Secret Service Improvements Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.

H.R. 1656, the Secret Service Improvements Act, will assist the
Secret Service with its critical mission of protecting the President
and Vice President and other dignitaries as well as with its
investigative role in protecting our Nation's financial infrastructure
against criminal threats.

This important bill was introduced by the bipartisan leadership of
the Judiciary Committee: Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Ranking Member John
Conyers, Crime Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, and Crime
Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee.

H.R. 1656 was developed to address shortcomings related to the Secret
Service that have come to light in recent years.

Unfortunately, the image of this once revered agency has been
tarnished both because of the misbehavior of agents and of the
performance issues that have resulted in security lapses. Last fall,
the Judiciary Committee held an important oversight hearing to review
the operation of this vitally important agency.

Then-Acting Director Joseph Clancy, who has since taken on the job on
a more permanent basis, came before the committee to discuss the
mission of the agency and issues relating to recent lapses in security
that could have jeopardized the individuals the agency is sworn to
protect. In particular, the committee engaged in a frank discussion
about the unacceptable incident last September in which a man was able
to jump over the White House's fence, run past Secret Service officers,
and enter the White House.

We learned that, while there were performance errors made by some of
the officers that day, the protective mission of the Secret Service has
been jeopardized largely because the agency has been allowed to fall
into a state of disrepair. Personnel levels are unacceptably low; the
long hours on duty leave little time for training; equipment and
technological systems are not upgraded or integrated sufficiently; and
the culture of the agency has suffered from poor leadership.

These conclusions were confirmed and expanded upon by the review
panel established by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh
Johnson in the wake of the White House's intrusion last year. H.R. 1656
was introduced to address several categories of these challenges to the
mission of the Secret Service: leadership, resources, training,
authorities, and personal conduct:

With respect to leadership, the bill requires the position of
Director of the Secret Service to be confirmed by the Senate after the
Presidential nomination;

With respect to resources, the bill authorizes the hiring of
additional personnel and requires a review of the agency's use of
technology, an area of concern based on past security lapses;

With respect to training, the bill requires more training for agents
and Uniformed Division officers, and it also authorizes the
construction of better training facilities;

With respect to authorities, the bill allows the agency to
investigate threats against former Vice Presidents in the same way it
investigates threats against former Presidents;

With respect to personal conduct, the bill establishes an Ethics
Program Office that will emphasize the need for agency personnel to
conduct themselves according to established ethical standards.

The goal of this bill is to prevent future security lapses similar to
what the agency has experienced in recent years and to protect against
even more sophisticated threats that could result in far more harm.

This is a strong, bipartisan bill that, I hope, will soon become law.

Therefore, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of it today.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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