A Secret Service agent in Vice President J.D. Vance’s protective detail is facing an internal investigation and potential criminal inquiry over accusations of leaked information to the press regarding the vice president’s travels.
“A member of the Vice Presidential Protective Division is the subject of an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security,” Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service director of communications, told The Washington Times in a statement. “While we will not comment on the specifics of this matter, one principle is unequivocal: any conduct that potentially threatens the safety of a protectee will not be tolerated.”
The unnamed agent reportedly leaked information about Mr. Vance’s travel to MS NOW, compromising his security.
Agents tasked with protecting the second family have become “fed up” with the last-minute travel demands that Mr. Vance and second lady Usha Vance place on the security team, the TV network reported.
Both the vice president’s and second lady’s offices referred The Times to the Secret Service for comment.
The purported burden of Mr. Vance and his family’s personal travel schedule garnered the MS NOW reporting, including of a plan to fly the vice president’s son on a Marine Corps helicopter to a golf lesson. The request was ultimately canceled, reportedly due to severe weather.
MS NOW said its article’s sources included people with knowledge of the flight plans and administration officials who knew about Mr. Vance’s schedule. This caught the eye of senior leaders at the Secret Service and FBI, according to multiple reports.
A White House official called the leaks “treasonous,” according to CNN.
Such internal agent grievances reportedly led the Secret Service to place a protective-detail agent on administrative leave pending a security review.
While no formal rule bans a vice president’s child from using a government helicopter, current and former supervisors told MS NOW that using Marine Two for a local recreational trip has no precedent.
Prior vice presidential families typically relied on security detail SUVs for local travel rather than deploying military aircraft for personal or children’s schedules.
“The Vances are grateful to the men and women of the U.S. Secret Service who serve our country with distinction,” the vice president’s office said in a statement. “While protecting a Vice President with a large policy portfolio and a young and growing family presents a unique challenge, agents of the Secret Service do so with excellence every day.”
The investigation comes as the second family welcomed their fourth child, a son named Alec. The couple is also parents to Ewan, 9, Vivek, 6, and Mirabel, 4.
