Acting Assistant Director Michael E. Ball, Jr,
Office of Field Operations
Michael E. Ball began his Secret Service career in March 1999 as a special agent in the New York Field Office and has progressed through various assignments of increasing responsibility. In April 2002, Mr. Ball was assigned to the Presidential Protective Division (PPD), where he served under President George W. Bush. Following his assignment on PPD, Mr. Ball served in the Criminal Investigative Division (CID) in USSS Headquarters. Mr. Ball entered the supervisory ranks in January 2011 for the Presidential Protective Division when he was promoted to Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge (ATSAIC).
Subsequently, Mr. Ball has served in numerous supervisory assignments, in the field, in headquarters and in protective divisions. Following his assignment in CID of January of 2011, he was assigned as an Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge (ATSAIC) on PPD, serving as a shift leader for President Barak Obama. In October of 2014, Mr. Ball was transferred to the Philadelphia Field Office, where he served as the ATSAIC of the Electronic Crimes Task Force. After 18 months, he was promoted to Deputy Special Agent in Charge (DSAIC) of the Washington Field Office where he supervised all protective activities for the Washington, D.C. area by overseeing the Protective Operations, Intelligence, Technical Operations, Special Projects, and Training Squads. Following his assignment at WFO, Mr. Ball was assigned as the Executive Assistant to the Director of the Secret Service.
In October of 2019, Mr. Ball was selected as the SES Special Agent in Charge of the James J. Rowley Training Center. In this position Mr. Ball maintained oversight for the administration, coordination, and operations for all training and employee development for all USSS employees. Mr. Ball managed a budget more than $48 million for seven branches consisting of twenty-five programs.
In his current role, Mr. Ball holds the position of Acting Assistant Director, Office of Field Operations. Mr. Ball leads the Secret Service’s largest organizational unit, comprised of 2,155 Special Agents and 850 analytical, administrative, professional and technical employees throughout 162 domestic and international offices. Mr. Ball executes the agency’s mandate to safeguard America’s financial payment systems, prioritizing transnational criminal activity with case types ranging from attacks on payment card systems, business email compromise, ransomware, and a variety of cyber enabled financial crimes involving emerging technologies and digital currencies. Mr. Ball’s charge includes leading investigations into threats against the agency’s protected persons. In addition to field locations, he leads four headquarters divisions: the Criminal Investigative Division, Forensic Services Division, International Programs Division and the National Computer Forensics Institute.
Mr. Ball holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with a Minor in Business from Muhlenberg College (1998) and a Master’s of Administrative Leadership Degree from the University of Oklahoma. He has received numerous certifications and awards during his twenty-five-year career with the Secret Service.