Secret Service agent on Vance’s detail suspected of leaking information is put on leave amid internal review

By Josh Campbell, Kristen Holmes, CNN

(CNN) — A Secret Service agent on Vice President JD Vance’s security detail is under internal review and has been put on administrative leave after being suspected of leaking information for a news story that included details about Vance’s travel, a source familiar with the matter said.

A second source also said officials had identified a person believed to have been leaking information about Vance.

The Secret Service confirmed the inquiry in a statement Thursday morning, though it did not detail what, specifically, the agent was suspected of disclosing.

“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 the statement. “While we will not comment on the specifics of this matter, one principle is unequivocal: any conduct that undermines the trust and confidence between a protectee and their protective detail is fundamentally incompatible with our mission and will not be tolerated.”

The Secret Service added that “any conduct that potentially threatens the safety of a protectee will not be tolerated.”

The review is being conducted by the agency’s internal affairs component, the first​ source said, and it’s unclear if any possible administrative punishment or criminal charges could be forthcoming.

The employee is suspected of having been a source for a recent story on MS NOW about agents on Vance’s security detail dismayed by the purported burden the vice president’s personal travel schedule has placed on his security team. As part of its coverage, MS NOW also described Vance’s planned travel, including flying with his son on a Marine Corps helicopter to a golf lesson — plans that were later aborted.

There have long been concerns within law enforcement and military circles over the challenges Vance’s often unpredictable personal and professional travel schedule places on the hundreds of security and logistics people who support his movements, sources told CNN. The issue has been particularly acute for the Secret Service, which has faced staffing shortages that require agents to work longer hours in a high-stress protection job that leaves little room for error, sources said.

But the MS NOW story caught the attention of Secret Service, FBI and White House officials, who fumed over operational details being described in the press, the first source said. A White House official decried the leaks of the VPs movements as “treasonous,” adding that the vice president and his family were uneasy over them and what the disclosures might signal about their protective detail. A former agent told CNN the leak exposes “intrinsic vulnerability within the Secret Service” that poses operational security risks.

“You telegraphed movement of two protectees, one of which is a minor, and it puts them in the spotlight. The whole purpose is to keep them out of the spotlight,” the former agent said, adding, “This is negligence at the highest degree.”

The MS NOW story reported that there was a “budding morale problem” on the team of agents assigned to Vance and his family. The agents, the story said, were frustrated by last-minute travel demands, requiring them to cancel days off or drop other plans. And it reported the plan to use a government helicopter for a golf lesson was unusual, noting that current and former Secret Service Supervisor said it had no precedent and that “prior vice presidents eschewed using such expensive government perks for the convenience of their children’s schedule.”

A spokesperson for MS NOW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The development comes as the Trump administration has vowed to crack down on what it views as unauthorized disclosures to the press.

Earlier this month, four reporters from The New York Times were issued subpoenas to testify before a federal grand jury in connection with an investigation into their reporting about security features onboard a new presidential aircraft gifted to President Donald Trump by the nation of Qatar. Chief of staff Susie Wiles, Trump’s closest aide, and FBI Director Kash Patel helped personally orchestrate that probe – with some officials being asked to turn over their phones to investigators on White House grounds, sources familiar with the matter previously told CNN.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Betsy Klein and Brian Stelter contributed to this report.