Secret Service Agents Don't Always Wear Sunglasses, but That's Not the Stereotype

The U.S. Secret Service is tasked with protecting the president and other important figures in American government. Following the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump on July 13, the agency is under intense scrutiny for what some have suggested are security lapses.

Even as they face that scrutiny, though, many are also asking some more evergreen questions about the Secret Service. Among them is a pretty basic one: What's up with the sunglasses?

It might seem like the Secret Service is always wearing one kind of shade or another, but the Secret Service's actual website makes it clear that that's not the case.

"Secret Service agents sometimes wear sunglasses to keep the sun out of their eyes, so they can increase their ability to see what people in the crowd are doing. Agents do not always wear sunglasses," their website explains in response to a question asking about sunglasses.

Basically, then, they wear sunglasses like everyone else, when it makes sense to so they can have an unobstructed view of the person they're supposed to be protecting.

The reason people believe that Secret Service agents, and agents of all kinds really, wear sunglasses likely has more to do with popular fiction than it does with reality. Sunglasses are not an official part of the Secret Service dress code.

One reason many might have assumed that the Secret Service always wear sunglasses is that pop culture has taught us that they look (basically) like the Men in Black, always dressed in a suit and tie and always wearing sunglasses. Of course, if you look at photos of actual Secret Service agents, you'll notice that not all of them are even wearing suits.

In fact, photos from the shooting at Donald Trump's rally reveal that the snipers who had been positioned throughout the event were wearing t-shirts and baseball caps, as well as bulletproof vests emblazoned with the Secret Service identification.

The agents who tackled Trump to the ground were wearing suits, but as the photography makes clear, not all of them had sunglasses on.

The reality, then, is that although they're highly trained and have a very serious mission, Secret Service agents are just like everyone else. They don't have to act like robots and where sunglasses to hide their eyes. They might put sunglasses on to shield themselves from the sun, but so would you if you were tasked with watching someone very carefully and you wanted to make sure your view was unobstructed.

As their own website explains: "Having a job as a special agent with the United States Secret Service is exciting and it's also hard work. Not only are the men and women of the Secret Service serving the country by helping to protect the nation's leaders and financial systems, but in the process, agents are required to travel a lot and are exposed to people and places that most people can only dream of."