1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Lauren bogobaum here, dark sunglasses, unsmiling mug's head 3 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 1: on a swivel, the surreptitious earpiece of black suit. Everybody 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: knows a Secret Service agent when they see one, right, 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: But the United States Secret Service is way more than 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: no nonsense automatons packing heat and putting their lives on 7 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: the line to protect presidents and other political big wigs. 8 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: When the United States Secret Service came into being at 9 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War, protecting people wasn't even 10 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,840 Speaker 1: in its DNA, and even today, only about three thousand, 11 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: six hundred of the seven thousand plus U S Secret 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: Service employees are the stern looking bodyguards known as special Agents, 13 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: that protect the President and other select government officials. Some 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: one thousand, six hundred fifty Secret Service employees are Uniformed 15 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: Division officers. They wear uniforms similar to police uniforms. It's 16 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: their duty to securely lock down the venues wherever they 17 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: may be where the President and other officials appear. The 18 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: Uniformed Division is responsible for security at the White House 19 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: to the Naval Observatory, the residents of the Vice President, 20 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: the Treasury Department and other places like foreign embassies in Washington, 21 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: d C. Another two thousand, three hundred or so provide technical, 22 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: law enforcement and other behind the scenes support, things like 23 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: figuring out the safest routes for motorcades, the best and 24 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,119 Speaker 1: most secure way to outfit the beast, a recent name 25 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: for the president's main limo, how to avoid chemical attacks, 26 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: and the more mundane governmental work of filing expense reports 27 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: and answering questions from officers or agents who have trouble 28 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: signing into their laptops. Most US Secret Service personnel aren't 29 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: hanging out with the president, and it's hardly the stuff 30 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: of Olympuss Fallen or white House down. When the U 31 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: s Secret Service was formed in eight sixty five, it 32 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: was a bureau of the Treasury Department. Its mission was 33 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: to battle widespread counterfeiting. At the end of the Civil War, 34 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: nearly a third of all currency in circulation in the 35 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: United States was fake. The Secret Service was there to 36 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: help stabilize the financial system by ridding the country of counterfeiters. 37 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: So not exactly in the line of fire either. Still, 38 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: it's important stuff and a key pillar in the Secret 39 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,360 Speaker 1: Services dual mission, which is protection of the government's top 40 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: dogs and investigation of crimes regarding the financial system at 41 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: home and abroad. The people of the agency take both 42 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: missions very seriously. For the article this episode is based 43 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: on how Stuff Works. Spoke with a U. S. Secret 44 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: Service spokesperson via email and they said, over the past decade, 45 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: the Secret Service has made approximately fifty thousand arrests for counterfeiting, 46 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: cyber and financial crimes and seized one point eight billion 47 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 1: dollars in counterfeit currency. Secret Service has also prevented potential 48 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: loss of approximately fifty three billion dollars. So does the 49 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: Secret Service still report to the Treasury? Nope. On March 50 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: one of two thousand three, the U. S. Secret Service 51 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: was transferred to the newly formed Department of Homeland Security, 52 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: which now seems a better fit. But the Secret Service 53 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: is still all over protecting the financial infrastructure of the nation. However, 54 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: as actors like Clint Eastwood, Gerard Butler, Channing Tatum, and 55 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: many other Hollywood types have shown, you can't get past 56 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: the particularly American coolness that is part of being a 57 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: Secret Service special agent. They are the very real people 58 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: willing to take a bullet to save others lives. Certainly 59 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: it's not that exciting all the time. Former agent Jonathan Whackrow, 60 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: who spent fourteen years with the Service, more than four 61 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: of them on protective detail of then President Barack Obama, 62 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: told Vanity Fair the best way to sum up being 63 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: Secret Service agent is prolonged periods of boredom only broken 64 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: up by moments of sheer terror. The Secret Service agents 65 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: saved Ronald Reagan during an assassination attempt in n They 66 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: helped Jackie back into the convertible. When John F. Kennedy 67 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: was shot in nineteen sixty three, they wrapped up presidential 68 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,039 Speaker 1: candidate Donald Trump and rushed him off the stage when 69 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: someone shouted gun at a rally in They're there every 70 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,559 Speaker 1: inauguration day, providing a human shield as the president almost 71 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: invariably takes a stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue. It's pretty slow 72 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,600 Speaker 1: when it's not terrifying, but the pressure at all times 73 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: is outrageous. Lieutenant Christopher Fagin told a bunch of Secret 74 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 1: Service rookies and a business Insider video the Secret Service 75 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: has a zero fail mission. What that means, in Lehman's terms, 76 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:53,720 Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, is this, you don't get a bad 77 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 1: day in the Secret Service, if you have a bad 78 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: day and you don't do your job, you're going to 79 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: change the world, and he doesn't mean for the better. 80 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: It wasn't until the assassination of President William McKinley in 81 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: n one that the Secret Service was tasked with protecting 82 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:16,279 Speaker 1: the President, and becoming a special agent isn't easy. It's 83 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 1: been reported that only one out of a hundred applicants 84 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: makes it too special agent training, and a lot of 85 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: them wash out once they get to the James J. 86 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland. All recruits go through 87 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: a six month training program. After they've been thoroughly vetted, 88 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: they're given a polygraph. They go through firearms training, driver training, 89 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: where they're taught things like a vase of maneuvering, hand 90 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: to hand combat training, your basic federal law enforcement training. 91 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: Once they make it that far, they spend three to 92 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: five years in a field office at home or abroad, 93 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: and only then maybe do they move on to the 94 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: second phase of the career in a protective division assignment. 95 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: The best go on to the Presidential Protective Division, where 96 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: most serve a minimum of six years. After that, they 97 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: move on to the final phase of their careers, which 98 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: can include further protective assignments for their field office work, 99 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: or a bump into specialty assignments, including things like training 100 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: new agents, getting into work on electronic crimes, or being 101 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: assigned to a congressional staff gig. Entry level special agents 102 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: start at about forty nine thousand dollars a year. In 103 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: phase three of their careers, they can make nearly a 104 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: hundred and forty five thousand a year. In one five 105 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: women became the first female special agents, but it wasn't 106 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: until that a woman, Julia A. Pearson, was the first 107 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: appointed to lead the agency, and of the more than 108 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: seven thousand employees today, just shy of a quarter are women. 109 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,239 Speaker 1: The Service insists, though that it's trying. Their spokesperson said 110 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 1: the Secret Service is continually and actively recruiting to ensure 111 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: a diverse mix of employees. Part of these efforts include 112 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: visiting colleges, hosting information sessions, and participating in career affairs. 113 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article eight Secrets you 114 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: Didn't Know about the Secret Service on how stuff works 115 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: dot com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production 116 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuff Works. 117 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: Dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Or more 118 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: podcasts My heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 119 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.