Wrong. They also run around chasing credit card fraud cases as they work for the Dept of Treasury. Look it up.
“It’s assignment, correct me if I am wrong, is to protect the POTUS...”
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Try distributing some counterfeit money and see how fast they come knocking on your door.
“The SS is very limited in it’s reach. It’s assignment, correct me if I am wrong, is to protect the POTUS and the former POTUS’s from physical harm. Period.”
This is incorrect. They have broader responsibilities that I can’t discuss here.
Look in your phone book. Look in the government pages. You will find there’s a phone number in your location for a local office of the Secret Service!! And you don’t live anywhere near the White House! It’s part of the Department of the Treasury, sir, and it has broad powers to investigate all kinds of threats, financial, physical, etc. We notified them when someone stole our credit card number in a rather unique way.
Since its inception in 1865, the Secret Service has been involved in protecting the integrity of the nation’s financial systems. Recent advances in technology have changed the nature of financial transactions throughout the world. Consequently, the Secret Service’s investigative responsibilities have increased significantly. The Secret Service has jurisdiction in the United States for investigations involving the counterfeiting of U.S. and foreign obligations and securities. This authority has expanded to include the investigation of financial institution fraud, access device fraud, computer crimes, fraudulent government and commercial securities, fictitious financial instruments, telecommunications fraud, false identification and identity theft.
http://www.secretservice.gov/whoweare_sa.shtml
Secret Service Strategic Plan
http://www.secretservice.gov/usss_strategic_plan_2008_2013.pdf
Readily available on the net at their home site.