WASHINGTON — A Secret Service agent suspected of leaking details about Vice President JD Vance’s travel has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
The unidentified agent is believed to have been a source for an MS Now story published last week that claimed Vance’s protective detail was frustrated with the second family’s habit of making last-minute travel arrangements and special requests.
“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,” a Secret Service spokesperson told The Post Thiursday.
“While we will not comment on the specifics of this matter, one principle is unequivocal: any conduct that potentially threatens the safety of a protectee will not be tolerated.”
CNN first reported that the agent had been put on leave.
The MS Now piece reported that Vance’s detail had recently been asked to travel with the VP and his son aboard Marine Two, the vice presidential helicopter, so that the boy could make his golf lesson at Joint Base Andrews.
The planned chopper trip was scrapped due to bad weather, but the outlet reported that some agents considered the request inappropriate.
The outlet also reported that Vance and his wife Usha had taken “several” last-minute chopper trips while house hunting in northern Virginia.
“Events at the White House can often arise unexpectedly. Those events must override previously planned travel,” an administration official explained to The Post. “The Vice President is a father who dedicates as much time as possible to his young and growing family.”
“Plans for the Vice President to travel to the base’s golf course were made because the base was secure, and offered the added benefit of not impacting (which could have included closing or partially closing) a public golf course,” the person went on.
The source also noted that helicopter travel is the preferred means of transportation because it doesn’t impact public roads like motorcades do, echoing comments Usha Vance recently made to CBS “Sunday Morning.”
“A motorcade just shuts down streets, right?” she told the program June 14. “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 of the other people who are just trying to live their lives.”
The Post reported this week that the couple is renting two of the four homes that comprise Wolver Hill Farm, a 500-acre estate in Middleburg, Va., owned by federal contractor and data center developer Charles “Chuck” Kuhn.
Vance’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The agent’s suspension emerged as the Trump administration mounts a crackdown on leaks.
Earlier this month, four New York Times reporters were subpoenaed to testify about a story they reported on possible security flaws in Trump’s new Air Force One, a gift from the Gulf state of Qatar.
On Wednesday, Secret Service Director Sean Curran warned that the protective agency is facing one of the most difficult threat environments in its history, having opened probes of 10,000 threats so far this year.
“I think the environment has become very volatile and that’s just across the board, not just to our protectees but local officials. The threat picture and environment is as large as I’ve ever seen it,” Curran said.
The Vances have four young children and welcomed son Alec Neel to their family last week. They are the first vice presidential couple to have a new baby in more than 150 years.
Vance has kept busy with various assignments, including peace negotiations with Iran, which broke down earlier this month after Tehran attacked several vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Additionally, the vice president has done a media tour to promote his new book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” which hit bookshelves last month.
