An internal congressional report questioning the ability of the Secret Service to continue fulfilling its duties was leaked to the Boston Globe.

The report says the Secret Service is strained by a drastic increase in threats to President Obama, coupled with deep budget cuts. Some are speculating that the agency may need to relinquish all or part of its roles in protecting the country's financial machinery in order to focus resources on the protection of the president and other high-profile leaders.

If "an evaluation of the service's two missions" were to be done at this time, there's a good possibility that "it might be determined that it is ineffective...to conduct its protection mission and investigate financial crimes," says the report, conducted by the Congressional Research Service.

It might make more sense, some members told CRS, to transfer some of the responsibilities regarding the investigation of financial crimes over to the Treasury Department.

There has been a 35-percent spike in hate groups in recent years, largely attributable to the election of the first African-American president, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based hate-monitoring group.