U.S. Secret Service's Name

[Georgius]

Why is the Secret Service called that? Was it ever really secret?

[Nik]

IIRC, they protected President (POTUS) and hunted forgers...

Also, they were 'secret' servants, rather than 'public' servants who were elected / open to public scrutiny.

( Got job of hunting forgers because they literally could not be bought... for who was in better position to assassinate POTUS than his own guards ?? ;-)

[david3565]

The actual identity of the agents was a secret, hence the name Secret Service. They were first created to hunt down forgers and later were given the task of presidential protection because Congress couldn't magically create an agency out of thin air for the purpose. And the mission of protecting the POTUS had to be renewed each year by Congress. After an assasination attempt on Truman, however, they changed the law to give them the mission on a permanent basis.

[KJM]

Congress couldn't magically create an agency out of thin air for the purpose.
I now have this mental image of legislators holding hands and chanting as Secret Service agents form inside a magic circle.

[Derek Jackson]

Congress seems willing to create whatever agencies it wants to.

[wkwillis]

They were taken from the Treasury Department and given to Homeland Security. For non American readers, this was the recently created and heavily politicized Federal police.