Determining Staffing Needs for Administrative, Professional, and Technical Workers in the U.S. Secret Service - Methods and Lessons Learned

Sep 11, 2026

A 2020 RAND report provides methodological guidance for a study supporting the U.S. Secret Service in determining staffing needs for selected administrative, professional, and technical functions. It examines organizational structures, workflows, available data, and operational requirements to outline ways to build tools for workforce planners. The report presents the organizational context, compares primary and secondary staffing approaches, and covers implementation considerations and lessons learned for future staffing-model development.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages64

Reading Time22 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The Focus of This Report

An Outline of This Report

Selecting the Right Staffing Model

Planners Can Use Any of a Variety of Methods for Determining Staffing Needs

The Bottom-Up Workload Estimator Approach Is the Most Suitable Basis for the Staffing Models in the Functions Under Study

Considerations for Implementing Our Primary and Secondary Approaches

Our Primary Approach: Executing a Bottom-Up Workload Estimator Model

Our Secondary Approach: Business-Case Analysis

Calibrating All Available Information to Arrive at a Staffing Estimate

Alternative Approaches for Information Technology Functions

Software Operations and Maintenance Activities

Software Development Activities

Applying These Methods to the Applications Development Branch

Improving Staffing Approaches for Information Technology Functions

Lessons Learned for Future Analyses of Staffing Needs

Certain Conditions Must Exist to Maximize the Benefit of a Staffing Study

Even Models with Limited Quantitative Precision Help Make Planning More Transparent

There Is Benefit to Focused Periods of Model Development

Conclusion

References

Determining Staffing Needs for Administrative, Professional, and Technical Workers in the U.S. Secret Service Methods and Lessons Learned DAVID SCHULKER, NELSON LIM, ALBERT A. ROBBERT HS AC HOMELAND SECURITY OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS CENTER An FFRDC operated by the RAND Corporation under contract with DHS Published in 2020 This report outlines methodological considerations for a study designed to help the U.S. Secret Service determine staffing needs in a subset of administrative, professional, and technical work functions. The authors analyzed organizational structures, workflows, available data, and operational needs to consider possible approaches to build tools for Secret Service workforce planners to use in making staffing determinations. The report discusses the organizational context of the service, summarizes possible approaches with a rationale for the primary and secondary approaches that the researchers adopted, and discusses implementation considerations and lessons learned for future work. The findings in this report should be of interest to decisionmakers and workforce planners in federal agencies seeking to develop and implement staffing models for their professional workforces. This research was sponsored by the U.S. Secret Service Workforce Planning Division and conducted within the Personnel and Resources Program of the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). About the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Section 305 of Public Law 107- 296, as codified at 6 U.S.C. § 185) authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, to establish one or more FFRDCs to provide independent iv Determining Staffing Needs for Workers in the U.S. Secret Service analysis of homeland security issues. The RAND Corporation operates HSOAC as an FFRDC for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under contract HSHQDC-16-D-00007. The HSOAC FFRDC provides the government with independent and objective analyses and advice in core areas important to the department in support of policy development, decisionmaking, alternative approaches, and new ideas on issues of significance. The HSOAC FFRDC also works with and supports other federal, state, local, tribal, and public-and private-sector organizations that make up the homeland security enterprise. The HSOAC FFRDC’s research is undertaken by mutual consent with DHS and is organized as a set of discrete tasks. This report presents the results of research and analysis conducted under task 70US0918F1DHS0071, Models for APT Workforce. The results presented in this report do not necessarily reflect official DHS opinion or policy. For more information on HSOAC, [see www.rand.org/hsoac. For](see www.rand.org/hsoac. For)[ ](see www.rand.org/hsoac. For)more information on this publication, [see www.rand.org/t/RR3206](see www.rand.org/t/RR3206) . Preface ............................................................................. iii Figures and Tables............................................................... vii Summary .......................................................................... ix Acknowledgments .............................................................. xiii Abbreviations..................................................................... xv CHAPTER ONE Introduction ....................................................................... 1 The Focus of This Report......................................................... 3 An Outline of This Report ....................................................... 4 CHAPTER TWO Selecting the Right Staffing Model ........................................... 5 Planners Can Use Any of a Variety of Methods for Determining Staffing Needs................................................................. 5 The Bottom-Up Worklo

FAQs

What is the main purpose of this report?

To outline methodological considerations for a study that helps the U.S. Secret Service determine staffing needs for selected administrative, professional, and technical work functions.

Which staffing approaches does the report emphasize?

It discusses a primary bottom-up workload estimator approach and a secondary business-case analysis approach, along with how to calibrate available information to produce staffing estimates.

What implementation issues and lessons are covered?

The report addresses considerations for implementing the primary and secondary approaches and summarizes conditions and insights meant to improve future staffing analyses.

Sep 11, 2026

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