Perhaps you have sometimes wondered, "What does a secret service agent do?" Or "what are secret service jobs?" These are valid questions, considering that their work is so secretive. There are many different secret service jobs, each with its own specific education and experience requirements, and each with its own specific secret service job duties. While there are no such things as "secret service degrees," many agents have criminal justice–based degrees and/or military experience. And they all have one overriding goal – to protect the most important members of the Executive Branch, their families and other important individuals related to the Office of the President.

Secret Service Jobs Description

While there are many different secret service careers, their goal is always to protect the president, the vice president, the president-elect and vice president-elect, their immediate families, former presidents, their spouses and the children of former presidents until they reach age 16. They also protect visiting heads of foreign states or governments, their spouses traveling with them, other distinguished foreign visitors to the United States, official U.S. representatives performing special missions abroad, major presidential and vice presidential candidates and spouses within 120 days of the election, and other individuals as designated per Executive Order of the President. Secret Service agents also provide protection at National Special Security Events when designated by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

So, it is clear that there could potentially be many different roles that people play in the secret service, from administrative to the front lines. But what kind of secret service degrees or training do these people get? All new agent trainees are initially sent to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to begin their training for this job. This is where they enter the 10-week Criminal Investigator Training Program, which trains new federal investigators subjects like criminal law and investigative techniques while providing a foundation for agency-specific training programs. After this, trainees must complete a 17-week Special Agent Training Course at the Secret Service training academy to learn about specific Secret Service policies and procedures.

The secret service is a huge organization with a big responsibility. There are many exciting secret service career options within this agency. So if you’re the type of person who has wondered, "what does a secret service agent do?" this may be a career worth exploring!