>>Another question: why do they have anything to do with investigating counterfeit currency? Because they were founded long before today's cadre of federal pol

>>Another question: why do they have anything to do with investigating counterfeit currency? Because they were founded long before today's cadre of federal police agencies (FBI/ATF etc). At that time the federal government's mandate was rather slim. If there was going to be a federal police force it had to be in relation to an federal matter such as currency. Understand the "secret" in the name to be the old use, meaning more private than clandestine, as used in secretary. They worked for the president and federal government rather than the states and could not enforce state laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secret_Service#Early_years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secret_Service#E... >> With a reported one third of the currency in circulation being counterfeit at the time,[14] Abraham Lincoln established a commission to make recommendations to remedy the problem. The Secret Service was later established on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C., to suppress counterfeit currency. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch. It was commissioned in Washington, D.C. as the "Secret Service Division" of the Department of the Treasury with the mission of suppressing counterfeiting.