The U.S. Secret Service expects to borrow more than 2,000 immigration officers and federal airport screeners next year to help guard an ever-expanding field of presidential candidates, while shifting 250 of its own agents from investigations to security details, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Burdened by the White House's wartime security needs, the persistent threat of terrorism and a field of at least 20 presidential contenders, the Secret Service was showing signs of strain even before the Department of Homeland Security ordered protection for Senator Barack Obama, a leading Democratic presidential hopeful, as of May 3, the earliest a candidate has ever been assigned protection in an election season.

Its 110 million U.S.-dollar-plus budget for campaign protection -- two-thirds more than the record 65 million dollars it spent for the 2004 election -- was prepared when the service did not expect to be guarding Obama or anyone else until January. The agency has already been forced to scale back its efforts to battle counterfeiting and cybercrime.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has doubled the number of officials granted Secret Service protection, from 26 to 54, including top White House aides such as the chief of staff and national and homeland security advisers.

And while the 2008 campaign gets going, the service is also gearing up for January 2009, when President Bush is set to leave office. The service has begun training agents to fill 103 full-time positions on the current president's retirement detail.

Founded as part of the Treasury Department in 1865 to combat counterfeiting and made the guardian of presidents in 1901, the service is best known for protecting individuals. By law, the agency guards presidents, vice presidents, candidates, their families and visiting heads of state. The president can also extend protection by executive memorandum.

But the service has taken on added homeland security jobs in recent years, such as screening White House mail and coordinating security at national events such as presidential conventions and Super Bowls. And while its budget has grown 50 percent since 2001, the number of agents, uniformed officers and support staff has increased by about 20 percent, to 6,500.

Saddled with new duties, the agency is cutting back its traditional work on financial fraud and cybercrime.

Counterfeit money in circulation grew 20 percent between 2003 and 2006, from 58 to 81 dollars per million dollars, Democratic Representative David E. Price, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, was quoted as saying. Losses prevented by Secret Service investigations dropped 40 percent in 2006, from 556 million dollars to 316 million dollars.

While its goal is to spend 65 percent of its resources on investigations -- 50 percent in presidential election years -- the service is cutting investigators' budgets and is on track to flip its usual ratio, spending nearly two-thirds on protective duties, according to the report.

The exceptionally early start of the 2008 race and its unusually large field have increased the pressure, forcing the Secret Service to scramble to keep up with the longest and costliest U.S. presidential campaign ever, the report said.

Source: Xinhua