Stories related to: Secret Service

A culture of racism lurks behind the dark glasses of the Secret Service, claims a lawsuit filed by more than 100 current and former black agents who say they were denied promotions. The Service denies the charges, but the suit has brought troubling emails to light, ABC News reports. One circulated among supervisors says a Jesse Jackson assassination “certainly wouldn’t be a great loss,” and others include racially crude jokes. More »

Secret Service supervisors exchanged racist remarks in emails made public yesterday in a lawsuit filed by black agents, the New York Times reports. The messages were shared between at least 20 top agents between 2003 and 2005. One anecdote jokes about assassinating Jesse Jackson. And, according to the lawsuit, the head of the Presidential Protective Detail sent a crude joke about interracial sex to a colleague. More »

Israeli leaders won’t meet with Jimmy Carter, and Israeli security won’t help protect him on his trip through the country, Reuters reports. As Israel’s Shin Bet and the Secret Service sparred over whether the Americans asked for help, a source called the security snub “unprecedented.” Carter's intention to meet with a Hamas leader during his trip has incensed the Israeli government. More »

Bill Clinton is costing taxpayers significantly more in publicly funded perks than the two other surviving former presidents, reports Politico. From 2001 through the end of this year, $8 million will be spent on Bill Clinton, compared with $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush and $4 million for Jimmy Carter during the same period. A big chunk goes to lifelong secret service protection, pension, staff and travel expenses. More »

The race for the Democratic nomination is confounding an unlikely group—the Secret Service, which started covering Barack Obama earlier than any previous candidate and has protected Hillary Clinton since Bill's nomination in 1992. And the throngs of passionate supporters—as many as 30,000—at campaign events “definitely add something the Secret Service hasn't seen in a while,'' said an ex-agent. More »

Sikh leaders won’t attend a US interfaith meeting with Pope Benedict XVI next month because the Secret Service won’t let them wear ceremonial daggers, the AP reports. Kirpaans are required attire for the Eastern religion. “We cannot undermine the rights and freedoms of religion in the name of security,” said a Sikh official. But the Secret Service won’t bend the rules. More »

"Stop worrying," Barack Obama tells supporters. “I've got the best protection in the world.” But they're worrying anyway: Even as supporters have watched their candidate rocket from longshot to frontrunner, their anxieties about a possible assassination attempt have grown, the New York Times reports. “Some candidates are bigger targets than others," ex-contender Gary Hart notes. "Any transition candidate or change candidate has a higher profile.” More »

Prince Phillip—a “Nazi” who should be sent “back to Germany from where he comes”—headed a royal family plot to murder Princess Diana and his son, Dodi Al Fayed's father told the Diana inquest today. “You want to know his original name—It ends with Frankenstein,” Mohamed Al Fayed said of Phillip. More »

A man collared on suspicion of assaulting Dick Cheney two years ago wants the veep to testify in court—but is it likely? Cheney would only have to if his testimony is unobtainable by other means, one expert said—exactly what Cheney's lawyer argued last week in court. But one Washington attorney said Steve Howards, 55, Cheney's alleged attacker, has a case for getting Cheney to testify. More »

Vice President Dick Cheney may be questioned under oath in a free-speech and civil rights lawsuit brought by a man who was arrested and threatened with assault charges when he approached Cheney at a ski resort. The 2006 incident has sparked a storm of controversy inside the Secret Service with agents charging one another of a cover-up. Steven Howards was busted when he touched or pushed Cheney on the shoulder and called US policy in Iraq "disgusting," More »

As prank calls go, Vífill Atlason’s call to the White House is in select company. Posing as Iceland’s president, the 16-year-old says he managed to schedule a phone meeting with President Bush, though Icelandic police tracked him down before that could happen. White House spokesmen say Atlason called a public switchboard, but ABC News confirmed it was actually a high-level line. More »

The computer ace behind a $26 million worldwide identity theft heist is only 18, police said today, after nabbing New Zealander Owen Whyte. The teen allegedly wrote a ‘spybot’ program which stole financial data from more than a million computers. Police called him “one of the most skilled people in the world [at writing] this sort of malicious software.” More »

Feds dug up a plot to ice JFK in Chicago three weeks before he was killed in Dallas, ABC news reports. JFK's trip to the Windy City was nixed, but agents never passed on data about a Cuban hit squad and an armed radical to federal agents in Dallas. Yet agent Abraham Bolden, who has written a book about the plot, did know: "When that bullet struck the head of the president, it struck me too because I saw it coming." More »

The man who tried to assassinate George Wallace in 1972 walked free from prison today after serving 35 years of his 53-year sentence. Arthur Bremer opened fire on the Alabama governor as he campaigned for president in Maryland, leaving him paralyzed. Before he died in 1998, the onetime segregationist wrote to Bremer saying he had forgiven him, the Washington Post reports. More »

When Karl Rove drives off into the sunset tonight, his ride will boast a new take on “Just Married” decorations. While the just-resigned strategist was visiting Texas, his Jaguar was pranked at the White House, the AP reports. The jokesters wrapped the vehicle in plastic wrap before slapping on an “I Love Barack Obama” bumper sticker. More »

Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has authorized Secret Service protection for presidential candidate Barack Obama, CNN reports. A spokesman would not explain the reason for the assignment but said the secretary acted at the campaign's request. The Secret Service said the coverage is not in response to a specific threat, although New York's WABC reported otherwise. More »