Some pundits and former Secret Service agents have recently claimed that the agency’s dual mission of protection and investigation overburdens its operations, overlooking the vital synergy between these responsibilities. This perspective fundamentally misrepresents how the Secret Service operates today.

Rather than being a weakness, the investigative mission is a core strength that directly enhances the agency’s ability to fulfill its protective duties, enabling it to address increasingly complex and evolving threats.

Ironically, many of these critics left the Secret Service years ago, often well before reaching retirement eligibility. In some cases, their departures stemmed from a desire to avoid the very protective assignments they now argue should be the agency’s sole focus. Additionally, many have been removed from the agency for a decade or more and are unaware of the significant advances in its investigative mission over the past several years.

For example, the agency’s Critical Systems Protection efforts now enable agents with deep cyber expertise to prevent and respond to cyberattacks targeting protectees or the locations they visit. Investigations into doxing, swatting and other cyber-enabled harassment have become essential to safeguarding protectees in a digital-first world.

Eliminating the investigative mission would not only harm protective capabilities but also critically undermine the agency's ability to recruit and retain talented personnel. Agents join the Secret Service not just to protect, but to engage in meaningful law enforcement work as 1811 criminal investigators.

Investigations teach agents how to conduct interviews effectively, analyze threats and read people — skills that are directly transferable to protection. Stripping away this role would push qualified........

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