Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was confronted Monday with devastating criticism when she first directly addressed lawmakers’ questions about the attempted homicide by former President Donald Trump earlier this month. A major concern in the aftermath of the shooting: How could a federal agency whose annual budget has swelled to $3 billion fail to apprehend an amateur attacker like Thomas Matthew Crooks?
While Cheatle didn’t answer during the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing, the question does point to Secret Service funding and staffing, which rose 27% in fiscal 2023 from about $2.34 billion in 2014, adjusted for inflation, according to an analysis of budget data by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
On Tuesday, Cheatle has resigned from her position after being pressured by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to resign during a House hearing over the agency’s failure to stop the assassination attempt.
The agency’s funding has increased over the past decade, partly as a result of an incident in 2014 when a man climbed over the fence of the White House and ran through the front door. Although then-President Obama was not in the building at the time, the incident led to a review of Secret Service training and calls for increased funding.
Documents show that those demands have been met over the years. For example, lawmakers approved an additional $211 million for the Secret Service in fiscal 2023 alone.
Lack of funding does not appear to be the issue that led to the assassination attempt. It appears to be related to management mistakes, Chris Edwards, a tax studies expert at the libertarian Cato Institute, told CBS MoneyWatch.
“No amount of funding will fix the management failures,” he noted. Still, he added that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Secret Service received more funding after the assassination attempt, given the agreement among lawmakers from both parties that the agency had failed in its mission.
“We’ve seen these kinds of problems before: if there’s a management error in an agency, they almost always get more funding,” he noted.
Here’s what you need to know about how the Secret Service spends its money.
What is the Secret Service budget?
According to Edwards, who analyzed data from the Office of Management and Data, the Secret Service’s annual budget in the most recent fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, was about $3 billion.
About 87 percent of that budget, or $2.7 billion, is for operations and support, including $1.2 billion in funding for Protective Operations, the department that oversees the protection of the president, vice president and their families.
The remaining $400 million in annual spending is earmarked for purchasing, information technology, construction, and research and development.
How many Secret Service agents protect the President?
The Protective Operations Unit had approximately 3,671 employees during the past fiscal year, representing about 44 percent of the Secret Service’s approximately 8,300 employees.
Of course, those officers are spread across multiple assignments, since the agency is legally required to do more than just protect the president. In addition to the commander in chief, the unit must also protect the president’s family, the vice president and their families, and former presidents and vice presidents and their families, and presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates.
Protective Operations is divided into several divisions:
- Protection of Persons and Facilities, which protects presidents, vice presidents and their families, with a budget of $907 million
- Protective Countermeasures, which focuses on protecting the president and vice president in the White House and the vice president’s residence from “emerging explosive, chemical, biological, radiological, and cyber threats.” It has a budget of $82.5 million.
- Protective Intelligence, which investigates people or groups who pose a threat to the president and other protected parties. It has a budget of $94.6 million.
- Presidential Campaigns and National Special Security Events, which protects “major presidential and vice presidential candidates” and their spouses during the general election. It has a budget of $73.3 million.
Others eligible for Secret Service protection include foreign leaders visiting the U.S., such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in Washington on Monday.
During Monday’s hearing, Cheatle defended the number of officers assigned to Trump’s rally, saying there were “adequate resources” assigned to protect the former president.
What do critics say about Secret Service funding?
Edwards of the Cato Institute noted that the security failures in 2014 were attributed to underfunding. But as he wrote in a July 17 blog post, “If the administration uses that excuse this time, it wouldn’t be very convincing, because the Secret Service’s budget has increased dramatically in recent years.”
Still, Edwards told CBS MoneyWatch that he questions whether the Secret Service’s mission is too broad, since it also includes responsibility for investigating financial crimes such as counterfeiting and identity theft. He said such oversight would be better assigned to the Treasury Department so the Secret Service can focus on protecting the president and other officials.
Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said after the assassination attempt that the Secret Service’s annual budget is “more than sufficient” to provide adequate protection.
“We want to know who is to blame for what happened,” the Kentucky Republican said.
—With reporting from the Associated Press.
