Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

What People Would Choose As Their Secret Service Codename

President Joe Biden in foreground with Secret Service agents in background
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

After the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley, Congress requested the Secret Service provide presidential protection which they began in 1902.

The modern Secret Service has two primary missions:


  • protecting the nation's leaders and visiting foreign dignitaries
  • safeguarding the financial and critical infrastructure of the United States

As part of their duty to protect, code names are assigned to Presidents, First Ladies and other prominent persons as well asc locations. The names were originally for security purposes when sensitive communications weren't encrypted, but now the names are for brevity, clarity and tradition.

The White House Communications Agency maintains a list of acceptable code names candidates can choose from. Code names must be easily pronounced unambiguous words readily understood in voice messages regardless of the speaker's native tongue.

Traditionally, all family members' code names start with the same letter.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are Celtic and Capri while Vice President Kamala Harris is Pioneer. The White House is the Castle with higher security areas called the Crown. The Capitol building is the Punch Bowl and the Pentagon is Calico.

There are rules and a list, but let's throw out the rules and get creative.

Actor and icon George Takei asked Twitter:

"What would you choose as your Secret Service codename?"

People let their creativity flow.

The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security responsible for conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families and visiting heads of state or government.

The agency originally fell under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Treasury. The Secret Service was originally created in 1865 by President Abraham Lincoln to combat widespread counterfeiting of United States currency during and after the Civil War.

An estimated 33% of all currency in circulation in 1865 was counterfeit.

counterfeit money GIFGiphy

At the time federal law enforcement consisted of the United States Customs Service, the United States Park Police, the U.S. Post Office Department's Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations—now called the United States Postal Inspection Service—and the United States Marshals Service.

The Secret Service was the first domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. Those duties transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) when the FBI was created in 1908.

So, what Secret Service code name would you choose?

More from News

Donald Trump; Martin Luther King Jr.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jack Sheahan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Trump Ripped After Forcing National Parks To Drop Free Entry On MLK Day And Juneteenth For Infuriating Reason

President Donald Trump was criticized after the National Park Service announced it will be dropping Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth for next year's calendar of free-entry days and adding Trump's birthday, which happens to fall on Flag Day, on June 14.

Last month, the Department of the Interior unveiled changes to what it now calls its “resident-only patriotic fee-free days,” expanding the calendar to include new dates like the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, while dropping others that had honored the department itself, including the Bureau of Land Management’s anniversary.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Juanita Broaddrick's tweet overlayed against a picture of the J. Crew sign
@atensnut/X; Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

MAGA Is Melting Down Over A Pink J. Crew Sweater For Men—And Our Eyes Can't Roll Hard Enough

MAGA fans are melting down over a $168 men's sweater from J. Crew with a fair-isle collar, claiming, in yet another example of the idiocy of the culture wars, that only liberals would actually wear it.

We know what you're thinking... Really?!

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert Garcia; Marjorie Taylor Greene
WWHL/Bravo; Daniel Heuer/AFP via Getty Images

Dem Rep. Has An Idea For A New Line Of Work For MTG After She Leaves Congress—And It Would Certainly Be Something

California Democratic Representative Robert Garcia was elected in November 2022 and even before being sworn in, he was locking horns with one-time MAGA darling and Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

For years, MTG was best known as the QAnon conspiracy theory-spewing, State of the Union heckling, crossfit hyping, Trump ride-or-dying, anti-LGBTQ+ racist MAGA minion from Georgia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump Jr.
Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

Don Jr. Sparks Outrage After Startup Company He Backed Scores Massive Contract With Pentagon

Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism after The Financial Times reported that Vulcan Elements, a startup he backed, scored a $620 million government contract with the Department of Defense.

The company said the deal falls under a broader $1.4 billion collaboration with the federal government and ReElement Technologies aimed at scaling up U.S. magnet production and strengthening the domestic supply chain.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Describe The Deepest Internet 'Rabbit Hole' They've Ever Fallen Down

Who amongst us hasn't wasted HOURS of life surfing the web for things we couldn't help being intrigued by?

Going on the internet for one quick look at a sale, then staying up until sunrise trying to uncover a 50-year-old unsolved murder mystery is totally normal.

Keep ReadingShow less