The Secret Service was founded in 1865 to fight counterfeiters and only took on protective work after President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. Over the years, the types of people watched over by agents have grown to include the vice president, presidential candidates, former presidents, and their immediate family. Adult children of sitting presidents and even recently out-of-office ones can also get this level of protection, including the college-aged children of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama shortly after their fathers’ terms ended.
Secret Service agents may also escort foreign heads of state (as well as their spouses) while they’re in the U.S. This included Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2010, who reportedly got so close to his Secret Service detail that he rather warmly asked about their children and called an agent by his first name. That’s all the more surprising given Ahmadinejad’s oftentimes prickly stance towards the U.S. and his championing of Iran’s nuclear program, a development that set the U.S. and its allies on edge.
Still, when Ahmadinejad visited New York City to address the United Nations, he was provided with a Secret Service detail. It would hardly be a good look for the U.S. if any foreign head of state were to be harmed while in the country, so agents may be tasked with protecting someone whose point of view and even personality may rankle their personal sensibilities.
