A U.S. Secret Service agent stands watch before President Barack Obama boards Air Force One in August 2014. Charles Dharapak/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Charles Dharapak/AP
A U.S. Secret Service agent stands watch before President Barack Obama boards Air Force One in August 2014.
Charles Dharapak/AP
Low morale could be partly to blame for the recent spate of security lapses at the Secret Service.
The agency with the responsibility for protecting the president, vice president and their families rates in the bottom third in job satisfaction rankings within the federal government.
The root of that discontent could be bureaucratic. The Secret Service traces its heritage back to the US Department of the Treasury. It was created in 1865 to fight counterfeiters, and didn't get into the business of protecting presidents until 1901 after the assassination of President William McKinley. After the attacks on September 11 some 100 years later, the Service was transferred from Treasury to the newly created Department of Homeland Security. It became one of 22 agencies thrown together in response to the terrorist strike — encompassing everything from the Coast Guard to disaster recovery .
Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent, says the Service's morale problems can be traced back to that day:
"In the 13 years that I was with the Secret Service there has been a progressive downslide of morale. As the Secret Service has integrated further into the DHS culture, you have seen a correlation in the decline of morale," he says.
Now, moving an agency from one part of the government organizational chart to another might not seem like such a big deal. But the Service was an elite unit when it was part of the relatively small Treasury department. And when it became part of the sprawling bureaucracy that is Homeland Security, the Secret Service found itself competing with a lot of other folks, says Wackrow.
"We have to fight internally for money and resources — against issues of immigration, issues that arise with the Coast Guard and other homeland security issues. So for us to have a voice in that sea of confusion sometimes was very difficult for our managers."
Like other federal agencies, the department lost part of its funding due to the sequester of the operating budget last year.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano vowed those cuts would not be taken from the protective side of the Services budget. In fact, Congress gave the Service more money than it asked for last year because lawmakers felt the Obama administration underfunded the agency. But former Assistant Secret Service Director Mickey Nelson agrees there has been a lot more scrambling for resources since the Service became part of Homeland Security.
"The Secret Service mission pretty much stayed the same unlike some of the other agencies that were brought over. Now what has happened over a period of time, of course, you've got quite a few components within DHS fighting for what seems to be an increasingly smaller budget," he says.
It's unclear how the budget has affected staffing levels. At her hearing last week, former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson said the Service was 550 employees below what it should be. Republicans are skeptical that the agency is short-handed.
It's one of the issues members of Congress want an independent panel that is reviewing recent security lapses at the White House to look into. Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings says the agency may be stretched too thin.
"They need to look at training, protocol, and look at the leadership structure. Whether the Secret Service should be under Homeland Security, this is a very critical moment for the Secret Service," Cummings says.
And in a sentiment shared by many in Washington, Cummings says whomever the President chooses to lead the Service is going to have to be prepared to make changes from top to bottom.
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