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

Lorne Michaels
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Lorne Michaels Just Explained The Thinking Behind His Big 'Saturday Night Live' Cast Shakeup

Saturday Night Live turned 50 last year and a lot of former cast members and major celebrities joined in the season long celebration, but it's a new year and it's time to get back to business.

Which, with SNL, usually means some cast changes—out with the old (and sometimes not so old) and in with the new. Show creator and producer Lorne Michaels recently announced SNL would return on October 4 with a literal handful—five—cast changes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kari Lake; Charlie Kirk
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Kari Lake Slammed After Warning Parents Not To Send Their Kids To College After Charlie Kirk Murder

Speaking during a memorial service for far-right activist Charlie Kirk at the Kennedy Center, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake—now the Trump administration's Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media—called U.S. colleges “indoctrination camps” and urged parents not to send their children.

Lake ignored the fact that Kirk was killed while speaking at a college, in this case Utah Valley University (UVU), the largest university by enrollment in Utah.

Keep ReadingShow less
JD Vance; Charlie Kirk
Real America's Voice

Vance Claims Kirk Never Insulted Black Women's 'Brain Processing Power'—And Here Come The Receipts

Vice President JD Vance served as host of the late far-right activist Charlie Kirk's podcast this week and was called out after claiming Kirk "never uttered" words about the "brain processing power" of Black women—even though Kirk said as much in 2023.

Vance made the claim after Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah—a Black woman—said she was dismissed from the paper following social media posts on gun control and race after Kirk’s assassination.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump
Fox News

Trump Swiftly Fact-Checked After Making Bonkers Claim About How Many Americans Died From Drugs Last Year

President Donald Trump was criticized after attempting to justify the bombing of a suspected Venezuelan drug boat by asserting that 300 million people died from drugs last year.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump was asked about the order he gave earlier this month to destroy a boat he suspected of transporting drugs off the coast of Venezuela, rather than simply intercepting it. All 11 people on board the boat were killed.

Keep ReadingShow less
A woman's hand hold up a pink paper constructed heart that is on fire.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

People Reveal The Pettiest Reasons They Stopped Hooking Up With Someone

Sex is a powerful weapon and a natural part of life.

But it can bamboozle and surprise you.

Keep ReadingShow less