U.S. Secret Service history

In 1873, the Secret Service issued its first standard badges to its operatives.

Congress passed the Sundry Civil Expenses Act for 1907, which provided funds for presidential protection by the Secret Service.

Jurisdiction over many of these matters passed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation when that agency was created in 1908, but crimes against the financial or banking sector, including cybercrime, remain within the purview of the Secret Service.

Congress authorized permanent protection of the President and statutory authorization for President-elect protection. (Treasury Department Appropriations Act of 1913)

In 1917, threats against the President became a felony (a serious crime in the eyes of the law), and Secret Service protection was broadened to include all members of the First Family.

Laws against counterfeiting are relatively uniform from country to country, mostly as a consequence of the diplomatic conference held in Geneva in 1929 that produced a convention signed by 32 major powers.

Private Leslie Coffelt, White House Police, was shot and killed by two Puerto Rican nationalists while protecting President Truman at the Blair House on November 1, 1950.

Another reason that coins are less often counterfeited is that, since 1965, the use of silver in coin production (10- and 25-cent pieces) was reduced 50 percent.

The 60 acres of land purchased by the United States government for training facilities in 1967 was turned over exclusively to the Secret Service.

Protection was extended to the widow and minor children of a former President until March 1, 1969 (Mrs.

Since 1970, the Uniformed Division has also been responsible for protecting foreign embassies and consulates in and around the Washington, D.C. area.

The Executive Protective Service was officially renamed the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division on November 15, 1977.

The Credit Card Fraud Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-473) was passed, making certain fraudulent use of credit and debit cards a federal violation.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 made the counterfeiting of United States currency abroad an extraterritorial offense. (Public Law 103-322)

On April 19, 1995, the Murrah Federal Building containing the Oklahoma City Field Office was destroyed by a bomb.

Congress enacted legislation requiring that Presidents in office prior to January 1, 1997, will continue to receive Secret Service protection for their lifetime.

Since the Roosevelt administration, the force has grown exponentially, been reorganized and restructured, and in 2002 it was moved out of the Department of the Treasury and into the Department of Homeland Security.

Since 2003, the Secret Service made nearly 29,000 criminal arrests for counterfeiting, cyber investigations and other financial crimes, 98% of which resulted in convictions, and seized more than $295 million in counterfeit currency.

Congress passed legislation (H.R. 5938); the “Former Vice President Protection Act of 2008,” which authorized Secret Service protection for former Vice Presidents, their spouses and their children less than 16 years of age for up to six months after the Vice President’s term in office has ended.

A scandal rocked the agency in 2012 when it was revealed that agents performing advance work for a presidential trip to Cartagena, Colombia, had taken prostitutes back to their hotel rooms.

Julia Pierson was appointed the first female United States Secret Service director by President Barack Obama in 2013.

A series of security lapses in 2014, including one in which an armed intruder scaled the White House fence and gained access to the interior of the executive mansion, led to Pierson’s resignation.

Joseph P. Clancy was appointed as the 24th Director of the United States Secret Service on February 18, 2015.