How are Secret Service agents so neutral?

[888theGreat]

I can't figure them out. Apparently they don't have opinions or don't care whether a Democrat or Republican is elected. I doubt if they even vote. They are loyal. You never hear of one telling on anything a President does that would be questionable. Now one went to Fox (that means he was most likely a source for Fox when he was working), and one wrote a book about Hillary. I am not sure how they get hired. I assume law enforcement or military back ground , never voted, and have no political stance. They probably have a wide knowledge of guns and weapons.

They are really robots

They are so busy , they don't think about politics

They are only concerned about their jobs and pension

[exitseven]

They understand what the job is before they are hired. They go through a rigorous background check. My uncle lived next door to a kid that wanted to be a US Marshall. The feds came to his house one night and interviewed him bout this kid. They asked all kinds of questions. I knew a couple of people who were hired by the FBI and they said it was not very tough to get hired. One guy was a real alcoholic.

[goaded]

"President Donald Trump on Saturday named Anthony Ornato, an official with the Secret Service, as his new White House chief of operations."

He wasn't neutral. But he's still working for the Secret Service.

[BCA6010]

Have you ever heard of Dan Bongino? Pretty far right wing podcaster and Fox host on the weekends, used to be Secret Service during Bush and Obama's presidencies. In his own words, "he saw them say or do a lot of things he didn't like, but nothing actually illegal.

The hiring process of the USSS is actually not as wild as you might think - it is literally an open application that goes out periodically on www.usajobs.gov and while they do list out some preferred backgrounds, I know for a fact that neither law enforcement or military experience are required (I have a cousin with a background as a psychologist currently working as an investigator for them), but due to how the government hiring system works, a recently separated veteran has an advantage in the early stages of weeding out applicants. There are also some unofficial things too, for example they do not explicitly require a 4-year college degree, but the applicant pool is so competitive that there's pretty much a 0% chance someone without one would get selected for testing and interviews.

The secret service is itself a federal law enforcement agency first and foremost (mainly dealing with Treasury department related issues and more recently human trafficking), and the presidential protection detail is actually a secondary function. Agents on the protection detail typically already have ~10 or more years in the agency, so they've been around long enough to be thoroughly vetted, and they're committed to being in for the long haul. While I assume those guys would get specialized executive security training, the training all USSS agents receive is basically the same as what's given to other federal agents that go through Glynco. Like every other large company or government body, it has its own internal politics, corruption, good agents, and bad ones. They can and absolutely do have their own political views, but for obvious reasons, these can't be allowed to interfere with an agent's willingness to do their job, and I'd be willing to bet that many agents have been rotated off of protection details either voluntarily or involuntarily because of it.

[did_he_just]

They believe in respecting the office. There are tons of people like that in our government. When one of them does something that we personally dont like because it puts someone we like in a negative light, it's important to remember that. People like James Comey and Robert Mueller have a great deal of integrity and they put their asses on the line making sure they are thorough and live by the law. I know your question was about the secret service, but I think the common thread is integrity and respect for the office.

[888theGreat]

neither of them have any integrity. They are dishonest thieves. Crooks and liars. They are not Secret Service either

[Lliam]

Their job is to protect the president (and other officials). Period. They're professionals.

It's not their job to participate in coups or override the will of voters.

I heard stories from Secret Service agents about Biden when he was VP. He would parade around nude in front of female agents, and feel up the wives of agents. One agent is said to have almost punched him. They thought he was a piece of shit, but still protected him.

[OddBeMe]

The secret part in their name could be a clue. Everyone has opinions, but their agency doesn't relinquish much info. Mostly to protect politicians. But like with the Jan 6 text messages that are suddenly missing, other reasons.

I actually think the JFK assassination was a secret service cover up. Ironically, there's evidence an agent’s AR 15 rifle accidentally went off and was the shot that blew JFK’s head off.

[888theGreat]

or was it an accident? If so , why blame someone else for it. Talking about crooked. Bad as FBI antics

[OddBeMe]

I mean Oswald has a lot of evidence against him. He took shots at a local politican just months before JFK.

[hahahmm]

It's simple... it's just a job with a really good retirement plan to them. Their only mission is to be trusted by the president which requires them to protect 100% of all secrets that any president has no matter how BAD that secret might be.

[Be3Bee]

I would guess they get filtered out during the selection tests for new agents? Like some psychological tests to see if they can detach from their personal opinions? Makes me wonder what could be the acceptance rate for new recruits there.

[fishtank3118]

I dated a Secret Service agent for 3 years, he voted. I've met some his coworkers and they are just ordinary people with the same problems and feelings as the rest of us. I've overheard some very questionable things about important people. In my experience, the only huge difference in this relationship was the his job was always first priority, and rightly so.

[fishtank3118]

It was difficult to accept that his job came first, but I couldn't blame him considering the gravity of the situations he was tasked with.

[fishtank3118]

They are always on call and could be flying across the country or internationally with only a few hours notice. My ex was investigative division, mostly white collar crimes, but moved away almost a year ago and is now in the protective division. The protective division is a lot more demanding and sometimes requires shifts that are 15+ hours for days in a row, so you can imagine a social life is near impossible for these agents. We are still in touch, so I still hear the ins and outs of his job. Secret Service agents are DEDICATED and they must be willing to put their personal life on hold sometimes to do this job. I used to underestimate these Special Agents before I met him and I used to think they must be as robotic and serious as they seem when on duty, but that is not true. I didn't even believe him when he told me what he did for a living, even after he showed me his badge and credentials, it took me several months to actually wrap my head around it.

[Likes2drive]

Just a job they do and follow like a soldier

[Guy13]

Work first. Opinion second.