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

Christina Koch
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images

Artemis II Astronaut Christina Koch Gives Epic Reminder About 'What Makes A Crew' In Powerful Speech After Returning To Earth

After 10 days in space, a trip around the moon, and a new record set for miles traveled from Earth, the Artemis II has returned to Earth with its crew and shuttle intact and in good health.

While out there in the great beyond, mission specialist Christina Koch learned a few key lessons about being human and what it means to be a part of an effective crew.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drew Barrymore reacts during an emotional “Scared to Wear” segment
@thedrewbarrymoreshow/TikTok

Drew Barrymore Gets Emotional Talking About Her Post-Pregnancy Body Insecurities—And Fans Are Applauding Her Candor

In an emotional segment titled “Scared to Wear,” Drew Barrymore opened up about her insecurities with disarming honesty. The actor and host is a mother of two daughters, Olive, 13, and Frankie, 11, whom she shares with ex-husband Will Kopelman.

During a recent episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Barrymore became visibly emotional while speaking with a viewer undergoing a style makeover after struggling with self-image.

Keep ReadingShow less
NASA Chief Responds To 10-Year-Old's Adorable Letter Asking For Pluto To Be Reclassified As A Planet
RONALDO SCHEMIDT / Contributor/Getty Images; @latestinspace/X

NASA Chief Responds To 10-Year-Old's Adorable Letter Asking For Pluto To Be Reclassified As A Planet

Those of us who were in school prior to 2006 would be able to recite an acronym or saying that lists the order of the planets in our solar system, such as "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Peaches".

That old saying officially became outdated in 2006, when the final planet in that saying, Pluto, was officially declassified by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and was thus no longer considered a planet.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter/YouTube

Fans Defend Sabrina Carpenter Once Again After New Video Sparks Backlash For Being Too 'Sexual'

When it comes to controversy, the heir apparent to "Queen of Pop" Madonna couldn't be clearer: Sabrina Carpenter.

Carpenter has repeatedly been at the center of the exact same angry debates we had four decades ago about Madonna: When a woman is overtly sexual in her work, is she liberating women or shackling them?

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Pope Leo
Radio Genoa

MAGA Melts Down After 'Woke' Pope Leo Urges The World To 'Search Always For Peace'

MAGA followers were not happy with Pope Leo XIV and accused him of being "woke" after he, in remarks to reporters, implored "people of good will" to "search always for peace."

The Pope spoke out after President Donald Trump insisted that God supports his war on Iran and declared—before a provisional ceasefire was announced—that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" ahead of a deadline to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges that legal scholars and world leaders have said would constitute war crimes.

Keep ReadingShow less