What Is the Secret Service ACE Event and How Can It Fast-Track Your Career?

What's on this page:

What Is the USSS ACE Event
Who Can Apply for the Secret Service ACE Event
How Do You Get Invited to an ACE Event
Ace Event Schedule
SAEE and UDEE Entrance Exams
How to Get Ready the USSS Ace Event
Candidates Frequently Asked Questions

The USSS ACE event is a multi-day processing event designed to speed up Secret Service hiring for qualified applicants. Instead of scheduling each hiring step separately, candidates complete several steps in one place, which allows the Secret Service to significantly reduce the overall time to hire by up to 120 days.

The Secret Service held its first ACE in November 2025 at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia, and has continued to hold events there.

The format supports a larger goal: the agency's director has set a target of growing the law enforcement workforce by 25% by 2028. ACE Secret Service hiring is one of the tools meant to help reach it.

Depending on where you are in the process, an ACE event can include these steps:
• The Entrance Exam (SAEE or UDEE)
• The Applicant Physical Abilities Test (APAT)
• The SUPER interview
• The security interview
• The medical examination
• The polygraph

Candidates also meet recruitment and hiring professionals and learn about career paths, according to the official ACE page. Which steps you complete depends on the phase of the hiring process you have reached, so not every candidate completes all six.

Qualified applicants for Special Agent and Uniformed Division Officer positions can attend, but only by invitation (more on this later). The Secret Service explains attendees are prequalified: they applied through the agency's website and met the requirements before being invited. The eligibility rules for each position are set out in its job announcement, so read the announcement for the role you want before you apply.

The two tracks differ mainly in the exam you take:

• Special Agent applicants take the SAEE, a competency-based exam built around the investigative and protective demands of the role.

• Uniformed Division applicants take the UDEE. Uniformed Division officers protect the White House, the Vice President's residence, the Treasury Department's headquarters and foreign diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C.

You get invited by applying for a Special Agent or Uniformed Division position before the cutoff for an upcoming event and then being found qualified. This is how it looks like:

As we previously stated, the ACE event speeds up hiring by moving several steps into one trip. As a matter of fact, the Secret Service says it can reduce overall time to hire by up to 120 days. The tests for both job categories previously took up to four months, according to the agency, and six assessments are now condensed into four days at ACE.

Speed is not a shortcut around the requirements. ACE still includes the entrance exam, physical test, interviews and screenings, and attending does not guarantee an offer. Of the more than 775 applicants who attended the first ACE Event in November 2025, roughly 360 advanced through the hiring process.

That is why the entrance exam deserves early attention. It is the one step you can prepare for before you travel, with the SAEE PrepPack™ or the UDEE practice test, so the time you spend at the event goes to everything else.

At an ACE event, you are not just taking a test. You are entering a multi-stage assessment process designed to evaluate your qualifications for a career with the U.S. Secret Service. The structure and duration may vary by recruiting cycle and by the phase of the hiring process you are in, with a time commitment of up to four days, including your travel day.

The Secret Service describes a typical schedule with three assessment blocks: testing day (one day), the APAT, SUPER and FACTOR V assessments (one day, all completed on the same day) and the medical exam (one day). 

Your own schedule may be shorter. For example, applicants who passed the entrance exam at a Pearson VUE center skip the testing day and report directly for the APAT. The security interview and polygraph are also listed among the steps that can be completed at ACE.

Special Agent applicants take the SAEE and Uniformed Division applicants take the UDEE. If you already passed the exam at a Pearson VUE center, you do not need to repeat it at ACE.

The SAEE is not a general intelligence test. It is a competency-based assessment designed for the specific rigors of protection and investigation, with five timed sections. According to Pearson VUE, it measures skills such as written communication, critical thinking and attention to detail.

The timed sections add up to roughly 170 minutes. The Secret Service does not disclose a passing score, so perform well in every section. Detail Observation is the most unusual part of the exam, because you never see the photos again when you answer.

The UDEE is a computer-based exam with six separately timed sections, 300 questions and 164 minutes of timed testing. The official study guide says the full session, including breaks, will not exceed 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Two features set the UDEE apart. You cannot review the scenarios when you reach the Memory Skills section, so close attention during the Situational Judgment section pays off twice. The Work Style Inventory has no correct or incorrect answers, and the official guide asks applicants to describe themselves honestly and accurately.

In a traditional hiring cycle, you might have weeks between your application and your test date. At an ACE event, you are often traveling and testing within a 24-hour window. You need to have the exam's structure internalized so your responses are instinctive.

If you fail the the Entrance Exams at ACE event, you cannot simply retake it the next day. You are disqualified from the event and must wait six months before re-applying. For many, this delay means missing a specific academy class or hiring surge.

Passing the SAEE and the UDEE on ACE's Test Day provides the "winner's effect" needed for the APAT and the SUPER interview. Candidates who struggle or feel unsure about their exam performance often carry that anxiety into their fitness tests and board interviews. Specialized exam preparation builds the confidence required to dominate the rest of the week.

The ACE event is more intense than the traditional track because of cumulative cognitive and physical fatigue. In a standard hiring cycle, the steps are scheduled separately, so you have time to recover from the mental drain of the exam before facing the physical APAT. At an ACE event, the steps follow on consecutive days.

Two things help you manage the intensity:

• The One-Night Pivot: You must be mentally prepared to switch from "Analytical Mode" (the SAEE) to "Performance Mode" (the Interview) and "Physical Mode" (the APAT) in a single sleep cycle.
• A Crowded Event: Unlike testing at a local center, you are surrounded by your direct competition. Seeing candidates get "tapped out" and sent home after Testing Day creates a high-stress environment.

Beyond the exam, cover the other components too:

• The physical test. Train for the APAT well before the event, and review the official requirements the Secret Service publishes for it.

• The interviews. Review your application, resume and work history so your answers in the SUPER and security interviews are accurate and consistent.

• The medical day. Read the official ACE medical page ahead of time and plan around the fasting requirement.

• The logistics. Check your ID, your invitation and your travel details well before the travel day.
Each of these takes time, which is one more reason to finish your exam preparation early.