Secret Service agents tasked with protecting the Vice President and his family appear to be airing grievances with the Vance family through media leaks. MSNow published a story about complaints within Vice President JD Vance’s security detail, citing “Secret Service sources,” people with knowledge of his travel, and the frustration of current and former agents. The story focused on a recently planned trip by the Vice President and his son to Joint Base Andrews for a golf lesson, and on agents’ apparent anger over the “inappropriate or even unprecedented use” of government resources. “[T]he Secret Service staff’s complaints about a planned chopper ride for an elementary school student reflects a building morale problem inside the team of agents assigned to shield Vance and his young family, according to the two people and another person familiar with the agents’ frustration,” the MSNow article states of the trip that was ultimately canceled due to weather. The article continues to state that, according to “two people and an additional source with knowledge of their travel who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals,” agents are “fed up” with last-minute travel demands made by the VP and his family. After MSNow broke the news of the vice president’s planned trip to the golf course, it was canceled, the article notes. Responding to the MSNow claims, an administration official told the Caller that the trip from the Naval Observatory to Joint Base Andrews is the most common and routine flight Marine Two makes. For that particular trip to the golf course, the plans were made because the base is secure and would not impact the public by closing the golf course or roads for a motorcade. Using the helicopter for such travel likely saves resources for local police departments and thousands of motorists, the official added. “That is RIDICULOUS,” one person with knowledge of the planned golf trip said to MSNow. “Pence and Harris never pulled anything like that.” “They change everything,” another source told the outlet regarding the Vice President’s shifting schedule. “They don’t stick to their schedules, and that costs shit-tons of taxpayer money.” The article notes that the VP has recently planned last-minute trips to Middleburg, Virginia, where he is rumored to be searching for a new house. An administration official told the Caller that Marine Two was used for those trips for operational and security reasons, and, once again, to save law enforcement and the public from the inconvenience of a motorcade. Middleburg, Virginia, is about a 45-minute drive from Washington, D.C. The article also states that the Vice President “plans for foreign and domestic trips change on short notice” after resources have already been mobilized. Diplomatic travel and matters of state arise unexpectedly and must take priority, the administration official explained to the Caller, adding that agents don’t see the full picture behind schedule changes. Importantly, following a serious scandal in 2012, the Secret Service began requiring employees to sign strict nondisclosure agreements to crack down on media leaks involving protectees’ private information. When signing the documents, agents are informed that they could be terminated or even prosecuted for violating the agreement, the Seattle Times noted at the time. The VP and his wife have publicly spoken about the struggle of trying to maintain normalcy as a young family while also being protected by the Secret Service. The administration official told the Caller that past presidents and vice presidents have, for the most part, not had young children, and it has been an adjustment for the Vance family. They added that Vance has been more active than past vice presidents and has taken more of a diplomatic role, which has led to rapid schedule changes and increased demands on the detail. “A motorcade just shuts down streets, right? It means sometimes people can’t get into Mass when they arrive. It means that you have people trickling in after the start because they’re being put through magnetometers, and so we try, especially, we try with timing of Mass and location and everything to mitigate all of these discomforts for all the other people who are just trying to live their lives,” Second Lady Usha Vance said in an interview with CBS News.
