Protective Investigations Program

The Federal Protective Service (FPS) prevents targeted violence or threats of violence in or near FPS-monitored facilities by engaging in interagency coordination and partnerships. This site provides information on the Protective Investigations Program and which agencies partner with FPS to protect federal buildings and building tenants.

About the Program

The Protective Investigations Program (PIP) prevents targeted violence against persons and facilities under the protection of FPS.  The three key functions of the program are: (1) identifying those that might pose a threat; (2) investigating and assessing those individuals; and (3) implementing a mitigation strategy designed to prevent an attack. Utilizing a behavior-based methodology, FPS special agents seek to identify not only those individuals who communicate threats, but also those that communicate in other inappropriate ways. These investigations are often lengthy in nature and focused more on mitigation of the threat as opposed to prosecution.  Protective investigations require a unique set of investigative strategies that often times vary from other types of prosecutable offenses.

Working with Partners

FPS collaborates with other components across the Department and has established liaisons with agencies having a protective/investigative mission such as the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police, Social Security Administration (SSA), U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement agencies. This permits collaboration, information sharing, and improved resource utilization for all agencies involved in a particular investigation.

Successful Outcomes

FPS special agents have conducted many protective investigations resulting in the arrest of subjects charged with making inappropriate communication(s) and threats to members of the U.S. Congress and/or their staff, Social Security Administration, Department of Veteran Affairs and other federal agencies and employees. Many of these investigations resulted in the successful prosecution of individuals for numerous offenses including threats to do physical harm and threats to bomb federal facilities.

PIP enables FPS to be strongly positioned to provide our stakeholders with current risk mitigation strategies that identify vulnerabilities and defeat threats against our federal facilities, employees, and visitors.