Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Proposals to Improve Presidential Protection Arrangements

During the period of its deliberations, the Commission received several proposals to improve presidential protection arrangements. These included suggestions to locate exclusive responsibility in one government agency, clarify the division of authority between agencies, or retain the existing system while expanding the scope and operations of the Secret Service and FBI.

Debate Over Transfer of Preventive Investigative Functions

A debate emerged over whether to transfer preventive investigative functions to the FBI, leaving the Secret Service with only physical protection responsibilities. Proponents argued the FBI is properly manned and equipped for extensive information gathering, and that building equivalent Secret Service capabilities would take substantial time. Opponents urged that all protective functions be committed to an elite, independent corps whose agents are intimately associated with the Presidential family. They contended that an organization limited to receiving information gathered by others could not maintain the esprit de corps or alertness required for such unique responsibilities.

Commission Stance on Long-Range Protection Organization Recommendations

The Commission determined that it was not within its responsibility to make specific recommendations on the long-range organization of presidential protection, except as conclusions flow directly from its examination of the assassination. Unlike the Hoover Commission in 1949, this Commission was not asked to determine the optimum organization for presidential protection. Because protection is in a real sense a Government-wide responsibility shared by the State Department, FBI, CIA, military intelligence, and Secret Service, and because any change in the Secret Service’s intimate association with the President and his family raises imponderable questions, the Commission concluded that determination of responsibility relocation should be left to the Executive and Congress, perhaps upon recommendations from the Cabinet-level committee or the National Security Council.