When Did The Secret Service Start Protecting Former Presidents

Misc. Topics • 11 Jan 2021

12 Fast Facts Almost the Secret Service

We've all seen them in the movies —suited agents with sunglasses and fancy earpieces—just the U.S. Cloak-and-dagger Service isn't made for Idiot box. No, the agency'south purpose is much more of import: information technology plays a vital office in the protection of the president and his family, as well every bit the fight against financial crimes.

The federal agency was established by President Abraham Lincoln on the aforementioned solar day he was assassinated (April 14, 1865) and was originally created to fight counterfeiting. Its protection duties didn't begin until 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley.

Today, there are more than 6,500 members of the Secret Service including special agents, Uniformed Division agents and technical, professional and administrative personnel. The canine unit of measurement is fabricated up of Belgian Malinois, a small breed from Holland. Dogs are with their Uniformed Division handlers 24/7 and remain with them fifty-fifty after retirement. Agents in the Presidential Protection Division (PPD) are the only ones tasked with protecting the Commander in Principal and their family.

Regardless of their role, all agents are trained for 11 weeks at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in law, firearms, defensive tactics and study writing. An additional 16 weeks of training is required one time they arrive in Washington, DC, which includes advanced driving techniques, physical protection and detecting apocryphal money and credit carte fraud.

While their main responsibilities are no secret, here are a few more than things yous might not know about the Secret Service and its agents:

The president and vice president tin't turn down protection while in office, but one time out of office, the president and their spouse can turn down lifelong protection and/or rent their own security detail
When traveling, the president is never more than x minutes from a trauma center and agents acquit bags of the president'south claret in case a transfusion is needed
They investigate anyone who'southward made a threat against the president to decide if information technology's real
The president is never solitary—an agent is present in the bathroom, at the doc's office and all other seemingly individual situations
Agents picture the president then they can review the footage in the event of an assail
All food eaten past the president is prepared under Hush-hush Service supervision
When the president is staying at a hotel, they proceed an elevator repairman on standby in case the president gets stuck
They tin can track downwardly threatening handwritten notes thank you to ink "tags" that identify the brand of pen and where in the state information technology's sold
They're on duty even during the president's leisure fourth dimension, which means they can be forced to pick upwards hobbies including running and horseback riding
There are some cases when sunglasses protect eyes from projectiles and let agents to scan a crowd undetected, but virtually of the time they're but protecting their eyes from the sun
The Secret Service is present at major events like the Super Bowl, fifty-fifty if the president isn't. This is to work with other federal agencies to forbid terrorist attacks
In November 2016, the bureau seized 30 1000000 apocryphal dollars and 50,000 euros—their largest seizure ever—in Lima, Republic of peru

Article sources:

Secret Service FAQ Folio
ten Things You Didn't Know about the U.Southward. Secret Service
CNN: Secret Service Facts

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