United States Secret Service - Training and Weaponry

Training and Weaponry

At a minimum, a prospective agent must be a U.S. Citizen, possess a current valid driver's license, possess visual acuity no worse than 20/60 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 in each eye, and be between the ages of 21 and 37 at the time of appointment. However, preference eligible veterans may apply after age 37. In 2009, the Office of Personnel Management issued implementation guidance on the Isabella v. Department of State court decision: OPM Letter.

The agency (particularly agents under the Office of Protective Operations) receive the latest weapons, training, and technology. Special Agents receive basic training in two locations. The first phase, the Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) is conducted at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) at Glynco, GA. The second phase, the Special Agent Training Course (SATC) is conducted at the James J. Rowley Training Center, located in Beltsville, MD.

Since the agency's inception, a variety of weapons have been carried by its agents. Initially these were privately procured and there was little if any standardization. Agency issued weapons in the 1930s included the Colt 1911A1 pistol in .45 ACP caliber. In the 1950s and 1960s, Special Agents carried the Smith & Wesson Model 36 and Colt Detective Special revolvers. Following President Kennedy's assassination, USSS Special Agents were authorized to carry the .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 19 revolver. Between 1981 and 1991, the Secret Service issued the Smith & Wesson Model 19-2 and the Smith & Wesson Model 66-2 .357 Magnum revolvers, with 2.5-inch barrels all the way up to the 4-inch-barreled models. loaded with hollow-point rounds. By 1992, the standard issue weapon became the SIG Sauer P228 9mm pistol. In the late 1990s it was swapped for the SIG Sauer P229 chambered in the then-new .357 SIG cartridge. Special Agents also carried Uzi submachine guns in the 1970s and 80s, but they have since been phased out, being replaced with HK MP5s and FN P90s.

As of 2012, Special Agents and Uniformed Division Officers carry the SIG Sauer P229 chambered for the .357 SIG cartridge, or the FN Five-seven pistol chambered for the 5.7×28mm cartridge. Agents and Officers are also trained on shoulder weapons such as the Remington 870 shotgun and the FN P90 and HK MP5 submachine guns.

Special tactical units such as the Counter Assault Team (CAT) and the Emergency Response Team (ERT) are equipped with the Knights Armament SR-16 assault rifle chambered for 5.56x45mm ammunition. Uniform Division technicians assigned to the Counter Sniper (CS) team use custom built .300 Winchester Magnum bolt-action rifles referred to as JAR's ("Just Another Rifle"), along with 7.62mm KAC SR-25/Mk11 Mod 0 semi-automatic sniper rifles.

The agency uses Motorola XTS radios and surveillance kits in order to maintain communication and are known to use DES encryption keys. When operationally required, MBITR radios that utilize Type 1 encryption algorithms are fielded .