MS NOW reporters Carol Leonnig and Vaughn Hillyard say Secret Service agents are losing patience with the pampering Vice President JD Vance keeps demanding.
“The frustration over [Vance’s] last minute [requests] has boiled over to the point that agents have made custom coins and stickers to mock the frequency of the vice president’s and his family’s last-minute travel, using Vance’s Secret Service code name, “Bobcat”, according to images reviewed by MSNOW.
On Thursday last week Secret Service agents grumbled as they prepared to deliver another perk to Vice President JD Vance’s family: join a military helicopter crew to fly his young son to his golf lesson.
“The planned trip on Marine Two, the call-sign for the U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that carries the vice president, was canceled at the last minute due to severe thunderstorms and high winds in the Washington, D.C., area that day, according to two people with knowledge of the flight plans. Vance planned to travel with his son on the flight, according to two other administration officials with knowledge of his schedule.”
Vance’s last-minute trips, known within the Secret Service as “off the record” movements, require agents to cancel their own days off, drop other plans and often race to the location where they are needed. MS NOW reports it also forces agents to come up with security plans in a rush, according to numerous current and former Secret Service personnel.
The repeated pattern of off the record movements can “quickly and understandably erode morale” on a protection detail, current and former agents told MS NOW.
“The detail is tired of them not giving notice on things and making everything an OTR,” said one person familiar with the detail’s frustration. “He [Vance] thinks he can still move around like a U.S. Senator.”
But Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn issued a statement saying agents know what they signed up for, even if it means last-minute golf trips for a kid across town.
“When U.S. Secret Service Special Agents choose to join a protective detail, they understand the commitment required: long hours, frequent travel, and the need for constant flexibility,” the director’s office wrote.