According to the Secret Service, an agent assigned to Vice President JD Vance’s security team is currently the subject of both an internal administrative review and a possible criminal investigation.
“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,” Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to Fox News.
Officials have intentionally kept the details of the case confidential while the inquiry remains ongoing. The agency has not identified the employee involved or explained exactly what information investigators believe may have been improperly disclosed.
Even so, the Secret Service made clear that protecting the integrity of its operations remains a top priority.
The agency emphasized that any conduct that could jeopardize the safety of those under its protection will be addressed aggressively.
The controversy surfaced only days after MS Now published a report describing growing dissatisfaction among some agents assigned to protect the vice president.
According to that report, members of the protective detail have reportedly become frustrated by repeated short-notice travel requests involving both the vice president and his family, forcing agents to rapidly coordinate complex security operations with little advance planning.
Attention intensified after another report claimed that a planned helicopter trip involving Vance’s son was ultimately canceled.
The flight reportedly would have used Marine Two to transport the vice president’s son to a golf lesson, though administration officials defended the planning behind the proposed transportation.
“Compared to a motorcade, it drastically decreased the burden on local law enforcement and eliminated the inconvenience of road closures and disruptions to motorists along the long driving route,” the administration wrote in a statement to Fox News.
Officials argued that the transportation decision was based on security logistics and operational efficiency rather than personal convenience.
Reports citing current and former Secret Service personnel also claimed that previous vice presidents generally avoided using government resources for routine activities involving their children, making the current situation a source of debate within the agency.
Some agents reportedly expressed frustration over what they described as frequent “off-the-record,” or OTR, movements that require immediate adjustments to security planning.
According to one source quoted in the report, the unpredictability has placed added pressure on members of the protective detail.
“The detail is tired of them not giving notice on things and making everything an OTR,” a person familiar with the detail’s frustration told the news outlet. “[Vance] thinks he can still move around like a U.S. senator.”
Despite those reports, Vice President Vance’s office strongly defended both the vice president and the Secret Service personnel responsible for his protection.
“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 spokesperson said.
Senior Secret Service leadership also rejected suggestions that agents assigned to the vice president are being subjected to unreasonable expectations.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn praised the professionalism of the men and women serving on the protective detail while acknowledging the demanding nature of the assignment.
“Our agents work tirelessly to ensure protectees’ safety and security, while also preserving normalcy to the extent possible,” Quinn told Fox News. “We are committed to supporting our personnel, which requires around-the-clock dedication and discipline. This is a job that requires absolute dedication and discipline. There is no room for compromise.”
The reported tension has reportedly become well known enough inside the detail that some agents allegedly created unofficial challenge coins and stickers referencing Vance’s Secret Service code name, “Bobcat.”
According to the report, some of the novelty coins read, “Bobcat OTR Survivors Club,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to the frequency of unexpected travel requests.
Administration officials, however, argued that comparisons with previous vice presidents fail to account for Vance’s unique circumstances.
“Most past presidents and vice presidents have not had young children, and therefore the detail has not been presented with this nature of protective mandate,” the administration told Fox News.
Officials also pointed to Vance’s active role within the Trump administration, saying his demanding diplomatic responsibilities often require rapid schedule adjustments that naturally affect the Secret Service’s planning.
“The Vice President is also a very active and involved Vice President, more so than recent officeholders,” the statement continued. “His unprecedented diplomatic role, for example, while critically important, has added new demands for a detail used to operating with lead times that are impossible in high-stakes diplomacy.”
For now, the focus remains on the investigation itself. The Secret Service has not announced whether any disciplinary action has been taken against the agent under review, and officials have indicated that no additional information will be released until the investigation has progressed further. The outcome of both the administrative review and any potential criminal inquiry could determine whether the allegations represent an isolated personnel matter or expose broader concerns about operational security within one of the nation’s most sensitive protective units.
