U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding July 17, 2024
and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Shawn Reese
Members of Congress periodically focus on the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and its protection
Analyst in Emergency
mission. The USSS has been protecting Presidents, other specific federal government officials,
Management and
and their families for over 100 years. Over these years, USSS protection activities and operations
Homeland Security Policy
have expanded, not only with an increase in the number of protected individuals, but in statutory
responsibility as the lead federal agency for National Special Security Events (NSSE).
William L. Painter
Specialist in Homeland
Over the past century, congressional legislative action on the USSS has focused primarily on its
Security and
protection mission. The last two enacted non-appropriations measures were the Former
Appropriations
Presidents Protection Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-257) and Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes
Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-265). These laws amend previous laws to address the USSS’ protection of former Presidents and their families, and permits the Department of Homeland Security Secretary
to offer USSS investigative assistance for mass killings when requested by state or local authorities. Annually Congress (through appropriations and budget hearings) provides funding and guidance so the USSS can execute its statutorily required duties as detailed in 18 U.S.C. 3056, including its protection mission. This report provides funding and personnel data related to the USSS generally, and its protection mission specifically.
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Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Protection Mission Funding and Staffing ........................................................................................ 2
Figures
Figure 1. Total USSS Appropriations FY2016-FY2025 Request ................................................... 2
Figure 2. USSS Protection-Specific Funding FY2016-FY2025 Request ....................................... 3
Figure 3. Funding for USSS Protection-Specific Operations and Support Programs
FY2016-FY2024 .......................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 4. USSS Appropriations for Presidential Campaigns and National Special Security
Events FY2016-FY2025 Request ................................................................................................. 5
Figure 5. USSS Total Staffing ......................................................................................................... 6
Tables
Table 1. Appropriations for the USSS, FY2016-FY2025 Request .................................................. 3
Table 2. USSS Protection-Specific Operations and Support Programs FY2016-FY2024 .............. 5
Table 3. Presidential Campaigns and National Special Security Events FY2016-FY2025
Request ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Table 4. USSS Total Staffing ........................................................................................................... 7
Contacts
Author Information .......................................................................................................................... 7
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Introduction
The USSS conducts two mandated missions—criminal investigations and protection of persons and facilities. The criminal investigation mission (focused primarily on financial crimes) is the USSS’s oldest mission; however, the protection mission receives the most public and media attention. The protection mission includes providing security for specific government officials and facilities.1 The USSS is statutorily directed to protect the following individuals:2
• the President, the Vice President,3 the President-elect, and the Vice President-
elect;
• the immediate families of those listed above; • former Presidents and their spouses for their lifetime;4 • children of a former President who are under 16 years of age; • visiting heads of foreign states or governments, and other distinguished foreign
visitors to the United States and official representatives of the United States performing special missions abroad when the President directs that such protection be provided;
• major presidential and vice-presidential candidates and, within 120 days of the
general presidential election, the spouses of such candidates;5 and
• former Vice Presidents, their spouses, and their children who are under 16 years
of age, for a period of not more than six months after the date the former Vice President leaves office.6
Separate from protecting specific mandated individuals and facilities such as White House complex, the Vice President’s official residence at the Naval Observatory, the Treasury Building, and foreign diplomatic missions in Washington, DC.,7 the USSS is also responsible for security activities related to National Special Security Events (NSSEs), which include inauguration ceremonies, major party quadrennial national conventions, as well as some international conferences and events8 held in the United States.
This fact sheet provides information on USSS funding and staffing related to the USSS protective mission described above.
1 For further information on the USSS, and other federal agencies, protection mission, see CRS Report R47731, Who
Protects Whom? Federal Official and Judicial Security and Personal Protective Details, by Shawn Reese.
2 18 U.S.C. §3056(a). 3 Or other officer next in the order of succession to the Office of the President. 4 Except the protection of a spouse shall terminate in the event of remarriage. 5 “Major presidential and vice-presidential candidates” means those individuals identified as such by the DHS Secretary after consultation with an advisory committee consisting of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, and one additional member selected by the other members of the committee.
6 The DHS Secretary shall have the authority to direct the USSS to provide temporary protection for any of these individuals at any time thereafter if the DHS Secretary or designee determines that information or conditions warrant such protection.
7 84 Stat. 74-75 authorizes the USSS to secure these facilities and 90 Stat. 2475 authorizes the USSS to temporarily secure the President’s and Vice President’s personally owned residences. 8 For more information on special events and National Special Security Events, see CRS Report R47439, Special Event
Security and National Special Security Events: A Summary and Issues for Congressional Consideration, by Shawn Reese.
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Specifically, this fact sheet provides:
• Annual Appropriations for the U.S. Secret Service, FY2016-FY2025 (Table 1, Figure 1,
and Figure 2);
• USSS Protection-specific Funding, FY2016-FY2025 (Table 2 and Figure 3); • USSS Funding for Presidential Campaigns and National Special Security Events,
FY2025 (Table 3 and Figure 4); and
• USSS End-of-Year Staffing, 2008-2023 (Table 4 and Figure 5).
Protection Mission Funding and Staffing
The following tables and figures provide data on USSS total and protection-specific funding, USSS protection-specific operations and support programs funding, presidential campaign and NSSE funding, and end-of-fiscal year staffing.
The USSS does not provide detailed public reporting on its use of funding and personnel for protective missions, and staff move back and forth between protection and criminal investigation activities as duties require. Therefore, CRS has used two specific subdivisions of appropriations made in appropriations detail tables to identify funding specifically requested by the White House and directed by Congress to the USSS protection mission: Protective Operations, within the USSS Operations and Support appropriation; and Protection Infrastructure, within the Procurement, Construction, and Improvements appropriation.9
Figure 1. Total USSS Appropriations
FY2016-FY2025 Request
(Thousands of $ in Nominal Budget Authority)
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations bil s and reports.
9 USSS also receives Research and Development funding, which periodically goes to protection-related work, but is not specifically directed by Congress on a regular basis and cannot be consistently tracked by CRS.
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Figure 2. USSS Protection-Specific Funding
FY2016-FY2025 Request
(Thousands in $ of Nominal Budget Authority)
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations bil s and reports. Notes: Protection-specific programs included in this total are Operations and Support / Protective Operations, and Procurement, Construction and Improvements / Protection Infrastructure. Other USSS funding contributes to the protective mission as well, including mission support and research and development efforts, but usage of specific amounts of those funds cannot be authoritatively attributed by CRS. Due to restructuring of appropriations accounts in FY2017, a comparable breakdown of Protection-specific activities is not possible for FY2016 or earlier.
Table 1. Appropriations for the USSS, FY2016-FY2025 Request
(Thousands of $ in Nominal Budget Authority)
Fiscal Year
Request
Enacted
Difference
2016
1,939,122
1,933,545
-5,577
Protection-specific
n/aa
764,012
n/a
2017
1,891,119
2,045,578
154,459
Protection-specific
782,284
836,244
53,960
2018
1,957,495
2,006,524
49,029
Protection-specific
843,487
875,865
32,378
2019
2,151,624
2,248,159
96,535
Protection-specific
932,220
969,987
37,767
2020
2,308,977
2,415,845
106,868
Protection-specific
1,066,622
1,087,426
20,804
2021
2,360,538
2,438,001
77,463
Protection-specific
1,036,739
1,074,812
38,073
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Fiscal Year
Request
Enacted
Difference
2022
2,571,917
2,611,888
39,971
Protection-specific
1,071,716
1,092,269
20,553
2023
2,703,509
2,822,180
118,671
Protection-specific
1,137,149
1,210,902
73,753
2024
3,009,778
3,087,797
78,019
Protection-specific
1,428,248
1,492,010
63,762
2025
2,938,381
Protection-specific
1,283,064
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations bil s and reports. Notes: Protection-specific amounts included in this total are Operations and Support / Protective Operations, and Procurement, Construction and Improvements / Protection Infrastructure. Other USSS funding contributes to the protective mission as well, including mission support and research and development efforts, but usage of specific amounts of those funds cannot be authoritatively attributed by CRS. a. Due to restructuring of appropriations accounts in FY2017, a comparable breakdown of Protections specific
activities is not possible for FY2016 or earlier.
Figure 3. Funding for USSS Protection-Specific Operations and Support Programs
FY2016-FY2024
(Thousands of $ in Enacted Amounts)
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations bil s and reports.
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Notes: Other USSS Operations and Support funding contributes to the protective mission as well, but usage of specific amounts of those funds cannot be authoritatively attributed by CRS.
Table 2. USSS Protection-Specific Operations and Support Programs
FY2016-FY2024
(Thousands of $ in Enacted Amounts)
Presidential
Protection of
Campaigns and
Persons and
Protective
Protective
National Special
Facilities,
Countermeasures,
Intelligence,
Security Events,
Enacted
Enacted
Enacted
Enacted
2016
509,825
55,000
38,700
149,487
2017
627,987
58,193
44,490
51,734
2018
711,227
46,862
47,814
4,500
2019
740,895
56,917
49,395
37,494
2020
754,527
61,756
49,955
155,199
2021
818,795
68,182
52,155
83,725
2022
863,549
87,762
74,167
25,000
2023
907,707
82,506
94,565
73,294
2024
1,031,766
72,374
84,973
243,699
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations bil s and reports. Notes: Other USSS Operations and Support funding contributes to the protective mission as well, but usage of specific amounts of those funds cannot be authoritatively attributed by CRS.
Figure 4. USSS Appropriations for Presidential Campaigns and National Special
Security Events
FY2016-FY2025 Request
(Thousands of $ in Requested and Enacted Amounts)
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations bil s and reports.
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Note: Due to restructuring of appropriations accounts in FY2017, a comparable breakdown of Protection-specific activities is not possible for FY2016 or earlier.
Table 3. Presidential Campaigns and National Special Security Events
FY2016-FY2025 Request
(Thousands of $ in Requested and Enacted Amounts)
Fiscal Year
Requested
Enacted
Change
2016
n/a
149,487
n/a
2017
48,634
51,734
3,100
2018
4,500
4,500
-
2019
28,500
37,494
8,994
2020
155,172
155,199
27
2021
83,725
83,725
-
2022
19,000
25,000
6,000
2023
52,994
73,294
20,300
2024
209,741
243,699
33,958
2025
103,567
Source: CRS analysis of appropriations bil s and reports. Note: Due to restructuring of appropriations accounts in FY2017, a comparable breakdown of Protection-specific activities is not possible for FY2016 or earlier.
Figure 5. USSS Total Staffing
(As of the end of Fiscal Years 2008-2023)
Source: CRS Analysis of OPM Fedscope Data.
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
Table 4. USSS Total Staffing
(As of the end of Fiscal Years 2008-2023)
FedScope
Fiscal Year
Total
2008
6,579
2009
6,763
2010
6,913
2011
7,025
2012
6,761
2013
6,484
2014
6,338
2015
6,304
2016
6,415
2017
6,743
2018
7,191
2019
7,463
2020
7,526
2021
7,811
2022
7,788
2023
7,689
Source: CRS Analysis of OPM Fedscope Data.
Author Information
Shawn Reese
William L. Painter
Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland
Specialist in Homeland Security and Appropriations
Security Policy
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U.S. Secret Service Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet
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