Reform the Secret Service by giving it a clear mission

The U.S. Secret Service has long been synonymous with protecting the nation’s highest leaders. From securing the president and vice president to guarding visiting foreign heads of state, the agency plays a key role in protecting the lives of the world’s important leaders.

But the Service’s dual mission — protecting personnel while also investigating financial crimes — has left it disoriented and stretched dangerously thin. 

Today, Secret Service agents not only protect the president, his family, and more than 30 other protectees, but also conduct extensive investigations of financial crimes. Assigning these dual roles to Secret Service agents structurally undermines their ability to focus on their truly critical mission: protecting the president. 

Months have now passed since an assassin’s bullet came within centimeters of killing President-elect Trump. Days ago, America again marked the anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas. Despite the passage of time and countless congressional and other independent investigations, the Secret Service’s diluted mission continues to sabotage it with a dangerous weakness.

No organization can fully succeed when it tries to do too much with too little or when its mission is diluted with bifurcated responsibilities. But the risk is intolerable when the life of America’s president is at stake.

The Secret Service’s current dual mission’s historical roots no longer serve the agency or its protectees effectively. Established in 1865 to combat counterfeit currency, the Secret Service took on its protection responsibilities after President McKinley’s assassination in 1901. Since then, its scope of protective duties has expanded dramatically to include the protection of the president, vice president, their families, visiting foreign dignitaries and providing protection during major national events.

At the same time, today’s agents are tasked with investigating sophisticated financial crimes, including counterfeiting, cybercrime and identity theft. 

Investigating financial crimes requires specialized expertise in forensic accounting, data analytics and cyber forensics. Protection, on the other hand, demands tactical precision, logistical mastery and an unparalleled ability to anticipate threats.

Attempting to excel — without failure — in both critical specialties leaves the agency stretched too thin, resulting in operational deficiencies and missed opportunities to enhance its primary mission of protecting the president.

The strain of the Service’s dual mission has become glaringly apparent. The agency’s resources are finite, yet the investigative demands on it continue to increase as the threat environment to protectees has grown dramatically even as financial fraud schemes have grown more sophisticated, requiring agents to navigate a constantly evolving landscape of technology and advanced criminal tactics.

Like it or not, these dual missions compete with each other for limited Secret Service capabilities. Unless reforms occur, an avoidable tragedy may result from our continued failure to re-focus the Secret Service’s primary mission.

The Secret Service has unparalleled expertise in physical protection. Its agents are highly trained in threat assessment, crisis response and logistical planning. From coordinating motorcade routes to deploying cutting-edge counter-surveillance measures, the agency is uniquely equipped to protect high-profile individuals against a wide range of threats. 

Financial fraud investigative responsibilities should be assigned to other federal agencies, freeing Secret Service agents to focus exclusively on protection. Financial crime investigations, while critical, are better suited to agencies like the FBI or Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which already have the infrastructure and experience to investigate matters currently handled by the Secret Service.

Resources could be redirected toward enhancing training programs, improving technology and addressing emerging threats. Agents would no longer be burdened with the competing demands of financial crime investigations, enabling them to devote full attention to the complex task of ensuring safety and security. 

Streamlining the Service’s mission is a necessary first step, but Congress should consider even bolder reforms including merging the Secret Service with other federal agencies that focus exclusively on physical protection. 

The Service could be merged with other protection-focused agencies like the Diplomatic Security Service, which currently provides protection to visiting foreign dignitaries, associated personnel and families, and U.S. embassy personnel abroad (in addition to other investigative responsibilities). 

Combining the capabilities of two agencies with comparable missions could better ensure that our leaders are safeguarded with the highest possible level of expertise and precision. A unified command structure capable of addressing the full spectrum of threats to U.S. officials and visiting protectees (and U.S. officials working abroad) would far more effectively address the full spectrum of threats.

Throwing additional taxpayer money at the challenge is not the solution and may even delay necessary reforms.

In a time of dramatically heightened threats, focus is not just a strategic advantage — it’s a matter of survival.

The Secret Service’s current dual mission is not advisable or sustainable — at least not without continuing to jeopardize the safety of our leaders.

Congress should act now to return the Secret Service to its most important responsibility and strength: the physical protection of the president, the president’s family and other protectees.

Michael D. Burnett is a decorated former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), USSS Medal of Valor recipient, current Chief Operating Officer in the private sector serving the utilities industry.