An Exodus of Agents - Is it true?

Back in the old days when I was a young agent it was very common for OTAs (Other Treasury Agents) to compete for transfers from their agencies to the Secret Service.

I've heard more recently that because of the constant travel, long hours, separations from families, etc. that are commonplace these days that the "brain drain" is in the other direction - Secret Service agents are transferring to other federal agencies.

If true, this is very saddening.

Could someone shed some light on this? How bad is it? Is anything being done to make the situation better? What can be done?

You could probabaly contact USSS/HR at 202 406-5323 and they might provide you an answer. :roll:

I don't think USSS/HR would provide answers to my questions.

The information about the exodus of USSS agents to other agencies came to me from an AD, so I don't question that part - that was not my question.

The questions: How bad is it?, Is anything being done to make the situation better? and What can be done? were addressed to the working troops - not to management.

8)

It's true. Same old management style. They have always thought the "prestige" was enough to keep people there. That doesn't cut it any longer. Since FERS, the guys can leave and take their time with them. Now that they are changing days off week to week to avoid SOT, and all of the other normal nonsense, there is no reason to stay.

Playing with the schedule to avoid paying SOT? They were doing that back when SOT was first legislated!

It's incredible that such things are still going on - especially in view of how overworked everyone is. If you're going to work people to death you should at least pay them!

And what are all of these absences from home doing to the family life of the married agents. My (now grown) son tells me that when I was globe trotting with the President and Vice President he "hated my guts" for being away so much.

With all the money that is floating around - much of it being wasted - for Homeland Security, Secret Service Agents working long hours and traveling all over the world should be making top dollar.

Shame on those in management who try to "contain expenses" by holding down the pay of the Agents! :evil:

You should see the 'toys' that the 'leadership' is spending money on, surrounding themselves with. And they wonder why guys are bailing out. Maybe they don't wonder, They never seemed to care much. If you weren't smart enough to want to be a Secret Service Special Agent, they had no use for you. Their arrogance is surpassed only by their incompetance. I'm glad I'm done.

This is a true account, but I'm not in a position to use names.

A friend of mine is wealthy and influential due to doing consulting work with the Defense Department. His son is currently a Secret Service Agent.

My friend has been in contact with an Army General who recounted having had dinner with a (former) USSS Director. The General brought up the issue of "mission fatigue" and talked about the principle of rotation of troops to protect them from "burn out."

He asked the Director what the Secret Service did to protect their agents from such burn out. He says that the Director said that they don't worry about it. They just burn them out and then put new agents in their place.

This is all second hand talk, and I can't prove a bit of it. But, it has the sound of truth to it, doesn't it?

:?:

In college I had an internshp w/ the U.S. Marshals and met a few Secret Service guys who were BURNT out. In talking with one of the guys in an arraignment in federal court, he was saying that they pulled him off protection to make the arrest that he was in court for. He had been on the road for 3 weeks and hasn't see his wife/kids in as many weeks.

A friend of a friend is USSS in New York and was telling me that the top 10 guys in USSS on the national level are either divorced or never got married.......so much for wanting to ever have a family.

But, I don't think it is just a Secret Service issue. My neighbor growing up was an FBI agent, who has been retired for about 5 years now. Having had numerous conversations with him over the years, because I was looking into federal law enforcement, that the FBI pulls the same stunts as USSS these days. Large amounts of travel, long term TDYs to other offices, etc.... He said to me that if you ever want to have a healthy wife and family that most federal govt. agencies don't allow that.

Although that is just a few opinions, it seems to be the trend in many large federal agencies that turned me away from federal law enforcement. It was tough for me to swallow because I was completing my Master's degree to work in federal law enforcement, but now that I'm married I'm not too interested in losing a wife to a job.

Just my 2 cents.

In the "old days" the biggest issue was how often you were transferred. The Service would transfer you ever 4 or 5 years, but the FBI was much worse, transferring new agents every year and a half or two years.

I used to sit in on promotional panels discussing which individuals should be promoted to supervisory positions. One question that was always asked was "How many T numbers does he have?" meaning how many times has he been transferred? All other things being equal, the person who had been transferred most got the promotion.

This practice slowed down as congress passed laws that made your agency pay more and more of your transfer costs, including not only the cost of moving your household goods, but also real estate fees on the sale and purchase of your home and the costs of living in temporary quarters during a move. Since this money came out of the agency budget, managers were compelled to transfer people less often.

It appears that now that they can't harass you with frequent transfers, they burn you up with constant travel. Of course with the addition of so many protectees and the amount of travel that they engage in there IS a need for all of that travel. But it is really low to manipulate the agents' schedules to minimize the amount of overtime pay they receive!

The travel did not harm my marriage, but it DID "warp" my kids somewhat. They hated the Service for taking me away so often and resented me for my frequent absences. They absolutely would not consider entering law enforcement.

Question today is: Given the need for so much travel, what can be done to fix the problem? More agents? More money? Better scheduling, and if so, how?

:?:

In reading all of your in put, I can only be saddened. I have been a City of Miami police officer for the past 26yrs. I was assigned to a Secret Service Agent during a number of events. i.e: Pope visit, Summit of the Americas.etc. All can say is that they ( USSS) are a bunch of nicest guys you could ever meet, down to earth, cordial.
We are going thru some bad times ouselves, we have a fairly new chief (timoney) and he's slowly and shurelly destroying the dpt. Our morale is so bad there is no morale!!
Lucky for me I'll be retirying in two years.
Good luck to all of you in the USSS, God blees you!