The US Secret Service (SS) is the agency tasked to protect the President of the United States, candidates for the Presidency/Vice President, and other duties as assigned. Originally created in 1865 to stop counterfeiting, Congress gave them the job of protecting the President after McKinley's assassination in 1901. And they're currently hiring, especially if you have certain language skills. Makes one wonder why the fucking country doesn't have viable language programs in the schools.
Despite the fact that the SS has multiple functions, I am mostly going to concentrate on their protective mission. The field offices are arranged by state. I did find that Google's Local Search tab would map the offices for me by going to their site and for the "what" I entered "secret-service" and for "where" I entered the field office city name. However, the address Google came up with did not match the list I got from Google's cache of the Treasury Department's version, so I used that cached version instead of Google's. I do not include the overseas offices, but this survey covers roughly 122 offices in the US. I did not include the smaller regional offices in the survey either, otherwise I would've never finished the project. According to the information on the SS website, the SS always conducts a pre-visit security survey to the place the President plans to visit. I'm assuming they also keep files on a particular site in case the President returns at a future date. However, I'll bet they always do a site survey, no matter if it's at a place where the President has been before or to a place he visits regularly, such as Crawford, Texas. It's the prudent thing to do to make sure conditions haven't changed from previous visits.
One of the problems I ran up against was the fact that the SS website used to have the street locations to their field offices listed, but no more. Even Google's cached version of their pages which had the addresses, forced the browser to load a new version from treasury.gov. But, that is easily overcome by just using wget to grab the cached version. However, I'm not certain how up to date this list is. I know that the list I have was drawn up after 9/11, because the New York field office, which used to be in the World Trade Center, is listed at a new location.
Good links to research:
1. This is the FAA's TFR map: http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr/tfrmap.jsp
2. Here is an old US News report form 2002 on the SS in trouble. This should definitely be read all the way through- http://www.srslawfirm.com/news/ss/unwr061702/secretsoftheservice.htm. It shows how law enforcement power easily gets abused.
Search results using "secret service" and "artcc":
1. There was a Temporary Flight Restricted (TFR) area around a permanent restricted area called P-40. A hang glider club requested and was granted permission to use the airspace around P-40, but not within it. It appears this airspace is around the Hagerstown Airport, which is the airport of choice for Air Force One (AF1), when the President goes to Camp David. See the ZDC ARTCC report for more information. Anyway, the website gives a glimpse into the responsibilities of the FAA and what conditions the SS (clever, huh >:P) put upon the group. It also mentions that the phone numbers to the ARTCC and the SS Joint Operations Center (JOC) are confidential. The club webpage that describes this waiver is located at http://www.chgpa.org/SiteInfo/hrock.protocol.html However, at this faa site, http://www.chgpa.org/SiteInfo/hrock.protocol.html, they say "AVOID PROHIBITED AREA 40 UNLESS THE AIRCRAFT RECEIVES US SECRET SERVICE AUTHORIZATION BY CALLING 703-563-3222/3229." The most recent TFR issued around P-40 was from Sep 30-Oct 2 2005. I wonder who was in the area during that time? >:)
2. At http://www.milaircomms.com/secret_service.html someone assembled photos of Bush's visit to Daytona Beach. The author mentions that he found a list of SS frequencies, but they were scrambled. He does give a list of those frequencies, but they may be outdated or just for the Daytona area.
3. It appears the SS has direct lines to all of the ARTCCs. This was mentioned at several sites covering the 9/11 attacks.
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After having completed the field office research, I come away with these thoughts about the SS:
1. The SS claims they are apolitical, but from most of the articles I've read over the Internet, they tend to be very much right-winged, although probably not as much as the US Military and Hitler.
2. They don't seem to like teenagers very much, and I don't blame them.
3. In almost, if not all, cases, I found that a Secret Service office had a corresponding FBI office. I'm not sure if that is a coincidence or on purpose. I do know both agencies will work closely together.
4. New recruits' initial training at the Rowley Training Center in Maryland takes at least 6 months, but may go longer.
5. The SS uses student interns. The interns must undergo extensive background checks.
6. Local offices of the SS get involved in protection duties when the Prez, VP, or VIPs visit their areas.
7. If you fail the polygraph for a job interview with the SS, they will share that information with other agencies and state/local police, should you apply with them.
8. The latest information I have on the salary of a starting SS officer is $43,691.
9. The SS has their own radar system. I don't know why, though.
10. A week before the Prez visits a place, the SS sends a scout team ahead to check out the place.
11. The SS is the coordintating agency during so-called "National Events" such as the Superbowl and Olympics.
12. The SS will investigate ALL comments that might be perceived as a threat to the Prez, not matter how ridiculous or how young the person.
13. The SS uses two or more motorcades to create confusion as to which one the Prez is in.
14. The President's itinerary is not released until 48 hours before any event.
15. The SS keeps a database on every person they've ever encountered.
16. The new SS HQ building at 1111 18th St NW in DC probably has blast-resistant glass. Plus they like to put lots of antennas on the roof.
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Here are the individual reports for the SS offices in each state. In some cases I didn't find much, in others quite a bit. The reports and the offices are arranged by state:
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusettts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington, D.C.
Washington State
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming