http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14617-2002Aug13.html Since July 1998, the number of special agents has grown by 705, for a total of 2,939 -- a 32 percent increase. The service's budget has exploded since 1999, growing 75 percent to a proposed $1.05 billion next year. Drawbacks? Jacksons games? "In June, U.S. News & World Report catalogued tawdry and sometimes illegal activities by Secret Service agents over 25 years, involving sex, drugs, theft, brawling, inebriation and corruption. Four agents assigned to Vice President Cheney fought in a San Diego bar, and agents on assignment at the Salt Lake City Olympics came under investigation about a possible sexual assault on a minor in February. Last month, an agent was suspended after he scrawled "Islam is evil, Christ is king" on a Muslim prayer calendar during a search of a Michigan suspect's home." Fergeddaboudit!