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Can a sitting American President hire and/or fire members of the Secret Service at his discretion? Or could the entire Secret Service be abolished or replaced if the President wanted to?

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    The Secret Service is established by statute, so the president certainly can't abolish it.
    – phoog
    Commented Nov 11, 2020 at 15:42

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Can a sitting American President hire and/or fire members of the Secret Service at his discretion?
Or could the entire Secret Service be abolished or replaced if the President wanted to?

The "entire" Secret Service consists of more that 6500 people. It was established by law (18 U.S. Code § 3056. Powers, authorities, and duties of United States Secret Service); and, therefore, can not be "abolished or replaced" without action of Congress. Furthermore, the president can neither hire nor fire individual employees of the Secret Service; however, there is a path by which the president can "influence" such decisions.

That path begins with the Secretary of Homeland Security who is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Director of the Secret Service, who reports to the Secretary of Homeland Security, is appointed by the president and "is not subject to Senate confirmation." The Director can make decisions regarding employment by the Secret Service.

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    Federal employees that are past their probation period can't be fired without cause, so no matter how much pressure the President puts on the Secretary all they can really do right away is reassign them somewhere where they won't interact with the President.
    – IllusiveBrian
    Commented Nov 11, 2020 at 19:12
  • Oddly, neither this post, nor its incumbent is listed in the 2020 Plum Book (which is a comprehensive listing of political appointees in the federal government. govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-PLUMBOOK-2020/pdf/… Also worth noting that many responsibilities of the Secret Service (e.g. enforcing counterfeiting laws) are not Presidential security functions.
    – ohwilleke ♦
    Commented May 2, 2022 at 22:04

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