Experts debate whether Secret Service officers should testify. Since the assassination of President William McKinley in 1908, the Secret Service has protected every president, vice president, and their immediate families. Ladies and gentlemen, the president and vice president of the United States. Close contact with the President makes Secret Service officers attractive witnesses. The Secret Service provides advanced security when the President leaves the confines of the White House.
Uniformed agents inspect bags and screen people.
Plained-clothes agents secure the event location and route the President will travel. Sharpshooters position themselves to cover the President's arrival. Other agents are assigned to stay physically close to the President. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr reportedly wants to know whether that close relationship put agents in a position to observe any meetings between President Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. One former Secret Service agent says agents are not around the President constantly.