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EXCLUSIVE — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a roughly 214% increase in applications to join the U.S. Secret Service compared to the first few months of last year.
The number of submitted applications from Jan. 20 to May 1 of last year was approximately 7,000 compared to 22,000 applicants in 2025 under the Trump administration.
"For four long years, the previous administration demoralized and denied resources to our brave men and women in law enforcement, including in the Secret Service," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
"Our country suffered the consequences of that disastrous approach. President Trump himself nearly lost his life because of it. Now, after reforming the Secret Service and providing it with the resources it needs to do its job, we are seeing an historic surge in applications. Americans naturally want to protect and serve. We simply have to let them."
Former President Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents after being shot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The Secret Service has a total of 8,210 employees and law enforcement officers, including 3,904 special agents, 1,560 in the uniformed division, 265 technical law enforcement personnel, and 2,481 administrative, professional, and technical staff.
"I think the reality is that the Secret Service is returning to the core mission and the standards that made it great and that inspires a lot of really good people to want to be part of it," former Secret Service agent Tim Miller told Fox News Digital. "I think now under the new director, they are trying to get back to having highly qualified people that are very mission focused."
"I know when I got hired, I had been a U.S. Marine Corps officer and a police officer, it was a high standard to get hired. I think many now want to be one of the best of the best and the Secret Service is trying to get back to that gold standard."
SCULPTURE DEPICTING ICONIC TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT PHOTO DISPLAYED IN OVAL OFFICE
Police snipers on the roof at the rally where an assassination attempt was made on the life of former President Donald Trump. (Todd the Driller)
The Secret Service was responsible for protecting former President Donald Trump through two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign. The first was at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, and the second at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15.
The agency, founded in June 1865, was originally tasked with exposing counterfeit U.S. currency under the Treasury Department, but began overseeing presidential protection shortly after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.
Secret Service surround former President Donald Trump after he was shot at rally in Butler. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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"The Secret Service has always been a top-tier protection organization until the last 10 or so years and I think returning to its mission and restoring the standards required to be an agent are making a huge difference and causing good men and women to want to join," Miller added.
Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston
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