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

Recommendations for Secret Service Procedural Overhaul

Actions by the Secret Service since the assassination indicate awareness of the need for substantial administrative improvement. A formal description of the advance agent’s responsibilities is in preparation, and work is progressing toward formal understandings of the respective roles of the Secret Service and collaborating agencies. The Commission urges the Service to continue overhauling and defining its procedures, noting that while manuals are no guarantee of effective operations, no sizable organization can achieve efficiency without careful analysis and demarcation of responsibility reflected in definite and comprehensive operating procedures.

Standards for Secret Service Personnel

The Commission recommends that the Secret Service consciously maintain the highest standard of excellence and esprit for all personnel. This requires tight and unswerving discipline and promotion of outstanding dedication and loyalty to duty. While the Commission finds no causal connection between the assassination and the breach of regulations on the night of November 21 at Fort Worth, such widespread participation is inconsistent with the standards the Secret Service is required to meet.

Preventive Intelligence

In attempting to identify individuals who might pose a danger to the President, the Secret Service has largely been the passive recipient of threatening communications and reports from other agencies that independently evaluate their information for potential dangers. This resulted from the Service’s lack of an adequate investigative staff, inability to process large amounts of data, and failure to provide specific descriptions of the kind of information it sought.