The Secret Service is charged with protecting the life of the President and
Vice President of the United States and their immediate families, the
President-elect and Vice President-elect and their immediate families,
former Presidents and their wives, the widows of former Presidents until
death or remarriage, minor children of a former President until they reach
16 years of age, heads of a foreign state or foreign government, and at the
direction of the President, official representatives of the United States
performing special missions abroad. Furthermore, the Secret Service
provides security at the White House complex, the Treasury Building and
Treasury Annex, buildings which house Presidential offices, the Vice
President's residence, and various foreign diplomatic missions in the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area or in other areas as designated by the
President. The mission of the Secret Service includes investigations
related to certain criminal violation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act,
the Federal Land Bank Act, and the Government Losses in Shipment Act. The
Secret Service is also charged with the detection and arrest of any person
committing any offense against the laws of the United States relating to
coins, currency, stamps, Government bonds, checks, credit/debt card fraud,
computer fraud, false identification crime, and other obligations or
securities of the United States.