Rene Ann Cornell, age 12, of Dayton, Ohio, for her question:
HOW OLD IS THE SECRET SERVICE?
The United States Secret Service is part of the Treasury Department. It is a law enforcement agency that was created in July of 1865 to fight the counterfeiting of U.S. money. It is one of the oldest federal agencies.
Counterfeiting is the manufacture of bogus money by criminals, since only the government can legally print and issue money.
From 1865 to 1907 other departments of the government borrowed Secret Service agents to make other investigations. In a famous assignment, members of the Secret Service broke up a Spanish spy ring that was working out of Canada during the Spanish American War.
Another famous case involving the Secret Service happened in 1905 when a group of agents lent to the Department of Justice exposed wide frauds in which private groups had taken illegal possession of vast areas of land that had been owned by the government. Because of the agents' good work, the government was able to recover millions of acres of Western land.
Before World War I, agents investigated violations of neutrality.
The major assignment of the Secret Service today is the protection of the President of the United States, the members of his family and also the President elect. The agency was given this assignment in 1901 just after President William McKinley was assassinated.
At all times, Secret Service agents are close to the President. They are assisted by the White House police force in Washington, D.C., which guards the chief executive's home and its grounds. The White House police force has been under the supervision of the chief of the Secret Service since 1930.
The assignment of stopping counterfeiting is now the second most important job of the Secret Service.
The Secret Service shouldn't be confused with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is a branch of the Department of Justice.
There are about 500 uniformed guards in the Secret Service force. They protect the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C., where the secretary of the treasury and other Treasury Department officials work. They also guard the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where paper money is made, as well as other buildings under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department.
The uniformed guards use radio equipped care that also are bulletproof. The force operates one of the largest and most efficient burglar alarm systems in the world.
The country is divided into 15 Secret Service districts. There is a supervising agent in charge of each location. In addition, some districts have several branch offices that are managed by agents in charge who are responsible to the supervising agent
Agents are often in danger while on assignment and some of them have been killed while performing their duties.