LegiStorm

Summary:

The U.S. Secret Service has two missions—criminal investigations and protection. Criminal investigation activities have expanded since the inception of the Service from a small anti-counterfeiting operation at the end of the Civil War, to now encompassing financial crimes, identity theft, counterfeiting, computer fraud, and computer-based attacks on the nation's financial, banking, and telecommunications infrastructure, among other areas. Protection activities, which have expanded and evolved since the 1890s, include ensuring the safety and security of the President, Vice President, their families, and other identified individuals and locations. In March 2003, the U.S. Secret Service was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to enactment of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296), the U.S. Secret Service had been part of the Treasury Department for over 100 years. Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, there have been consistent and continuing questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service. Are the two missions of the Service compatible and how should they be prioritized? Is the Department of Homeland Security the most appropriate organizational and administrative location for the Secret Service? These, and other policy issues such as the Secret Service's role in securing presidential inaugurations, have been raised and addressed at different times by Congress and various administrations during the long history of the Service. Additionally, there has been increased interest in the Service due to the inaugural security operations and the protection of President Barack Obama. Some may contend that these and other questions call for renewed attention given the recent increase in demand for the Service's protection function (for example, see P.L. 110-326 enacted by the 110th Congress) and the advent of new technology used in financial crimes. Numerous pieces of legislation related to the Service have been introduced and enacted by the 113th Congress, with all of the enacted legislation being appropriation bills. Introduced in the 113th Congress, H.R. 1121, Cyber Privacy Fortification Act of 2013; H.R. 1468, SECURE IT; S. 1193, Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2013; and S. 1897, Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2014 are related to personal data privacy and security, and confidential informant security. Additionally, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing entitled "White House Perimeter Breach: New Concerns about the Secret Service," on September 30, 2014, which addressed a security breach on September 19th, where a person gained unauthorized entrance into the White House after climbing the perimeter fence, and previous incidents. The committee inquired if deficient protection procedures, insufficient training, inadequate funding, personnel shortages, or low morale contributed to these security breaches. Later, on the same day as the hearing, it became public knowledge that earlier in the year a private security contractor at a federal facility, while armed, was allowed to share an elevator with President Barack Obama during a site visit, in violation of U.S. Secret Service security protocols. The following day, October 1, 2014, USSS Director Julia Pierson resigned. This report discusses these issues and will be updated when congressional or executive branch actions warrant.