Secrets of the Secret Service" is on TV tonight.

My wife asked a good question. Why do they call themselves the "Secret Service" if it's supposed to be secret?

Makes sense, kind of brings attention to themselves.

I've been around the SS a couple of times and never saw any female agents. Could that be because women can't be trusted to keep a secret? (my wife asked that, not me).

I've also noticed they all dress exactly the same, even wear the "button" they point out in so many movies. You know exactly who they are.

Then again, can any of us really claim to know everything they have their hands in?  There's probably a few here in Arfland, hopefully I don't have to lock up my dog tonight..

Ya gotta respect the only law enforcement agency in the country that people don't bitch about. Well maybe they do...but they just disappear, it's the strangest thing........ I'm still in awe that when one of them got shot by Hinckley they just let him lay there, all the attention went to Brady and the DC officer....

No, I haven't been drinking, my mind just won't go to sleep.

I suspect they're just a cover story for the true movers and shakers....the "Super Secret Service".

I bet guarding the President is pretty cool, the things they must hear.....? I confess their dedication is admirable, I can't imagine having to be prepared to lay my life down for the incompetent fool in the White House right now.  But then again, guarding the current Pres ensures LOTS of vacations, get to meet celebrities and pretend to be a rock star.....not much time in boring meetings.

OK, any SS in here? if you can out yourself, what type of work do you do as a Secret Service agent, if you can share.....I suspect it's in their best interest not to, just askin'. Throwin' some pasketti against the wall to see if it will stick.

Deliver your dog to the local Treasury Department for immediate execution, please.

Saw that tonight too. Thought it was pretty good.

I don't know, but I do know that the acronym is USSS (United States Secret Service), not SS; SS makes it sound like Nazi Germany.

The USSS was originally started to investigate counterfeiting a loooooong time ago.  The protection details they do now didn't even exist at the time.

They aren't a secret and make no attempt to be, it's just a name someone came up with over 100 years ago.

Duly noted, just didn't want to keep typing it out.

Yeah, I know they're not a secret, but the government is very specific about what they name agencies and to them it's all about PR. For example, we no longer have a "War Department" or a "Secretary of War", it sounds like we might have to go to war, so they sanitized the name into the "Dept of the Army" and "Dept of the Air Force" and joined the new "Dept of the Navy" to form the "Dept of Defense". It sounds so "non-aggressive".

I'm surprised they kept "Secret Service" in a country that prided itself on freedom and openness fighting against the communist USSR and it's secretive KGB. With the current state of affairs in the US it seems appropriate now. Really sad.

Homeland Security?

I laughed.

I think Treasury is technically the IRS, used to be BATFE too but they now fall under DOJ IIRC.  Has the IRS ever shot dogs?

BATFE....................the original jack-booted thug poodle shooters.

no I was thinking the USSS is now part of Homeland Security not Treasury

also, I remember reading about a rumor that before his assassination Lincoln supposedly had legislation on his desk that would have formed a presidential protection agency, ie USSS.