Secret Service Spread Thin By Increase In Threats Against U.S. Leaders

An internal Congressional Research Service report says that the Secret Service does not that have the resources to deal with the unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, along with a rise in racist hate groups and antigovernment fervor.

The Boston Globe reports that the strain is forcing officials to rethink the agency's mission:

The new demands are leading some officials, both inside and outside the agency, to raise the possibility of the service curtailing or dropping its role in fighting financial crime to focus more on protecting leaders and their families from assassination attempts and thwarting terrorist plots aimed at high-profile events.

In a recent book on the Secret Service, journalist Ronald Kessler reported that threats against President Obama represented a 400 percent increase over those against his predecessor.

Read the whole Congressional Research Service report here:

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