U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet

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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission

Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet

name redacted

Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy

name redacted

Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy

name redacted

Information Research Specialist

name redacted

Research Assistant

November 25, 2014

Congressional Research Service

7-....

www.crs.gov

R43797

U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet

Introduction

The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) has two broad missions, criminal investigations and protection.

The protection mission, which is the focus of this fact sheet, covers the President, Vice President,

their families, and candidates for those offices, along with the White House and Vice President’s

residence, through the Service’s Uniformed Division. Protective duties also extend to foreign

missions in the District of Columbia and to designated individuals, such as the DHS Secretary

and visiting foreign dignitaries. Protection is defined as any activity that is directly related to the

USSS mission of protecting the persons1 and facilities2 that are designated for USSS protection in

statute or U.S. Code. These activities, as delineated in budgetary documents, include Protection of

Persons and Facilities; National Special Security Events; Protective Intelligence Activities; White

House Mail Screening; and Presidential Candidate Nominee Protection.

This fact sheet provides information on USSS funding and staffing because congressional

attention has turned to the USSS and its operations due to several recent incidents.

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.3 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. These security breaches followed a series

of confirmed and alleged incidents of misconduct by USSS agents. The House Appropriations

Committee stated in the report accompanying the FY2015 Department of Homeland Security

(DHS) appropriations bill that it was “deeply disappointed by recurring allegations of misconduct

within the Secret Service. The committee withheld $20 million from the USSS management

budget until they submit a report providing evidence that the USSS has addressed these

confirmed and alleged incidents of misconduct.4

Specifically this fact sheet provides:

•

Annual Appropriations for the U.S. Secret Service, FY2004-FY2015 (Table 1);

•

U.S. Secret Service Obligations for Protective Mission Activities FY2004FY2015 (Table 2);

•

Budget Authority for the U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Activities,

FY2014-FY2015 (Table 3); and

18 U.S.C. §3056(a).

84 Stat. 74-75 authorizes the USSS to secure the White House complex, the Vice President’s official residence at the

Naval Observatory, the Treasury Building, and foreign diplomatic missions in Washington, DC. 90 Stat. 2475

authorizes the USSS to temporarily secure the President’s and Vice President’s personally owned residences.

U.S. Congress, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, White House Perimeter Breach: New

Concerns about the Secret Service, 113th Cong., 2nd sess., September 30, 2014.

H.Rept. 113-481, p. 86.

Congressional Research Service

U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet

•

U.S. Secret Service Personnel Numbers, FY2014-FY2015 (Table 4).

For an in-depth discussion of the USSS and its missions, see CRS Report RL34603, The U.S.

Secret Service: History and Missions, by (name redacted).

Table 1. Annual Appropriations for the U.S. Secret Service, FY2004-FY2015

(Amounts in Millions of Dollars)

Fiscal Year

FY2015 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2014 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2013 USSS Totala

Protection Accounts

FY2012 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2011 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2010 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2009 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2008 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2007 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2006 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2005 USSS Total

Protection Accounts

FY2004 USSS Total

Protection Accountsb

Request

Enacted

Difference

$1,636

$973

$1,546

$1,585

$39

$913

$920

$1,601

$1,611

$10

$988

$985

-$4

$1,699

$1,667

-$32

$1,073

$1,052

-$21

$1,572

$1,515

-$56

$905

$879

-$26

$1,490

$1,483

-$7

$854

$847

-$7

$1,414

$1,413

-$1

$849

$841

-$8

$1,399

$1,385

-$14

$867

$854

-$14

$1,265

$1,277

$13

$732

$742

$10

$1,204

$1,212

$649

$651

$1,163

$1,175

$12

$642

$647

$1,124

$1,141

$17

$1,051

$1,065

$14

Source: CRS analysis of congressional appropriations documents: For FY2004, H.Rept. 108-280 (accompanying

H.R. 2555); for FY2005, H.Rept. 108-774 (accompanying P.L. 108-334); for FY2006, H.Rept. 109-241

(accompanying P.L. 109-90); for FY2007, H.Rept. 109-699 (accompanying P.L. 109-295); for FY2008, Division E of

the House Appropriations Committee Print (accompanying P.L. 110-161); for FY2009, Division D of House

Appropriations Committee Print (accompanying P.L. 110-329); for FY2010, H.Rept. 111-298 (accompanying P.L.

111-83); for FY2011, H.Rept. 112-331 (accompanying P.L. 112-74); for FY2012, H.Rept. 112-331 (accompanying

P.L. 112-74); for FY2013, Senate explanatory statement (accompanying P.L. 113-6); for FY2014, the explanatory

statement accompanying P.L. 113-76; and for FY2015, H.Rept. 113-481 (accompanying H.R. 4903).

Congressional Research Service

U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet

Notes: Table displays rounded numbers, but all operations were performed with unrounded data; therefore,

amounts may not sum to totals.

Enacted numbers for FY2013 include impact of across-the-board cuts in P.L. 113-6, but do not reflect the

impact of sequestration.

The structure of USSS protection mission accounts was different in FY2004, including a much larger share

of investigative mission costs than was done in later years. Direct comparison with later years is not

advised.

Table 2. U.S. Secret Service Obligations for Protective Mission Activities

FY2004-FY2015

(Amounts in Millions of Dollars)

Protection

of Persons

and

Facilities

Protective

Intelligence

Activities

Presidential

Candidate

Nominee

Protection

FY2004

$630

$46

FY2005

$620

$52

FY2006

$609

$56

Fiscal Year

National

Special

Security

Events

White

House Mail

Screening

Protection

Mission

Total

$30

$16

$722

$16

$691

$15

$680

$1,058

FY2007

$894

$81

$12

$71a

FY2008

$706

$53

$112

$16

$888

FY2009

$743

$64

$46

$28

$888

FY2010

$792

$70

$20

$883

FY2011

$808

$68

$17

$10

$909

FY2012

$846

$68

$78

$18

$1,028

FY2013

$858

$67

$30

$955

FY2014

Estimate

$860

$67

$936

FY2015

Estimate

$870

$68

$26

-b

$969

Source: Compiled from the President’s Budget Appendixes, FY2006-FY2015.

Notes: Table displays rounded numbers, but all operations were performed with unrounded data; therefore,

amounts may not sum to totals.

FY2007 actual obligation data was taken from the FY2009 President’s budget submission. This submission

(Fiscal Year 2009 President’s Budget Appendix, p. 482) lists the “White House Mail Screening” protection

mission activities twice, with one showing an actual obligation of $41 million and another of $30 million.

CRS is unable to determine if this is an erroneous submission or a reflection of previous unobligated funds.

White House mail screening is now part of “Protection of Persons and Facilities.”

Congressional Research Service

U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet

Table 3. Budget Authority for the U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Activities,

FY2014-FY2015

(All Amounts in Millions of Dollars)

Programs

FY2015 HouseReported

FY2015 SenateReported

FY2014 Enacted

FY2015 Request

$920

$973

$965

Protection of

Persons and

Facilities

$848

$870

$868

Protective

Intelligence

Activities

$67

$68

National Special

Security Events

$26

Protection

Presidential

Candidate

Nominee

Protection

Source: CRS analysis of the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, FY2015 Budget Justification,

H.Rept. 113-481, S.Rept. 113-198.

Note: Table displays rounded numbers, but all operations were performed with unrounded data; therefore,

amounts may not sum to totals.

Table 4. U.S. Secret Service Personnel Numbers, FY2014-FY2015

USSS Total

Special Agents

Uniformed Division

Fiscal Year

FTE

Positions

FTE

Positionsb

FTE

Positions

FTE

Positions

FY2014

3,290

3,282c

1,316

1,346

1,773

1,750

6,379

6,378

FY2015d

3,396

1,497

1,774

6,572

6,667

APTa

Source: Email correspondence with U.S. Secret Service Congressional Liaison Office, and Workforce Planning

Division.

Notes:

“APT” stands for Administrative, Professional, and Technical positions.

Uniformed Division position numbers are determined within the USSS and a “target” number of Uniformed

Division officers are determined through an analysis and assessment of the Uniformed Division’s work

requirements.

Special Agent staffing position numbers are not broken down between protection and investigation divisions

due to USSS’s classification of this data as “Law Enforcement Sensitive.”

USSS did not provide FY2015 FTE data for Special Agents, Uniformed Division, or APT. The USSS only

provided an FTE total for the USSS for FY2015.

Congressional Research Service

U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet

Author Contact Information

(name redacted)

Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland

Security Policy

-redacted-@crs.loc.gov, 7-....

(name redacted)

Information Research Specialist

-redacted-@crs.loc.gov, 7-....

(name redacted)

Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland

Security Policy

-redacted-@crs.loc.gov, 7-....

(name redacted)

Research Assistant

-redacted-@crs.loc.gov, 7-....

Congressional Research Service

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