Very secret service
As fighters with counterfeiters began to protect the American presidents
23 June 1860 of the United States Congress allocated $ 10 thousand to the Treasury Department to fight counterfeiters. From this day you can count stories The US Secret Service, the prototype of which was created for the search for fraudsters unit.
A year later, the Civil War began, which cost $ 2,3 billion to the Union and $ 1 billion - to the Confederation. At that time, the national financial system was rather unorganized: thousands of state-owned banks had the right to issue bills of exchange and other payment documents more than 1,6. A variety of bills facilitated their forgery. Moreover, during the entire presidency of Abraham Lincoln, more than a third of the national currency in circulation was manufactured by counterfeiters.
On the advice of Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch, 14, April 1865, Lincoln signed a decree establishing a Secret Service unit within the Ministry of Finance, the task of which was to trace and capture counterfeiters. The same evening, actor John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded the president during a performance at the Ford Theater.
The first director of the new service was a financial crime expert, William Wood, who took the oath of 5 on July 1865. The functional responsibilities of the unit gradually expanded. In 1867, the Secret Service became responsible for “capturing those who commit crimes against the state,” including bootlegging, smuggling, real estate fraud, robbery of mail stage and train operations, the Ku Klux Klan, and other violations of federal laws.
Secret Service Agents, 1861-1865 years. Source: US Library of Congress
During the 19th century, the number of Secret Service agents did not exceed 30 people. Its first employees were detectives and former military men, and over time, they were joined by former counterfeiters. In the first four years of operation, the service arrested more 200 scammers, from whom they confiscated counterfeit banknotes and bonds for several hundred thousand dollars. In 1883, the Secret Service was transformed into an independent structure within the Ministry of Finance.
From the day Lincoln died, Congress had the idea of entrusting the head of the United States with protecting the Secret Service, but before that happened 36 years passed. During this time, the presidents continued to make assassinations. In July 1881, four months after taking office, President James Garfield was mortally wounded. In September 1901, President William McKinley passed away from gangrene of the internal organs, triggered by a gunshot wound. Theodore Roosevelt, who took the oath, demanded professional security guards from among the Secret Service agents, and only then did it come to Congress that the first persons in the United States needed protection. The adoption of the law on the allocation for this budget took several more years.
In 1908, Secret Service agents, in addition to the current president, began to guard around the clock the elected, but not yet inaugurated, head of the United States. Roosevelt also transferred eight Secret Service officers to the Ministry of Justice, who formed the core of the future Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Secret Service agents guard Theodore Roosevelt's home, 1908 year. Source: US Library of Congress
The need to create an intelligence organization in the United States appeared at the beginning of the First World War. Since 1914, German agents have acted throughout the states in an effort to sabotage shipments weapons opponents of Germany. Two years later, the US Secretary of State secured funding for the Bureau of Secret Information, listening to the phones of the German embassy. In the spring of 1917, the Attorney General created the FBI as part of the Ministry of Justice to solve the problem of counterintelligence. At the same time, the Secret Service officers began to guard the closest members of the president’s family.
In the year 1930, after an unknown person entered the dining room of the White House, the police guarding him became subordinate to the Secret Service.
In 1951, the vice-president received the right to protection. After another 10 years, Congress ordered agents to protect former heads of state "for a reasonable period of time."
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, five years later, his brother Robert. Both tragedies were accompanied by the adoption of new laws, as a result, the former presidents, together with their spouses, received lifelong protection, and their children - until they reached 16 years. In addition, from now on, the Secret Service was supposed to protect the security of all candidates for the office of president and vice president. At the end of 1990, Congress decided that the presidents elected after 1 in January of 1997 were worthy of protection only for 10 years after leaving office.
Secret Service agents guard President Richard Nixon, 1969. Photo: Henry Groskinsky / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images / Fotobank.ru
In 1970, the White House police was renamed the US Presidential Security Services, and its duties were once again expanded: now its staff guarded all diplomatic missions in the States. Since November 1977, the structure was named the Uniform Division of the US Secret Service and engaged in providing security in government office buildings, the residences of the president and vice president, the ministries of finance and internal security, and the government house of guests. Since 1971, Secret Service agents have been accompanying foreign heads of state or government and other official guests.
Since the middle of 1980, computer fraud and credit card fraud have been considered federal crimes, the Secret Service has been investigating them. In 1986, the Treasury Police was included. Over the 154 year of existence, the number of its employees has grown almost 150 times. The service is still engaged in financial fraud cases, despite the fact that in 2003, it was transferred to the management of the Ministry of Internal Security.
Information