Secret Service

The United States secret a service, a federal agency created and founded in 1865. This agency was a branch that rooted from the U.S treasury department for a specific mission. In the 1860’s counterfeiting U.S dollars was becoming an epidemic spreading nationwide and hitting harder then ever. The treasury department took it hands on to combat the counterfeiting of U.S currency and this became the new beginning and task for a new born federal agency called the secret service. The secret service was nothing as we know of today until the assassination of the 25th president William McKinley in buffalo, New York in 1901. The secret service was now added the second mission which was to now serve and protect the presidents and vice presidents of the United States and any other worldwide leaders who visited the states. The first mission of fighting against counterfeit dollars had now evolved to investigating crimes against the financial infrastructure of the United States of America. As the task of the service had increased so had the wide spread terror against the country and its leaders.
The secret service is in charge of protecting not just the president but the next runner up to the presidency and their spouses. The secret service also protects any event or personnel that are assigned by the president or the secretary of homeland security. The secret service even at the federal level calls upon the state, local, and military enforcements to help insure the secret services job to protect is done. The tactics and knowledge offered by these other agencies are needed to keep and maintain the president or any of the protectees in a safe environment or implement any safety measures
. In 1965 the United States congress authorized the secret service to serve and protect any former president and their spouse for a lifetime after leaving office unless this protection was declined. In 1977 congress alternated this legislative decision to change the protection service to a limit of 10 years. The new change would take in effect to any president after January 1st, 1997 which would indicate the last president to obtain lifetime protection from the secret service would be president bill Clinton who was elected in 1993 and ended his presidential career in the year 2000. Now in the 20th century law enforcement has become more then a job and has evolved into a career with hard work and dedication. The requirements to become an agent has increased by the years and become more demanding in this job field. The basic requirements for this job are the same as any federal agency US citizenship, must be between 21 and less than 37 by the time its appointment, have the necessary vision and posses a drivers license. Even with these basic requirements the educational requirements have got more demanding and competitive. Higher GPA’s are being asked to be taken in consideration, possession of a bachelor’s degree and also skills that would make the candidate adequate for this adventurous job. Experience conducting and carrying criminal investigations is a big plus for this job depending on the available positions. Skills and degrees determine the starting rank and of course the pay scale where you would land in. the job of a secret agent is bigger before their hired. After being eligible to apply the agent if male and born after December 31, 1959 must certify they have registered or have been exempted from the selective system. Another step that must be taken during this process is a physical and fitness evaluation to see if the candidate is good shape to confront this physically demanding job. The hiring process comes with a federal test called the treasury enforcement agent test also called the TEA this examination comes with a report writing test. These federal tests are mostly offered to allot of the agencies in the federal level. An interview is conducted to review the candidate’s skills, education, and previous history information just like any law enforcement job would ask. Federal agencies like the secret service needs agents that are widely spread with skills. Military experience, scuba diving, and interrogating skills are just a small amount of skills that can separate the candidate from others and a chance to stand out to the agency and open your job selections and increase your pay rate. The job of an agent is to protect high level government officials. There has been theory’s that opposing countries and groups are trying to infiltrate high positions in the government and to avoid this the U.S has establish a top secret clearances. Top secret clearances are done to anybody who may or will be expose to classified information or state secrets. An advancing step to a secret service candidate is the clearance which would involve checking every job, crime, and family relations that can compromise his job as a government official. Moving forward with the secret clearance if the candidate pas passed all the past steps he is now accepted for the position and must undergo a 10 week training in glycol, Georgia and a 17 week training course in Washington D.C failure to pass any of these courses will automatically disqualify the candidate from becoming an agent. After the completion of these courses the agent gets relocated to a duty station where they will serve and protect their designated areas and finish and manage their assignments. The whole process to becoming and agent is ranged from 6-months to a year and can also be lost in 1 day. In April 24, 2012 the united states secret service was part of a scandal in the south American country called Colombia. The agency was had an assignment in the country because president Obama visited for an international meeting with other 33 international leaders around the world. The scandal involved 12 agents. 6 of the agents resigned from their positon,2 were fired,3 were cleared from serious wrongdoing and 1 retired it was confirmed that at least one agent brought back a prostitute back to his room. As many as 20 prostitutes were hired by the agents that were given the Colombian assignment. Working as a law enforcer is nothing easy and as shown getting a job has a lot of requirements especially in the federal level. The service is still on going in protecting America’s politicians and the president with upcoming years their standards, requirements and job will get harder. are you up for the challenge?