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View Full Version : USSS v. DSS



03-03-2011, 12:01 PM
I am interested in working for either of these 2 agencies and seeing as how they are fairly similar in terms of mission scope (largely protection-based) and degree of travel (frequent), I wanted to hear your opinions about the pros/cons of both.

03-13-2011, 10:33 PM
DSS and the USSS have similarities but the two are vastly differnt in career path and goals. While DSS has 1811 responsibilities (visa fraud), it is more of a liason/intelligence consuming agency than a protection agency. Yes, they do have protection assignments when a foreign minister is in country and they also protect the Sec. State but this is not the end-all-be-all of their careers. In DSS you will spend the majority of your time in a foreign embassy or consulate as the Regional Security Officer (RSO) or Asst. RSO. From the people I know who have worked there, your first overseas assignment is that of an ARSO, generally in some rat-infested country like Ghana or worse. You spend 2-3 years there, then you move to another overseas assignment or back stateside for 2-3 years. You could graduate training and then go straight to the Sec. State's detail. The goal of your career is generally to be the RSO in a large or important embassy like Paris, Baghdad, Moscow, or Kabul where you liason with the local jurisdictions and get the lay of the land for the security of all U.S. personnel in that area.

The USSS is different. Yes they have overseas assignments that last 2-3 years, but they are few and far between. Most of your career is spent in the U.S. first in a field office doing criminal investigations and occassional protection assignments for 6-8 years, then to a permanent protective detail for 4-5 years (PPD and VPD) or 3 years for a former POTUS. Criminal investigations is going by the wayside at the USSS, so if that is your desire go with the FBI, DEA, or ATF. You will generally take 3-4 moves in your career with the USSS.

If your really want to live overseas and your spouse doesn't mind moving every 2-3 years (possibly to an undesireable nation), you like doing liaison work, and you don't really want to do criminal work, DSS is for you.

Both agenecies are losing people these days due to the number of moves you make in a career and the lack of having any semblance of a life. Talk to a recruiter and see which works best for you.