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Secret Service, United States

Secret Service, United States, a law enforcement division (since 2003) of the Dept. of Homeland Security. It was established in 1865 in the the Dept. of the Treasury to investigate and prevent counterfeiting of currency, officially becoming a distinct organization within the department in 1883. The Secret Service enforces federal laws relating to currency, coins, obligations, and the securities of the United States and foreign governments, including forgery and fraudulent electronic transfer. After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, the force was charged with protecting the president. This protection was later extended to the members of the immediate families of the president, vice president, president-elect, and vice president–elect; major presidential and vice presidential candidates; former presidents and their spouses; widows of former presidents until their death or remarriage; minor children of a former president; and visiting heads of state.

See study by J. Bamford (1983).

See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. Government

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Related content from HighBeam Research on: United States Secret Service

From the Civil War to the war on terror: the evolution and application of the state secrets privilege. (Albany Law Review)

Have earpiece won't testify. (federal court will decide if Secret Service must testify against the president)(United States) (The Economist (US))

US and Mexico in Secret Dolphin Meeting.(United States)(Brief Article) (Earth Island Journal)

Secret I.N.S. deportation plan: kicking out Palestinians. (United States Immigration and Naturalization Service) (The Nation)

Feds Track Source Of Massive Cards Breach.(United States. Secret Service trying to stop the debit card fraud) (Credit Union Journal)

Secret service hopes use of new escape mask proliferates.(SECURITY BEAT: HOMELAND DEFENSE BRIEFS)(United States. Secret Service) (National Defense)

Khan, Abdul Qadeer: Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons.(The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secret and How We Could Have Stopped Him and America and the Islamic Bomb: The Deadly Compromise)(Brief article)(Book review) (Biography)

China Says It Suffers 'Massive' Internet Spy Damage; China has suffered "massive" losses of state secrets through the Internet, a senior official said, as the country faces reports that it has raided the computer networks of Western powers. (eWeek)

Spending the future.(The Legitimacy or Philanthropic Foundations: United States and European Perspectives; The Foundation: A Great American Secret)(Book review) (First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life)

How to make a spy: for 60 years, the United States has struggled and failed to create a first-rate secret intelligence service. Few agents can haggle in a foreign bazaar or even hope to understand rapid-fire Arabic. It may be hard to find the proper skills among the present generation of young Americans. But it would not be impossible to create them. (Foreign Policy)

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