The U.S. Secret Intelligence Service's budget has increased by nearly $1 billion since 2014, but only $200 million of that has gone to protection operations, according to the agency's budget.

The agency is set to receive an additional $231 million in funding from Speaker Mike Johnson's federal funding bill, but budget documents show it has devoted more resources to administrative staff than conservation efforts.

The agency's approved total budget for fiscal year 2024 is just under $2.8 billion. According to In Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget documents. Approximately $1.15 billion of that amount was allocated to “protection activities.”

This is an increase from the 2014 total budget of $1.8 billion. According to Go to NBC News. Of that $1.8 billion, $924 million was spent on “protection.” According to In line with the 2014 DHS budget.

Although the conservation fund increase is relatively small at less than $200 million, it dwarfs the total budget, with much of the increase going to: professional development; Professional training program andGrowth in Human Capital Strategic Plan,” which provided $42 million in Secret Service funds. 2023 budget.

The agency will also spend more than $200 million on “headquarters, management and administration” in 2024. According to the budget, this item included 391 employees. They spent another $600 million on “mission support,” which has 904 employees.

Meanwhile, senior officials blame recent failures, including two high-profile assassination attempts on former President Trump, on a lack of resources.

“We have finite resources, and we are maximizing those resources right now, so we are not willing to replace these assets,” said Acting Secretary of the Secret Service Ronald L. Lowe Jr. at a press conference on September 20. There is a need to do so.”

Despite the small increase in protection costs, the total number of employees working on protection details actually decreased by more than 300 people from 2014 to 2024.

In 2014, the organization listed approximately 6,500 employees. More than 4,000 of these are listed as protected details. By 2024, despite the total number of employees increasing to 8,100, only 3,671 people were listed as part of 'protection activities', a decrease of almost 10%.

The decrease in the number of protection staff is not due to a decrease in the number of people scheduled to be protected. In fact, former Secret Service official Michael Matranga told the Daily Caller that the Secret Service currently has at least 36 security agents on duty for various government officials and their families. That's what it means.

This apparent overextension has led Matranga and others to question the Secret Service's “dual mission,” a long-standing philosophy that gives the Secret Service its mission to both protect federal employees and combat financial crime. It became.

“The Secret Service continues to take on more protection duties, leaving financial fraud crimes on the back burner.” It’s an option,” Matranga told the caller.

“Currently, where the United Nations General Assembly is held, there are 36 protection details that the Secret Service has set up. There is not a single person in the field office actually working on financial fraud crimes,” Matranga said. .

Matranga argued that while this dual mandate was once essential for the agency, there are now many other agencies, such as the FBI and Treasury Department, that can tackle financial crimes.

“We are not living in the same time as 1901, when McKinley decided to double duty after he was shot. We are speaking out in a completely different time and with a completely different threat landscape. There are foreign organizations that are trying to kill these protected persons,” Matranga said.

In addition to the two near-accidents that threatened President Trump's life, other threats from countries such as Iran have been reported in recent months. (Related: Left-wing journalist releases J.D. Vance documents allegedly hacked by Iran)

Matranga says this increased threat level requires them to rethink their dual mission and focus primarily on protection and investigation.

“The Secret Service should be a threat intelligence and threat investigation agency that complements protection. You know, they should be very, very, very good at threat intelligence, threat investigation, protecting people. . That's what they should do,” he told the caller.

The agency has recovered more than $1 billion from financial crimes in each of the past two years, according to the budget. Since 2023, we have trained 11,800 law enforcement officers in cybercrime and cyberforensics and provided more than 390,000 hours of cyber training.

The agency added 130 people in 2023 for “field operations, cyber financial crimes, and mobile radio investigations.”

Some, like former Secret Service official Dean Peterson, argue that the department doesn't need as many people as protection operations.

“The bottom line is that it's always going to take a significant amount of resources to accomplish that protection mission, because compared to all the guns and ammunition and cars and all sorts of crazy assets out there, it's all “Forgery,'' Peterson told the caller.

“Everyone needs computers and some other forensic elements. But it's not a portfolio of raw equipment or anything like that…All of the secret service maintenance funding is in equipment. Probably 80 percent of it. It is directly related to defense operations,” he said.

Other agency spending includes $600 million in “mission support” in 2024; $149 million in 2023 for “other services from non-federal sources.”

Acting Director Lowe said at a press conference in September that the agency was making “robust hires” in the wake of the assassination attempt on President Trump.

“B“By the end of the fiscal year, we will have hired more than 400 special agents this year,” Lowe said. He also said applications to the agency were at an all-time high. However, it is not clear which department the new employees will be assigned to. The Daily Caller asked the Secret Service where the new recruits were going, but did not receive a response by press time.

“They have to evaluate the details of these 36 full-time protections and decide whether this is something that the Secret Service needs to protect. Is this a Cabinet member or the president's grandchild? Is that something the Secret Service needs to do, or can that responsibility be delegated to the FBI, the State Department, or the Department of Homeland Security? and let's reevaluate it,'' Matranga said.

“Imagine how great it would be if they focused solely on threats against the president,” he concluded.