Updated July 18, 2024
U.S. Secret Service: Threats to and Assaults on Presidents and
Vice Presidents
Overview
Protected Individuals and Facilities
USSS has two mandated missions: (1) criminal
The following individuals are currently authorized USSS
investigations, and (2) protection of persons and facilities.
protection under 18 U.S.C. Section 3056(a):
Criminal investigations focus primarily on financial crimes,
whereas protection focuses on the safety and security of
• President, Vice President, President- and Vice
specific government officials and specifically identified
President-elect;
government facilities. The criminal investigation mission is
the USSS’s oldest mission; however, the protection mission
• immediate families of those listed above;
is the one that often receives the most public and media
attention. USSS protects the President, Vice President, their
• former Presidents, their spouses, and their children
families, former Presidents, and major candidates for those
under the age of 16;
offices, along with the White House and the Vice
President’s official residence. Protective activities also
• former Vice Presidents, their spouses, and their children
extend to foreign missions in the District of Columbia
under the age 16;
(embassies, consulates, residences, and other buildings used
by foreign governments) and to designated individuals,
• visiting heads of foreign states or governments;
such as the Secretary of Homeland Security and visiting
dignitaries. Separate from protecting these specific
• distinguished foreign visitors and official United States
mandated individuals and facilities, USSS is responsible for
representatives on special missions abroad; and
coordinating security activities for National Special
Security Events (NSSE), including inauguration
• major presidential and vice presidential candidates
ceremonies, major party quadrennial national conventions,
within 120 days of the general presidential elections,
and certain international conferences and events held in the
and their spouses.
United States.
The USSS is also required to secure the White House
History of USSS Protection
complex, the Vice President’s official residence at the
In March 2003, USSS was transferred from the Department
Naval Observatory, the Treasury Building, foreign
of the Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security
diplomatic missions in Washington, DC, and during their
(DHS). With this transfer, DHS generally, and USSS
presidential administration, the personal residences of the
specifically, became the federal department responsible for
President and Vice President. The USSS’s Uniformed
protecting significant and specified persons and property.
Division primarily secures these facilities.
Prior to the enactment of the Homeland Security Act of
2002, the Treasury Department had been responsible for
Specific Protection Activities
this protection (through USSS) for over 100 years.
As the pool of protectees has evolved over time, so has the
manner in which they are protected. Originally, USSS
USSS has been protecting presidents from President Grover
protection primarily involved agents acting as “body
Cleveland in 1894 on a part-time basis to the continuous,
guards” and providing personal security to protectees.
round-the-clock protection of the President today. Over the
Today, protection operations include not only the presence
years, the USSS protection mission has been determined by
of agents in close proximity to the protectee, but also
unofficial decisions (such as the one to protect President
advance security surveys of locations to be visited;
Cleveland) and congressional mandates (such as the one to
coordination with foreign, state, and local law enforcement
protect major presidential candidates). USSS protection
entities; and intelligence analysis of present and future
activities have generally expanded with an increase in the
threats. The USSS protection mission comprises human
number of protected individuals; there has been one
resources, physical barriers, technology, and reviews of
instance of a specified type of protectee being removed
critical infrastructure and their vulnerabilities. 18 U.S.C.
from the authorized list of protectees—presidentially
3056(e)-(f) also authorizes the USSS to conduct other
designated federal officials temporarily representing the
activities, such as planning, coordination, and
United States abroad.
implementation of security operations at NSSEs; and
providing forensic and investigative assistance involving
Over the past century, congressional action has focused
missing and exploited children.
primarily on the USSS’s protection mission.
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U.S. Secret Service: Threats to and Assaults on Presidents and Vice Presidents
Threats to Protectees
Assailants and
Presidential safety is and has been a concern throughout the
nation’s history. For example, fears of kidnapping and
Date
President
Location
Reasons
assassination threats towards Abraham Lincoln began with
member of
his journey to Washington, DC, for the 1861 inauguration.
extremist
The number of attempted and successful assaults against
“Manson Family”
Presidents legitimizes concern for presidential safety. Ten
and mentally
presidents have been victims of direct assaults by assassins,
unstable
with four resulting in death (Presidents Abraham Lincoln,
09/22/1975 Gerald R.
San
Sara Jane Moore,
James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F.
Ford
Francisco,
revolutionary
Kennedy). President Woodrow Wilson’s Vice President,
CA
Thomas R. Marshall, is the only known Vice President to
have been targeted for assassination. In 1915, a German-
03/30/1981 Ronald W.
Washington, John W.
American opposed to the United States selling weapons and
Reagan
DC
Hinckley, Jr.,
material to the Allies bombed the U.S. Senate Chamber’s
mentally unstable
reception room, which was next to the Vice President’s
10/29/1994 Wil iam J.
Washington, Francisco M.
office. Vice President Marshall had been receiving death
Clinton
DC
Duran, motive
threats from opponents to American policy in World War I,
unknown
in letters, for weeks. There was potentially a threat to Vice
President Pence on January 6, 2021, but the events of that
05/10/2005 George W.
Tbilisi,
Vladimir
day are still being investigated.
Bush
Republic of
Arutyunian,
Georgia
motive unknown
Since USSS started officially protecting Presidents in
1906—in 1917, Congress enacted legislation (39 Stat. 919)
11/11/2011 Barack
Washington, Oscar Ramiro
that made it a crime to threaten the President—seven
Obama
DC
Ortega-
assaults have occurred, with one, President Kennedy,
Hernandez, anti-
resulting in death. The USSS does not provide information
government
on any threats to protectees or investigations related to
political views
threats made against protectees. Thus, the extent to which

protectees have been threatened or targeted remains a
matter of conjecture. For more information on USSS
In recent years, for the USSS mission of “protection of
funding see CRS Report R48129, U.S. Secret Service
persons and facilities,” Congress has appropriated:
Protection Mission Funding and Staffing: Fact Sheet, and
for more information on the Personal Protective Details of
FY2016—$509.8 million;
government officials see CRS Report R47731, Who
Protects Whom? Federal Official and Judicial Security and
FY2017—$627.9 million;
Personal Protective Details.
FY2018—$711.2 million;
The following table provides information on assaults
against Presidents who were protected by USSS; it does not
FY2019—$740.9 million;
include information on assaults against Presidents prior to
the USSS assuming the responsibility of presidential safety.
FY2020—$754.5 million;
Table 1.Direct Assaults on Presidents Protected by
FY2021—$818.8 million.
the U.S. Secret Service
FY2022—$863.5 million;
Assailants and
Date
President
Location
Reasons
FY2023—$907.7 million; and
11/01/1950 Harry S.
Washington, Oscar Col azo
Truman
DC
and Griseilio
FY2024—$1.031 billion.
Torressola,
advocates for
The update to this report was provided by Daniela Lacalle,
Puerto Rican
Research Assistant.
independence
Shawn Reese, Analyst in Emergency Management and
11/22/1963 John F.
Dallas, TX
Lee Harvey
Homeland Security Policy
Kennedy
Oswald, motive
unknown
IF11732
09/05/1975 Gerald R.
Sacramento,
Lynette Alice
Ford
CA
Fromme,


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U.S. Secret Service: Threats to and Assaults on Presidents and Vice Presidents


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11732 · VERSION 2 · UPDATED

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