JD Vance’s Secret Service detail became so sick of the vice president’s last-minute travel demands that they made special coins and stickers to mock him.
A damning report by MS NOW reveals that Vance’s security detail is “fed up” with his erratic travel plans, which require agents to drop everything and accompany the vice president’s family, as well as “inappropriate” use of taxpayer-funded protection.
In one particularly egregious example, Vance required a Secret Service detail to accompany his young son on a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter so he could attend a golf lesson—a trip that was ultimately canceled due to bad weather. Some agents have blasted Vance for expecting his family to receive the “royal treatment,” according to MS NOW reporter Carol Leonnig.
The Secret Service grew so tired of Vance hastily arranging trips—known as “off the record” (OTR)—that required protection details that agents even created custom mementos ridiculing the vice president, referring to his code name, “Bobcat.”
Images of custom coins, stickers, and badges, obtained by MS NOW, feature slogans such as “Bobcat OTR Survivors Club” and “Advance. OTR. Repeat.”
The phrases refer to how often agents would prepare to provide Vance and his family with security for one trip only for it to be hastily scrapped as the vice president made new travel arrangements.
Vance was given the codename “Bobcat” by the Secret Service because the animal is both the mascot of Ohio University, where Vance attended college, and his former high school in Jackson, Kentucky.
“We were steered to look at some of these images because they’re basically now making fun of the fact that they are ‘survivors’ of working for JD Vance and his family,” Leonnig told MS NOW’s Deadline: White House on Wednesday.
Leonnig also said her sources told her that Secret Service agents “are feeling really strapped” by the Vance family’s travel demands.
“Some of them use the word ‘royal treatment.’ They’re not used to providing royal treatment to the children of a vice president,” she said.
Multiple complaints about Vance’s last-minute travel plans were also detailed in the MS NOW report.
“The detail is tired of them not giving notice on things and making everything an OTR,” one person said. “He [Vance] thinks he can still move around like a U.S. senator.”
“They change everything,” another source said. “They don’t stick to their schedules, and that costs s--t-tons of taxpayer money.”
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn said: “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.
“Nights, weekends, and holidays are part of the job. Our agents work tirelessly to ensure protectees’ safety and security, while also preserving normalcy to the extent possible.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Vance’s office and the Secret Service for further comment.
