USSS Passed Over?

[worfusa2008]

For some time, the Secret Service was the lead agency in coordinating security at national security events, e. g. the Super Bowl. Today, television news is awash with stories that would seem to indicate that security for the upcoming Super Bowl is being shared by the FBI and ATF with no mention of the USSS. Has Big Sis given up her turf to Holder and his boys on this one?

For some time, the Secret Service was the lead agency in coordinating security at national security events, e. g. the Super Bowl. Today, television news is awash with stories that would seem to indicate that security for the upcoming Super Bowl is being shared by the FBI and ATF with no mention of the USSS. Has Big Sis given up her turf to Holder and his boys on this one?

Since my first counterfeiting plant seizure in 1965 I have been seeing the FBI get credit for things the Service did. Some of my friends still introduce me as a retired FBI agent.

Alas....................

:roll:

For some time, the Secret Service was the lead agency in coordinating security at national security events, e. g. the Super Bowl. Today, television news is awash with stories that would seem to indicate that security for the upcoming Super Bowl is being shared by the FBI and ATF with no mention of the USSS. Has Big Sis given up her turf to Holder and his boys on this one?

Since my first counterfeiting plant seizure in 1965 I have been seeing the FBI get credit for things the Service did. Some of my friends still introduce me as a retired FBI agent.

Alas....................

:roll:

Since Homeland Security's top official Janet Napolitano just toured the stadium and commented on the security, my guess would be that the USSS is still the lead agency involved in the security arrangements with the other agencies contributing to a lesser degree. However as all former and presumably present agents of the USSS know, the media thinks everyone in the security field works for the FBI, Perhaps that is a good thing let them be blamed for any problems arising.

Unfortunately, the USSS was passed over for the lead on Superbowl security. As a current agent I can tell you that, sadly, the USSS is being passed over for a lot of things in DHS, and we really don't have anyone to blame except ourselves. When DHS was created post 9-11, the USSS was brought into the fold to give DHS legitimacy since only us and Coast Guard were being brought over intact, and other agencies were mashed together. The USSS was asked to take the lead on several issues ranging from cyber crime to nuclear security. However, USSS management at the time (some of whom are still around) said that the agency is strictly executive protection and didn't want to branch out. Consequently, other DHS components like ICE and CBP were given responsibilities the USSS declined. There's a National Geographic channel documentary on last year's Superbowl that shows the various DHS components training and getting ready fro stdium security...except the Secret Service. There was a big meeting concerning stadium security last year that involved the FBI, ATF, ICE, CBP, etc. that the USSS was left out of, some would say on purpose. Sad, but true. USSS management dropped the ball on this one and we will never get it back.

[worfusa2008]

The Secret Service has no business in Cyber Security, Nuke Security, Super Bowl Security, or any other "security" outside its core mission of executive protection and combating counterfeiters. I am glad to see that cooler heads in HQ have prevailed against Big Sis and her desire to expand her empire on the backs of the street humps.

[USSSmom]

I'm thrilled the USSS is combating crimes other than "counterfeiting" and doing "STUFF" other than "executive protection".....
Special Agents are the cream of the crop with actual brains in their heads: very intellectual and smart! Why on God's earth would anyone NOT want them to progress forward and help combat crimes that are taking America into the next century, esp. "CYBER-CRIME"? Every LEO agency has to deal with these types whether they like it or not. What was the old saying, " where there's drugs, there's guns, and where there's guns, there's surely counterfeit money...." Crime(s) are not mutually exclusive.

[worfusa2008]

Mom, I respectfully disagree. For the last 10 of my 27+ years I watched the service try to be all things to all people and all the while hoping for money to hire new Agents to work bank fraud and credit card fraud. Well, we got more Agents but no more money. As a result, the Service was stretched thin to the breaking point and stress in the workplace (not HQ) reached an intolerable level. The excuse from The Suits in HQ was that if we don't do it, the FBI will.The FBI didn't want bank fraud and credit card fraud then and they don't want it now. Why do you think that the Service was approached to take on new responsibilities and jurisdictions (cyber security and nuke security) ? Maybe no one else wanted it. Maybe because the Service has been easily seduced in the past with promises of more money and manpower, which the powers had no intention for providing. For once, I applaud HQ for seeing through the con.

Protective travel is up to 75% for the Field Agents and the Suits are still extorting the field humps to give them bigger numbers every year. The Service needs to return to its roots as a lean, mean fighting machine. The only people that want the Service to work fraud is the banks, credit card industry, cell phone industry and other commercial "too big to fail" industries.

Mom, I respectfully disagree. For the last 10 of my 27+ years I watched the service try to be all things to all people and all the while hoping for money to hire new Agents to work bank fraud and credit card fraud. Well, we got more Agents but no more money. As a result, the Service was stretched thin to the breaking point and stress in the workplace (not HQ) reached an intolerable level. The excuse from The Suits in HQ was that if we don't do it, the FBI will.The FBI didn't want bank fraud and credit card fraud then and they don't want it now. Why do you think that the Service was approached to take on new responsibilities and jurisdictions (cyber security and nuke security) ? Maybe no one else wanted it. Maybe because the Service has been easily seduced in the past with promises of more money and manpower, which the powers had no intention for providing. For once, I applaud HQ for seeing through the con.

Protective travel is up to 75% for the Field Agents and the Suits are still extorting the field humps to give them bigger numbers every year. The Service needs to return to its roots as a lean, mean fighting machine. The only people that want the Service to work fraud is the banks, credit card industry, cell phone industry and other commercial "too big to fail" industries.

Hey Worf, not for nothing, but as a current agent I can tell you that no one cares about counterfeit anymore. I work in a large field office and there's only been a handful of federal counterfeit cases prosecuted by a US Attorney's office in the last several years. You could catch a guy passing $2 million in counterfeit...they don't care. However, if you walk in with a huge credit card fraud or bank fraud (especially mortgage fraud these days) you will grab the AUSA's ear. Otherwise, you just get a big fat declination. The times are changing and if the USSS doesn't change with it, they will go the way of Customs - merged into a huge conglomerate of an agency.

The times are changing and if the USSS doesn't change with it, they will go the way of Customs - merged into a huge conglomerate of an agency.

Um.............

I think you are already there. It is called the Department of Homeland Security.

The DHS web page lists it's "featured components" as:

* Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
* Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
* Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
* U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
* U.S. Coast Guard
* U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
* U.S. Secret Service
* Office of Inspector General

Sure looks like a huge conglomerate to me.

.

[worfusa2008]

The Service was ostensibly brought over to DHS to give the fledgling agency credibility in its fight against terrorism. I believe that the credibility of the Service has suffered as a result. While not engaged in its protective role, the Service must find something to do. So, its Agents continue to work as lackeys for the banks and credit card industry while the FBI combats terrorism. The Bosses continue to run with blinders on, hoping to make it to retirement and a cushy, do-nothing supervisory job in TSA or the banking and credit card industry. The days of the Service having a dual role as part-time financial fraud investigators and part-time protectors of Presidents, et al. are fast approaching an end. Eventually, it's going to have to be one or the other. The problem with the Service divesting itself of either role is that there is no longer any other agency that has expressed an interest in either one. While it is generally acknowledged by those who follow such things that the Service belongs back in Treasury, Big Sister is not about to relinquish part of her empire. So, that's that. I believe that if things continue as they are, the Service will eventually become a minor bit player in DHS. It's a shame. To quote Victor McLaughlin in the movie She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, "The good old days are gone forever".

Referencing the "...go the way of Customs" quote from before, I think he was referring to the fact that Customs was merged with INS to form ICE., a new agency. Over two hundred years of tradition was washed away with that move. Customs was one of the best jobs in federal law enforcement and now it is no more. Both the USSS and Customs were brought into the DHS fold, but Customs was done away with while the USSS was allowed to remain intact.

Sooner or later (probably sooner), the USSS will lose the name and traditions that have been around since 1865. There is a large belief out there that the agency will be moved under the new Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) aspect of ICE and will basically be the Office of Protective Operations within DHS and do nothing but protection.

[worfusa2008]

Are you speculating or are you in on the ground floor? Just wondering because......

I have lately wondered how long it would take Big Sister to break up the Service and put it's investigative responsibilities under control of another agency in DHS. Today I noticed that DHS and ICE arrested a man for nothing more than linking sports websites to his web site. The AUSA for the Southern District of New York claimed he had violated the copyright law. How they relate that to Homeland Security is beyond me.

It looks like ICE is becoming Big Sister's go-to agency for fraud investigations. I expect them to be pouring over Title 18 of the U.S. Code looking for more obscure violations that might be newsworthy. Watch to see how little DHS parcels out to the Secret Service from its appropriations and how HQ divides it up between investigations and protection.

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton

[worfusa2008]

Sooner or later (probably sooner), the USSS will lose the name and traditions that have been around since 1865. There is a large belief out there that the agency will be moved under the new Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) aspect of ICE and will basically be the Office of Protective Operations within DHS and do nothing but protection.[/quote]

A confidential informant still on active duty advises that this rumor is gaining steam and is making the rounds of the Field Offices. The question is raised whether those serving in an Office of Protective Operations will remain as GS-1811 Criminal Investigators qualifying for Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP)since Detail Agents on shift work will not be conducting investigations. I can see DHS having to resolve a lot of personnel issues. I believe that the USSS losing the name and traditions that have been around since 1865 is of little importance to Secretary DHS.

As a former Customs (ICE) 1811 hearing these rumors about the USSS makes me sick. By 2006 most of the good Customs 1811s left ICE for other agencies or just retired. ICE was taken over by incompetent 1811s from INS. At first I had no biases at all towards INS guys but once I started working with them you could really see the difference between them and Customs guys. There were many INS 1811s that never went to college, nor graduated from CITP, or any advanced agency specific Agent training. They were 1801s or Border Patrol guys whom they just tossed a Special Agent badge too and said, "Your now an 1811. Go forth and don't get the agency sued too many times." On search warrants we were more afraid of the INS guys shooting us than the bad guys. For the INS guys it was a great move into DHS. They got their 13 and now they could investigate real criminal cases. Immigration work is not a criminal investigation. I should know. I got moved into an immigration unit and it was complete BS. The Customs guys saw the writing on the wall and got out while the getting was good. If they move the USSS into ICE-HSI or whatever the hell they are calling it today I would be very afraid. Next thing you know you will have some emotionally unstable INS supervisor who was stamping passports a few years earlier and getting sued half a dozen times trying to tell you guys how to do protection. And if this sup doesn't personally like you they will try to ruin your career. Run guys. RUN!

Whatever happened to the old rumor that the FBI wanted the prestige of protecting POTUS and was going to take over the USSS?

When I was in SS school in the early sixties, Rufus Youngblood spoke to the class about the desire of the FBI to take over Presidential protection.

Rufe said that if he honestly thought they could do a better job, he would support the change.

However, he felt the bureaucracy of the FBI would interfere with the effort. Our smaller, more focused agency was, in his view, more capable of doing the job well.

He would be disgusted to see where we are now and where it looks like we are headed.

Alas..........................

When I was in SS school in the early sixties, Rufus Youngblood spoke to the class about the desire of the FBI to take over Presidential protection.

Rufe said that if he honestly thought they could do a better job, he would support the change.

However, he felt the bureaucracy of the FBI would interfere with the effort. Our smaller, more focused agency was, in his view, more capable of doing the job well.

He would be disgusted to see where we are now and where it looks like we are headed.

Alas..........................

Unfortunately "Old Days" the old days are long gone. There are many who like Rufe would be turning over in their grave if they saw what was going on today. I am afraid DHS is the end of USSS.

[worfusa2008]

HSI Special Agents have legal authority to enforce the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (Title 8), U.S. Customs Laws (Title 19), along with Titles 5, 6, 12, 18 (Federal Criminal Code and Rules), 21 (international drug smuggling), 22, 28, 31 (Money and Finance), 46, 49, and 50 statutes; giving them the broadest federal law enforcement jurisdiction of any agency. HSI has more than 8,500 Special Agents, making it the second largest federal investigative agency within the United States government next to the FBI.

Excerpt from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immig ... nforcement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement)

Apparently the FBI, under Louis Freeh, tried to demonstrate they could do a better job at protection in the 90's when Merletti was the USSS Director. The FBI felt, with the overwhelming manpower, that they could do protection better and at a lesser expense than the USSS since they would not have to fly agents all over the country to stand post. With their large field offices, they would not have to pay for rooms, per diem, airline flights and rental cars since they could just tap their field offices or RA's to do the job without all the logistical hassle. From what an instructor told me years ago, they failed miserably.

The rank and file FBI guys I've run into really want nothing to do with protection or white-collar crime for that matter. They want the violent crimes and terrorism and some don't even want terrorism. It's the upper echelon at the FBI that want everything...they basically want to create one federal agency that does it all...basically a national police force. Congress should have clipped the FBI's wings after 9-11 and taken away all the CT/CI investigations from them, but Mueller did a great job keeping the congolmerate intact.

HSI Special Agents have legal authority to enforce the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (Title 8), U.S. Customs Laws (Title 19), along with Titles 5, 6, 12, 18 (Federal Criminal Code and Rules), 21 (international drug smuggling), 22, 28, 31 (Money and Finance), 46, 49, and 50 statutes; giving them the broadest federal law enforcement jurisdiction of any agency. HSI has more than 8,500 Special Agents, making it the second largest federal investigative agency within the United States government next to the FBI.

Excerpt from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immig ... nforcement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement)

You are 100% correct. ICE could be a great agency that could do a lot of cool stuff. But hence the COULD BE. It is a guess, but a very educated one, but I would have to say of those 8,500 that they are claiming many guys are new (less than 5 years on) and many are former INS. I spoke about how great the INS guys are a few posts back (no training, no college, no investigative experience). It should tell you something when an Agency doesn't get 13s.

When I was an Agent there, the upper management really wanted to compete with the FBI. So they fudged their numbers to look bigger than they were. They were/are probably counting 1801s. The whole reason the FAMs were under ICE for a little bit was because ICE upper management wanted to make them all 1811s (even promised the guys that) and have more Agents than the FBI. But Congress put a stop to that and said, "ALL HELL NO!" Then ICE dropped them like a bad habit.

It took us so long to get our ICE badges and commission books because they could not decide on a name. They wanted to go with Bureau of Investigation and Criminal Enforcement. But the FBI freaked and put a stop to that. I noticed that the INS guys were really obsessed with the FBI. It was like they all really wanted to be FBI Agents but couldn't get hired there. The funniest part was in my office they had their own ICE JTTF unit and it was like the prized unit. I heard from friends in the unit it had no direction. One day they were told to do this and the next day they were told to forget everything from yesterday and now do this. They could not stand the unit. Most other agencies hate JTTF. These former INS guys could not wait until the next JTTF meeting. Just pathetic. The Customs guys would make fun of them for this.

Basically it is an agency that has no identity and has no clue what direction it is going. It lost all of its veteran and dedicated Agents. These guys might know Title 8 but they know little else. The one old Customs unit I was in the good veteran Customs 14 quit because he could not stand the new INS ASACs and SAC. They replaced him with a guy who had never done the type of investigations the unit conducted. He could not answer any questions or offer any guidance and had no clue what the Agents did everyday. All he new was STATS! The immigration managers had no patience for criminal investigations that may take months and only result in one stat. They were used to administrative immigration arrests where you could go out everyday and arrest a few people. That was all they cared about. Criminal investigations were a waste of time to them. They would be sitting there high-fiving over 40 immigration arrests this month! It was sad.

At the time I was there ICE was severely under funded. I did not have a G-Ride for months. When I finally got one it was in a garage getting fixed with 150,000 miles on it and it was 10 years old. It then broke down on me routinely stranding me beside the road waiting for another Agent to come pick me up. When I first got to my field office they did not even have a place for me to work. I had to tear apart an old cubicle. And being a former cop, I was looked down upon for some reason by the INS guys. It was like having tickets on the Titanic. Everyone was so miserable and it was like there was this impending doom. Management played favorites with their INS people, they were vindictive, and retaliatory over personal stuff. It was a great place to work! And I am putting it lightly. You should hear the Customs guy older than me. It is like they wanted to stage and armed revolt. It was bad.

My ICE commission book said that I could investigate "any Federal crime that effects the United States" or something like that. They have definitely set these guys up for taking over stuff. But most of these guys could not investigate their way out of a wet paper bag.

Apparently the FBI, under Louis Freeh, tried to demonstrate they could do a better job at protection in the 90's when Merletti was the USSS Director. The FBI felt, with the overwhelming manpower, that they could do protection better and at a lesser expense than the USSS since they would not have to fly agents all over the country to stand post. With their large field offices, they would not have to pay for rooms, per diem, airline flights and rental cars since they could just tap their field offices or RA's to do the job without all the logistical hassle. From what an instructor told me years ago, they failed miserably.

The rank and file FBI guys I've run into really want nothing to do with protection or white-collar crime for that matter. They want the violent crimes and terrorism and some don't even want terrorism. It's the upper echelon at the FBI that want everything...they basically want to create one federal agency that does it all...basically a national police force. Congress should have clipped the FBI's wings after 9-11 and taken away all the CT/CI investigations from them, but Mueller did a great job keeping the congolmerate intact.

That is what so many old Customs guys said. September 11th, was an FBI failure. But not a thing was done to that agency. They completely destroyed Customs. Messed with you guys at the SS. And did all this other crap. Weren't the Treasury agencies doing just fine in Treasury?

I saw a report a few years back were they asked people in the Bush administration about ICE and CBP. No one could really articulate why either one was created. Wow, you guys just messed with a ton of people's lives and have no clue why? Really?