United States Secret Service

The United States Secret Service, commonly shortened as the Secret Service (SS) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice since 1977, the SS is also a member of the Unified Intelligence Service and reports to the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of National Intelligence. It is the leading counter-terrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization in the country. In addition the SS is part of the Pacific Cooperation Organization's Common Intelligence Center which works to combat international espionage and terrorism through information sharing and cooperation between domestic intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

The agency was originally formed by President Abraham Lincoln to combat the then-widespread counterfeiting of U.S. currency and operated with this mission so throughout the 19th century. Its powers were first expanded to include broader investigative powers in 1917 under President Andrew Wright to monitor Californian nationalist groups, and its powers further expanded during the tenure of Director James E. Hall from 1921 to 1943. Today the SS has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes. Unlike the Office of Intelligence Services (OIS), which has no law enforcement authority and is focused on intelligence collection abroad, the SS is primarily a domestic agency, maintaining 59 field offices in major cities throughout the United States, and more than 450 resident agencies in smaller cities and areas across the nation. However as a member of PACCO, it maintains 17 sub-offices in U.S. embassies and consulates in fellow member states, to coordinate with foreign security services.