Secret service

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This article is about the form of government policing. For the television series, see The Secret Service.

Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved, there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc. For instance a country may establish a secret service which has some policing powers (such as surveillance) but not others. A secret police may also be said to be a secret service. The powers and duties of a government organization may be partly secret and partly not. The organization may be said to operate openly at home and secretly abroad, or vice versa.

The most prominent organization bearing this title is the United States Secret Service, but it is a law enforcement and protective agency, and not a secret police or intelligence agency. The CIA fulfills that role, to some degree.

The British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), is sometimes referred to as a 'secret service', and this term was used for the title of the James Bond book and film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.