Founded in 1865 inside the Treasury to fight counterfeiting; it took on presidential protection after the McKinley assassination in 1901. Moved to DHS in 2003, it still splits its work between protective details and financial-crime investigations.
Open the interactive page for USSS →Created byCreated administratively in the Treasury Department July 5, 1865 (anti-counterfeiting division); first permanent statutory authority: Act of July 16, 1951, Pub. L. 82-79, 65 Stat. 121; transferred to DHS by Homeland Security Act of 2002 § 821
Head appointed6 U.S.C. § 113(d)(1): Director of the Secret Service appointed by the President alone — not subject to Senate confirmation; no fixed term (PA)
Removal standardno statutory protection — at will
Funded underannual DHS Appropriations Act
Congressional oversightHouse Committee on the Judiciary (Title 18 protective and counterfeiting authorities); House Committee on Homeland Security and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (operational oversight) · Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (primary oversight); Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Title 18 authorities)
Inspector generalDHS OIG (PAS IG under the IG Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 401–424)
Judicial reviewFew reviewable final orders — protective-operations decisions under 18 U.S.C. § 3056 are effectively committed to agency discretion; tort claims via the FTCA (28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)); no judicially recognized "protective function privilege" against grand-jury testimony (In re Sealed Case, 148 F.3d 1073 (D.C. Cir. 1998)); APA where a final agency action exists
Mostly indirect: file complaints with the DHS Inspector General; ask your members of Congress to conduct oversight. The Secret Service issues few public regulations.
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