Executive Summary to Report from the United States Secret Service Protective Mission Panel to the Secretary of Homeland Security

The paramount mission of the United States Secret Service-protecting the President and other high-ranking national officials-allows no tolerance for error. A single miscue, or even a split-second delay, could have disastrous consequences for the Nation and the world. The men and women of the Secret Service fulfill one of the most important obligations in this country, and they do so often with no personal recognition, no desire for fame, and modest compensation. We know special agents of the United States Secret Service as the silent figures around the President, but we tend to notice them only in the extraordinarily rare moments when they fail. Most Americans know little of the work of the Secret Service's Uniformed Division and do not realize that it is the Uniformed Division that plays a primary role in the protection of the White House.