The huge gap between the protections offered by Secret Services and private companies could put her at risk, a former Secret Services official said.
Trump cancels Kamala Harris’s Secret Service Protection
President Trump will cancel details of Kamala Harris’ Secret Service before the book tour of the 15 cities begins.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has yank details of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s Secret Service protection as if she was about to go on a book tour around the country. Harris joins a list of other former US officials and their families to provide this extremely expensive taxpayer-funded service, which has been revoked by the president.
This could put Harris, the first black woman to serve as vice president, at risk given the gap between the protections provided by Secret Service and the private companies she is likely to hire to continue to compensate, a current and former Secret Service official told USA Today on Aug. 29.
Private security never offers the same level of protection as Secret Services, these officials say.
“The more you pay, the more you will pay,” he said at Smith, a private security consultant who was the assistant director of Secret Service from 2012 to 2015.
Smith said Harris can easily spend millions of people a year and cannot obtain the same level of protection offered by the Secret Service.
That’s because private companies often use previous Secret Service agents, but lack direct access to very important threat assessments implemented and shared by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and intelligence reporting officials, Smith and other former Secret Service officials said.
Private VIP security companies also lack the unparalleled expertise to dodge the cyberattacks and chemical and biological weapons threats carried out by the Secret Service. And private companies lack the talent and legal authority to implement cars, control crowds and secure large public areas, these former officials said.
“Whether it’s the boundary between close protection and security, the motorcade, the technical security part, and of course, the chemical bio-related,” Smith said, “You’re not going to get it.”
What did Trump do to Harris? Is that legal?
Under the Former Vice President’s Protection Act of 2008, the former Vice President and his spouses and children under the age of 16 are granted Secret Service protection for six months after retirement. It is much less than the lifetime protection that a former president and his spouse are usually given.
For Harris and her family, that period ended on July 21st. However, Harris’s own protection had been extended by another year under a private directive signed by then-President Joe Biden before taking office in January.
On August 28, federal officials said Trump sent an order to Christa Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, allowing her to “stop security-related procedures” from September 1. Officials spoke about conditions of anonymity to discuss ongoing security operations.
Trump pulled security from other target VIPs
Harris is a pioneer in the codename for the Secret Service – not the first famous former White House official or family member to lose security details thanks to Trump.
Trump revoked the protections of former national security adviser John Bolton on his first day in office in January, despite Bolton being the target of a confirmed assassination plan by the Iranian government for his role in seizing the US military in 2020.
In Bolton’s case, Trump had ruled out criticisms that he had previously turned to advisor for details for his Secret Service shortly after launching Bolton in September 2019. Bolton was later granted security by Biden.
Trump has also retracted details of protection for other former top aides targeted in Iran, including former national security adviser Robert O’Brien and former CIA director and executive director Mike Pompo, federal law enforcement officials said.
In March, Trump ended Secret Service protections assigned to Biden’s adult children Hunter and Ashley in a social media post.
And Trump reportedly removed Secret Service protections for Dr. Anthony Forsey, who oversaw the federal response to the Covid pandemic in January.
How rare is Trump’s order?
The sudden cancellation of Trump’s Harris’ expanded details shows a departure from the informal courtesy the next administration has recently provided to its predecessor.
Before taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama told USA Today to a former Secret Service official that President Barack Obama extended protections for Dick Cheney’s retired vice president.
In January 2021, President Joe Biden offered an extension to Trump’s family despite Trump’s attempts to take office after losing the 2020 election.
Is Harris currently facing a threat?
Neither Biden nor Harris gave reasons why the resignation president extended details of her protection.
The Secret Service did not comment on it in response to an August 29 question from USA Today.
But the protection agency is conducting the same standard regular threat assessments on Harris, as is the case for any of the dozens of official guardians, federal officials said.
Because these ratings are classified, authorities could not comment on whether the authorities discovered any other threats to stalkers or Harris, or whether any potential dangers were considered before Trump wrote to Noem.
These assessments, which combine intelligence from the Secret Service, the FBI, ATF and other agencies, are to be considered before security details are removed, former Secret Service Director John McGau told USA Today.
As director of the Department of Homeland Security, Noem is the one who will ultimately decide whether to continue protecting Harris, Magou said.
“All of these intelligence systems are seen to see if there is a threat, a letter, or if her name is mentioned everywhere. If there is anything that looks like a threat, they will continue with her,” Magou said. “They don’t want to put her at an additional risk,” by dropping her security details.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately answer questions about whether the NOEM was reviewing Harris’ Secret Service threat ratings before making a decision.
Harris is preparing for a 15-city tour to promote her book, “107 Days,” about the 2024 short-lived presidential election.
Is Trump politicized security measures?
Harris supporters and Trump critics jumped to the news as further evidence that the president was violating accepted norms and protocols and retaliating against his political opponents.
“Another dangerous reminder that for Donald Trump there is no more important agenda than retaliation. He gives his followers a conspiracy theory. It makes their targets more vulnerable. And brings out their security.”
“This is a dark road,” Schiff said in a post on X. “And we have a president who is too motivated to drive us away.”
Harris, a Los Angeles resident, has not yet commented in detail, except to thank the Secret Service for his protection over the years.
But California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass are among Harris’ fellow Golden Democrats who broached the issue of exploring alternative security measures to protect Harris, formerly a top prosecutor in the state and San Francisco.
