Barbara Riggs is a 33-year veteran with the United States Secret Service. At the time of her retirement on January 31, 2006, she held the position of Deputy Director.
During her career with the Secret Service, Riggs served six U.S. presidents, including Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. One of the first 10 women sworn in as Secret Service special agents, Riggs joined the agency in 1975 assigned to the Washington, D.C. Field Office. She later was assigned as supervisory special agent to two of the largest field offices of the Secret Service: the Los Angeles Field Office and the New York Field Office.
Other career assignments included duty in the Presidential Protective Division, where she was assigned during the terms of President Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. In 1990, she became the first female supervisory agent in the history of the Secret Service assigned to the Presidential Protective Division.
Riggs later served as the Assistant Director for the Office of Protective Research, where she had responsibility for the threat and vulnerability assessment for all National Special Security Events, including the NATO 50th Anniversary Summit in 1999, the 2001 Presidential Inauguration, and in 2002, the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and Superbowl XXXVI. As Assistant Director, she also oversaw the agency’s Technical Security Division, Intelligence Division as well as the creation of the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) in 1998.
Prior to her appointment as Deputy Director, Riggs served as Chief of Staff, where she planned and directed all activities involving the Office of the Director, served as the Director’s policy advisor and oversaw the agency’s transfer to the Department of Homeland Security.
Riggs has received numerous awards throughout her career, including the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award of 2006, in recognition of her longstanding service to the nation.
Riggs is a native of Albany, New York. She attended Cornell University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies in 1975. In 2005, she became a member of the President’s Council of Cornell Women. She is member of the Piedmont Fox Hounds Board of Directors and Upperville Colt & Horse Show Board of Governors. She currently resides on a farm in Middleburg, Virginia, where she pursues her equestrian interests and volunteers for local charitable organizations.
