Secret Service, United States, is a U.S. government bureau that protects the president, the president’s immediate family, and certain other government officials. The Secret Service also investigates the counterfeiting of certain U.S. government identification documents and U.S. and foreign currency, securities, and stamps; fraudulent use of false identification documents; the theft or forgery of U.S. government checks and bonds; and major fraud cases involving computers, automatic teller machines, telecommunications, electronic fund transfers, credit cards, or debit cards. Debit cards are used to charge purchases directly to a bank account. The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Among the people protected by the Secret Service are the vice president, the president-elect, the vice president-elect, and their immediate families. Others include former presidents and their spouses, widowed spouses of former presidents until they remarry, children under 16 of former presidents, major presidential and vice presidential candidates, and–within 120 days of a presidential election–the candidates’ spouses. The Secret Service protects visiting heads of foreign governments and, by order of the president, other distinguished foreign visitors. It also protects U.S. representatives performing special missions in other countries.
The Uniformed Division of the Secret Service guards the White House Complex, the Main Treasury Building and Annex, and the official residence of the vice president in Washington, D.C. It also guards foreign diplomatic missions throughout the United States, its territories, and its possessions.
Congress created the Secret Service in 1865 as part of the Department of the Treasury. The main purpose of the service was to fight the counterfeiting of U.S. currency. The service began protecting the president in 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley. In 2003, the service was moved from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security.
A director heads the Secret Service. Secret Service headquarters are located in Washington, D.C. The agency has district offices in major U.S. and foreign cities.
