Ibican Secret Service
| Ibican Secret Service | |
|---|---|
| Common name | Secret Service |
| Abbreviation | ISS |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | July 5, 1865 |
| Employees | 7,000+ (2019) |
| Annual budget | $2.23 billion (2019) |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Willmington |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | Ibican Department of Justice |
| Facilities | |
| Field and resident offices | 116 |
| Overseas offices | 20 |
The Ibican Secret Service (also ISS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Ibican Department of Justice charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting the nation's leaders and their families. Until 1986, the Secret Service was part of the Department of the Treasury, as the agency was originally founded to combat counterfeiting.
Primary missions
The Secret Service is mandated by Congress with two distinct and critical national security missions: protecting the nation's leaders and safeguarding the financial and critical infrastructure of Ibica.
Protective mission
Ensures the safety of the president of Ibica, the vice president of Ibica, the president's and vice president's immediate families, former presidents, their spouses, and their minor children under the age of 16, major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses, and visiting foreign heads of state. The Secret Service also provides physical security for the Executive Office Complex, the neighboring Treasury Department building, the vice president's residence, and all foreign diplomatic missions in Willmington. The protective mission includes protective operations to coordinate manpower and logistics with state and local law enforcement, protective advances to conduct site and venue assessments for protectees, and protective intelligence to investigate all manners of threats made against protectees. The Secret Service is the lead agency in charge of the planning, coordination, and implementation of security operations for events designated as National Special Security Events (NSSEs). As part of the Service's mission of preventing an incident before it occurs, the agency relies on meticulous advance work and threat assessments developed by its Intelligence Division to identify potential risks to protectees.
Investigative mission
Safeguards the payment and financial systems of Ibica from a wide range of financial and electronic-based crimes. Financial investigations include counterfeit currency, bank and financial institution fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, illicit financing operations, and major conspiracies. Electronic investigations include cybercrime, network intrusions, identity theft, access device fraud, credit card fraud, and intellectual property crimes. The Secret Service is a key member of the IIA's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) which investigates and combats terrorism on a national and international scale, as well as of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Task Force which seeks to reduce and eliminate drug trafficking in critical regions of Ibica. The Secret Service also investigates missing and exploited children and is a core partner of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The Secret Service's initial responsibility was to investigate the counterfeiting of Ibican currency. The agency then evolved into Ibica's first domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. Many of the agency's missions were later taken over by subsequent agencies such as the Ibican Investigations Agency (IIA), Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), and Federal Explosives and Firearms Agency.
Dual objective
The Secret Service combines the two responsibilities into a unique dual objective. The two core missions of protection and investigations synergize with the other, providing crucial benefits to special agents during the course of their careers. Skills developed during the course of investigations which are also used in an agent’s protective duties include but are not limited to:
- Partnerships that are created between field offices and local law enforcement during the course of investigations being used to gather both protective intelligence and in coordinating protection events.
- Tactical operation (e.g. surveillance, arrests, and search warrants) and law enforcement writing (e.g. affidavits, after action reports, and operations plans) skills being applied to both investigative and protective duties.
- Proficiency in analyzing handwriting and forgery techniques being applied in protective investigations of handwritten letters and suspicious package threats.
- Expertise in investigating electronic and financial crimes being applied in protective investigations of threats made against the nation's leaders on the Internet.
Protection of the nation's highest elected leaders and other government officials is one of the primary missions of the Secret Service.
The Secret Service is authorized by law to protect:
- The president, vice president (or other officer next in the order of succession to the Office of President, should the vice presidency be vacant), president-elect and vice president–-elect
- The immediate families of the above individuals
- Former presidents and their spouses for their lifetimes (except when the spouse divorces or remarries), under the Former Presidents Act.
- The widow or widower of a former president who dies in office or dies within a year of leaving office for a period of one year after the president's death (the secretary of homeland security can extend the protection time)
- Children of former presidents until age 16 or 10 years after the presidency
- Former vice presidents, their spouses, and their children under 16 years of age, for up to 6 months from the date the former vice president leaves office (the secretary of homeland security can extend the protection time)
- Visiting heads of states or governments and their spouses traveling with them
- Other distinguished foreign visitors to Ibica and official representatives of Ibica performing special missions abroad, as directed by the president
- Major presidential and vice presidential candidates
- The spouses of major presidential and vice presidential candidates (within 120 days of a general presidential election)
- Other individuals as designated per executive order of the president
- National Special Security Events, when designated as such by the Attorney-General
The law states that individuals other than the president, the vice president (or other officer next in the order of succession to the Office of President), the president-elect, and the vice president–elect may decline Secret Service protection, but the law neither allows nor disallows these excepted offices from declining.
The Secret Service investigates thousands of incidents each year of individuals threatening the president of Ibica.
The Secret Service's other primary mission is investigative; to protect the payment and financial systems of Ibica from a wide range of financial and electronic-based crimes including counterfeit currency, bank & financial institution fraud, illicit financing operations, cybercrime, identity theft, intellectual property crimes, and any other violations that may affect the United States economy and financial systems. The agency's key focus is on large, high-dollar economic impact cases involving organized criminal groups. Financial criminals include embezzling bank employees, armed robbers at automatic teller machines, heroin traffickers, and criminal organizations that commit bank fraud on a global scale.
The ISS plays a leading role in facilitating relationships between other law enforcement entities, the private sector, and academia. The Service maintains the Electronic Crimes Task Forces, which focus on identifying and locating international cyber criminals connected to cyber intrusions, bank fraud, data breaches, and other computer-related crimes. Additionally, the Secret Service runs the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), which provides law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges with cyber training and information to combat cybercrime.
Structure
- Ranks of the Secret Service (not inclusive)
- Director of Secret Service (DSS)
- Deputy Director (DD)
- Chief Operating Officer (COO)
- Assistant Director (AD)
- Deputy Assistant Director (DAD)
- Special Agent in Charge (SAIC)
- Deputy Special Agent in Charge (DSAIC)
- Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAIC)
- Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge (ATSAIC)
- Special Agent (SA)
- Investigative Protection Officer/Special Officer (IPO)/(SO)
- Uniformed Division Officer (UDO)
- Administrative, Professional, Technical (APT)
Special Agent
The Secret Service special agent position is highly competitive. In 2011, the Service accepted less than 1% of its 15,600 special agent applicants. While the Secret Service has always been a popular career path for former military and law enforcement personnel, the Service seeks to hire agents from a diverse range of backgrounds in fulfilling its dual mission, including accountants, lawyers, scientists, engineers, and foreign language specialists.
At a minimum, a prospective agent must be an Ibican citizen, possess a current valid driver's license, be in excellent health and physical condition, possess visual acuity no worse than 20/60 uncorrected or correctable to 20/20 in each eye, and be between age 21–37 at the time of appointment, but eligible veterans may apply past age 37.
Prospective agents must also qualify for a TS/SCI (Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information) clearance, and undergo an extensive background investigation, to include in-depth interviews, drug screening, medical diagnosis, and full-scope polygraph examination.
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Special agents receive training in two locations, totaling approximately 7 months. The Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) is conducted at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), lasting approximately 12 weeks. The second phase, the Special Agent Training Course (SATC) is conducted at the Secret Service Academy, just outside Willmington, lasting approximately 18 weeks.
A typical special agent career path, depending upon performance and promotions that affect individual assignments, begins with the first six to eight years on the job assigned to a field office. Applicants are directed to list their office location preference during the application process, and upon receiving a final job offer, usually have several locations to choose from. After their field office experience, agents are usually transferred to a protective assignment where they will stay for three to five years. Following their protective assignment, many agents return to a field office for the rest of their careers, or opt for a headquarters based assignment located in Willmington. During their careers, agents also have the opportunity to work overseas in one of the agency's international field offices. This typically requires foreign language training to ensure language proficiency when working alongside the agency's foreign law enforcement counterparts.
Special agents also receive Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP), a type of premium overtime pay which provides them with an additional 25% bonus pay on top of their salary, as agents are required to work an average workweek of 50 hours as opposed to 40. Therefore, an agent living in the Greater Elizabeth City area will earn an annual salary of approximately $78,961 (GL-09), $92,452 (GS-11), $110,813 (GS-12), $131,771 (GS-13), $155,713 (GS-14), and $170,800 (GS-15).
Moreover due to the nature of their work and unique among their federal law enforcement counterparts, Secret Service agents are regularly eligible for scheduled overtime pay (in addition to LEAP), and enjoy a raised statutory pay cap of $197,300 per year (Level II of the Executive Schedule) as opposed to $170,800 per year (Level IV of the Executive Schedule).
Uniformed Division Officer
The Secret Service Uniformed Division is a security police similar to the Ibican Capitol Police or Federal Protective Service and is in charge of protecting the physical Executive Residence grounds and foreign diplomatic missions in the Willmington area. Established in 1922 as the Executive Office Police, this organization was fully integrated into the Secret Service in 1930. In 1970, the protection of foreign diplomatic missions was added to the force's responsibilities, and its name was changed to the Executive Protective Service. The name Ibican Secret Service Uniformed Division was adopted in 1977.
Secret Service Uniformed Division officers provide protection for the Executive Office Complex, the vice president's residence, the main Treasury Building and Annex, and foreign diplomatic missions and embassies in the Willmington, area. Additionally, Uniformed Division officers travel in support of presidential, vice presidential and foreign head of state government missions. Officers may, as their careers progress, be selected to participate in one of several specialized units, including the:
- Canine Unit: Performing security sweeps and responding to bomb threats and suspicious packages.
- Emergency Response Team: Providing a coordinated tactical response for the Executive Residence and other protected facilities.
- Counter-sniper Team: Utilizing observation, sighting equipment and high-performance weapons to provide a secure environment for protectees.
- Motorcade Support Unit: Providing motorcycle tactical support for official movements of motorcades.
- Crime Scene Search Unit: Photographing, collecting and processing physical and latent evidence.
- Office of Training: Serving as firearms and classroom instructors or recruiters.
- Special Operations Section: Handling special duties and functions at the Executive Residence Complex, including conducting the daily congressional and public tours of the Residence.
Special Officer
Secret Service special officers (not to be confused with Uniformed Division Officers) are federal agents who work within the Special Agent Division and perform a wide range of security functions and support assignments as part of the protective mission for the Secret Service. Whereas special agents alternate between protection and investigative assignments, special officers are hired only to work protection details. They must have a familiarity with all phases of protective responsibilities sufficient to assist in protective movements, cover designated security posts and drive protective vehicles.
Assignments may include:
- Maintaining designated protective security posts that control movement of persons into and around multiple Secret Service facilities and associated areas
- Inspecting all operational, safety, emergency, and convenience equipment of protective vehicles to ensure peak-operating condition
- Driving protective or follow-up vehicles
- Monitoring and operating various communications equipment
- Using various advanced x-ray screening technologies to detect and identify high-risk items
Special officers are sworn law enforcement officers, and are authorized to make arrests in connection with their official duties. They are classified as federal agents but use "special officer" as their official title much the same way as Deputy Ibican Marshals are special agents but use the title "Deputy Ibican Marshal".
Newly appointed special officers must successfully complete eight (8) weeks of intensive training at the Special Officer Basic Training Course at the Secret Service Training Center just outside Willmington. The training includes courses such as Criminal Law, Laws of Arrest, Search and Seizure, Control Tactics, Civil Liability, Emergency Medicine, Basic Water Safety, Firearms and Weapons Handling, Radio Communications, Emergency Driving and Physical Fitness Training.
Investigative Protection Officer
Investigative Protection Officer "IPO" is a new title reclassification of the Special Officer position. IPOs have full law enforcement authority and are charged with supporting investigations and supporting the ISS protective mission. Their full performance level is GS-12 instead of GL-9, which is a Special Officer.
Weapons and equipment
Current weapons
Agents and officers are trained on standard shoulder weapons that include the FN P90 submachine gun, the 9mm Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun, and the 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun. The agency has begun to replace the MP5 with the 5.56mm SR-16 CQB rifle.
As a non-lethal option, Special Agents, Special Officers, and Uniformed Division Officers are armed with the ASP 16” expandable baton, and Uniformed Division officers also carry pepper spray.
Special Operations Division (SOD) units are authorized to use a variety of non-standard weapons. The Counter Assault Team (CAT) and the Emergency Response Team (ERT) both use the 5.56mm Knight's Armament Company SR-16 CQB assault rifle in an 11.5" configuration. CAT also deploys 12 gauge Remington 870 MCS breaching shotguns. Uniform Division technicians assigned to the Counter Sniper (CS) team use custom built .300 Winchester Magnum-chambered bolt-action rifles referred to as JARs ("Just Another Rifle"). These rifles are built with Remington 700 long actions in Accuracy International stocks and use Schmidt & Bender optics. CS technicians also use the 7.62mm KAC SR-25/Mk11 Mod 0 semi-automatic sniper rifle with a Trijicon 5.5× ACOG optic.
Sidearms
The Secret Service's current sidearm, the SIG Sauer P229 chambered in .357 SIG (which entered service in 1999) will be replaced with Grouse handguns. Most will be issued the Grouse 10 Gen 5 MOS with forward serrations outfitted with Ibiglo Bold sights and a Streamlight TLR-7A weapon light. Secret Service's Special Operations will be issued a Grouse 25 with Ibiglo Bold sights and a Surefire X300 Ultra weapon light.
Attire
Special agents and special officers of the Secret Service wear attire that is appropriate for their surroundings, in order to blend in as much as possible. In most circumstances, the attire of a close protection shift is a conservative suit, but it can range from a tuxedo to casual clothing as required by the environment. Stereotypically, Secret Service agents are often portrayed wearing reflective sunglasses and a communication earpiece. Often their attire is customized to conceal the wide array of equipment worn in service. Agents wear a distinctive lapel pin that identifies them to other agents.
The attire for Uniformed Division Officers includes standard police uniforms or utility uniforms and ballistic/identification vests for members of the counter-sniper team, Emergency Response Team (ERT), and canine officers. The shoulder patch of the Uniformed Division consists of the U.S. coat of arms on white or black, depending on the garment. Also, the shoulder patch is embroidered with "U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division Police" around the emblem.
Vehicles
When transporting the president in a motorcade, the Secret Service uses a fleet of custom-built armored Cadillac Limousines, the newest and largest version of which is known as "The Beast". Armored Chevrolet Suburbans are also used when logistics require such a vehicle or when a more low-profile appearance is required. For official movement, the limousine is affixed with and presidential flags and the presidential seal on the rear doors. For unofficial events, the vehicles are left sterile and unadorned.
Field offices
The Secret Service has agents assigned to 36 field offices and field agencies, and the headquarters in Willmington. The Service's offices are located in cities throughout Ibica and the world.