First Lady Michelle Obama tours Secret Service to say “thank you”

First lady Michelle Obama made a rare trip to Secret Service headquarters Wednesday, where she joked that her daughters fight over which agent gets assigned to protect them.

Obama, who toured the Secret Service’s protective intelligence division and the joint operations center, described daily tasks performed by the Secret Service agents as "pretty scary," the AP reports.

"All I can say, after my little tour, is ignorance is bliss. … I just don't want to know. You all can handle that. Just tell me where to run."

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan thanked Obama for "the way you have treated the men and women of our organization," Politico reports.

Obama paid tribute to all those working for the agency, "whether it's filing or looking at terrorists."

She told agency employees that she and President Barack Obama believed the Secret Service was "always 100 percent on point, truly," Politico reports.

As Secret Service employees snapped pictures with digital cameras, Obama said:

“I mean, not just in terms of how you all do your job, but how you all make us feel.

"And that is important when you’re trying to live a normal life and raise a couple of girls in the White House.

"You all have really made us feel at home and safe, and there is no amount of thanks that I could convey that would give you a sense of how important you all are to us.”

Obama, Politico reports, has "spoken in interviews about the constraints of living inside the presidential bubble and the loss of privacy" owing to the constant presence of Secret Service agent.

President Obama, in an interview with ABC News this week, described the challenge of giving his daughters "space to make mistakes, be teenagers" while also ensuring they're protected.

"They're still going to the mall. And they're still going to movies. But they've got this guy with a gun following them around," Obama said. "Our Secret Service detail is terrific about it. But it's a balance that has to be struck."

Michelle Obama told agency employees Wednesday that the first family had a "special affinity" for agents assigned to protect them.

"People always ask what it is like to have Secret Service around," Obama reportedly said. "It's like having family around. … We have a fight among our family over who's getting which people.

"Sasha will come in, it's like, 'You took Scott!' …Malia's like, 'You took Scott? That's not fair!' And then I'll say the same thing to Barack. It's like, 'Why did you get Beth?' It's dinner table conversation."