Secret Service budget request amps up hiring goals

The Secret Service wants to add hundreds of special agents, technical specialists and other law enforcement positions under the 2027 budget, as part of the agency’s multiyear recruiting effort.

The Secret Service’s $3.5 billion budget request for fiscal 2027 would add 852 positions at the agency, including 520 special agent positions. Last year’s tax and reconciliation package also allocated an additional $1.2 billion to the Secret Service through 2029, including some funding for recruiting efforts.

The Secret Services has previously highlighted plans to hire thousands of law enforcement officers and civilian staff through 2028.

“The agency is currently engaged in an accelerated hiring posture to address mission-critical needs, including expanded protective assignments, increased investigative workload, and evolving threat environments,” the Secret Service’s budget justification documents explain. “The agency’s protective and investigative responsibilities have grown significantly, necessitating a larger and more agile workforce capable of responding to emerging threats and operational demands.”

In addition to roughly 850 special agent positions, the Secret Service also wants to add 256 uniformed division positions in fiscal 2027. Uniformed division officers are involved in protecting facilities and venues secured for those with Secret Service protective detail.

The Secret Service also wants to add 50 technical law enforcement positions to its ranks in fiscal 2027, adding substantially to the roughly 116 such positions that exist today.

“The agency’s mission requires highly skilled personnel with expertise in advanced technologies, cyber investigations, protective intelligence, and digital forensics,” the agency’s budget document state. “As adversaries increasingly employ sophisticated methods, the need for specialized technical staff has grown substantially. Enhanced funding will enable the recruitment and retention of qualified professionals capable of supporting complex protective and investigative operations, maintaining the integrity of critical infrastructure, and responding to emerging cyber threats.”

Secret Service Director Sean Curran is set to testify on his agency’s budget request in front of the House Appropriations Committee next Thursday, alongside other Department of Homeland Security component leaders.

The Secret Service hiring campaign is part of a wave of federal law enforcement hiring under the Trump administration. The White House said the fiscal 2027 budget request boosts funding for federal law enforcement by 15%. Other DHS components, the FBI, Justice Department components and Commerce Department agencies are also seeking increases to law enforcement hiring.

The Secret Service’s hiring spree comes amid its preparations for major events in the coming years. The agency’s latest budget request also includes $91 million for the 2028 presidential campaign and $50.8 million for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

The agency’s recruitment efforts also come in the wake of multiple high-profile incidents that have led to major questions about the direction of the Secret Service, most notably the 2024 assassination attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump.

A bipartisan Senate report found the Secret Service had “failures in planning, communications, security, and allocation of resources” in the run up to Trump’s July 2024 rally that were “foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day.”

The report also found “siloed communications and coordination problems between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials remain unaddressed and were a contributing factor to the failures” at the rally.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill in the House would help encourage state and local law enforcement agencies to assist Secret Service protective operations. The Secret Service-Local Law Enforcement Partnership Act, re-introduced in early March, would require DHS to reimburse state and local law enforcement agencies $61 million per year for three years for services, personnel and equipment required to support the Secret Service’s mission.

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