The Butler assassination attempt exposed the Secret Service as an agency that could not protect the President of the United States.
More than two years later the agency is still plagued by the same rot.
Now agents assigned to JD Vance are doing something that has the Vice President's office scrambling.
Secret Service Agents on Vance Protective Detail Signed NDAs Before They Started Leaking
On July 15, MS NOW published an inside account of frustration within JD Vance's Secret Service protective detail, built entirely on anonymous agents willing to air grievances about the Second Family to a left-wing outlet.
The story reads like a hit piece with a Secret Service badge on it.
Citing anonymous agents "familiar with the frustration," the outlet reported that Vance's detail is "fed up" with last-minute travel requests – including a planned Marine Two flight to take his young son to a golf lesson at Joint Base Andrews.
The trip was canceled due to severe thunderstorms.
MS NOW published the story anyway.
Within 24 hours of the article going live, Vance's office canceled a follow-up helicopter flight and switched to ground transport instead.
Security logistics were shared with journalists, published for any hostile actor to read, and the Vice President's team immediately changed plans.
That is not a morale complaint.
That is a security breach.
After the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia – which forced out nine agents and triggered a congressional investigation – the agency required all personnel to sign strict NDAs.
Agents were informed at signing that violating the agreement could mean termination or federal prosecution.
The agents talking to MS NOW knew that when they picked up the phone.
Tomas Escotto Lost His Security Clearance for Leaking Vance Intel and It Happened Again
Six months ago, agents on this same detail had already proven they couldn't keep their mouths shut.
In January 2026, James O'Keefe released hidden camera footage of Secret Service agent Tomas Escotto – assigned to Vance's protective detail – feeding a woman he met on Tinder sensitive information about the Vice President.
Escotto handed over protective formations, shift schedules, travel plans, and Vance's exact real-time location.
Escotto was placed on administrative leave, his security clearance suspended, and the Secret Service ordered agency-wide anti-espionage retraining.
Six months later, agents are doing it again – without the Tinder date.
The Daily Caller obtained a response from an administration official who explained that the Marine Two flight from the Naval Observatory to Joint Base Andrews is the most common route the helicopter flies.
Using the helicopter, the official noted, saves law enforcement resources and spares motorists from motorcade road closures – the same disruptions Usha Vance has publicly said the family works hard to avoid.
Agents talking to MS NOW either didn't know that context or didn't care.
What the Secret Service Media Leak Left Out About Marine Two
The outlet quoted agents calling the golf trip "RIDICULOUS" and comparing Vance unfavorably to Pence and Harris.
It quoted a second source saying the family "costs s***-tons of taxpayer money."
What the article did not explain: Marine Two costs between $16,000 and $24,600 per flight hour, per 2022 Defense Department estimates.
A motorcade to Joint Base Andrews – with police escorts, road closures, and disrupted traffic – carries its own cost.
The administration official told the Caller that helicopter transport for that particular route was specifically chosen to reduce the burden on local law enforcement and area residents.
MS NOW didn't ask about that tradeoff.
And MS NOW also didn't explain why agents bound by signed NDAs – with a colleague's suspension fresh in their memory – picked up the phone to call a left-wing outlet instead of their supervisors.
Agents Who Watched a Colleague Lose His Security Clearance Just Did the Same Thing
Vance's detail has now had two separate leak incidents in six months – one caught on hidden camera, one that landed on MS NOW's front page.
Agents with access to the Vice President's private schedule fed that information to hostile media on both occasions, and the Vice President's office scrambled to change plans both times.
Politically motivated federal employees with security clearances keep calling left-wing journalists instead of their supervisors – and the press keeps printing whatever they hand over.
Agents who signed NDAs, received anti-espionage retraining six months ago, and watched a colleague lose his clearance over exactly this kind of breach decided to do it again.
That is the Secret Service protecting JD Vance in 2026.
Sources:
- Reagan Reese, "Secret Service Agents Tasked With Protecting JD Vance's Family Appear To Be Leaking Their Private Affairs to Left-Wing Media," The Daily Caller, July 17, 2026.
- Jasmine Baehr and Patrick Ward, "Secret Service Agent Assigned to Vance Placed on Leave After Alleged Security Leak," Fox News, January 13, 2026.
- Carol Leonnig and Vaughn Hillyard, "Vance's Security Detail 'Fed Up' with Hastily Arranged Personal and Family Travel Requests," MS NOW, July 15, 2026.
