2012, agents were sent home from which Colombian city over a prostitution scandal before an Obama visit?

New rules afterwards banned drinking within ten hours of a shift and visits to "non-reputable establishments".

Which director resigned in July 2024, a day after testifying about the Butler rally shooting?

She had called it "the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades".

The director appointed in 2022 came from a job as senior director of global security at which company?

She had spent 27 years in the agency and was its first female assistant director of protective operations.

In 1909 the Secret Service faced its first big summit test when Taft met the leader of which country?

Scout Frederick Russell Burnham found a man with a concealed palm pistol just feet from Taft and Porfirio Díaz.

In what year were the first five official female special agents sworn in?

Florence Bolan had served unofficially from 1917, becoming an operative in 1924.

Where was Secret Service headquarters briefly moved in 1870?

It has remained in Washington ever since; a dedicated memorial headquarters building opened only in 1999.

What non-lethal weapon do all Secret Service agents and officers carry?

Uniformed Division officers add pepper spray to the kit.

Which 1998 Clinton order gave the Secret Service security responsibility for National Special Security Events?

Bill Clinton signed it; NSSEs include inaugurations, party conventions and major summits.

How many protectees did the Secret Service have as of July 2024, according to its then-director?

The list runs from the President's family to visiting heads of state and, by custom, the Treasury secretary.

What did the Secret Service become the first U.S. agency to do, before the FBI took over the role?

Its 1867 remit already covered the Ku Klux Klan, smugglers, illegal distillers and land fraud.

The Secret Service office that liaises with Interpol headquarters is located in which French city?

A sister office in The Hague handles liaison with Europol; the agency has 136 field offices and agencies worldwide.

In which Maryland town is the James J. Rowley Training Center, the Secret Service Academy, located?

Agents first complete about 13 weeks at the federal training centre in Glynco, Georgia, then the Special Agent Training Course there.

Who joined the Secret Service in 1917 as its first unofficial female special agent?

She was promoted to 'operative' in 1924; the first five official female special agents were not sworn in until 1971.