RISK

Trump to Keep His Own Private Security

Former Secret Service agents say he’s “playing with fire.”

President-elect Donald Trump has made the unusual choice to continue employing his own private security team instead of leaving the task up to the Secret Service. “It’s playing with fire,” said former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow, who worked on President Obama’s detail during his 2012 campaign. Having a mix-and-match security team working events in tandem with the Secret Service “increases the Service’s liability, it creates greater confusion, and it creates greater risk,” Wackrow said. Trump is expected to continue that same system through his presidency, Politico reports. All modern presidents have up to now deferred to the Secret Service, leaving just event security to local law enforcement. Breaking from the norm, Trump has instead elected to maintain his own private security force, which is led by retired veteran and New York City cop Keith Schiller. “You never want to comingle a police function with a private security function,” Wackrow said. “If you talk to the guys on the detail and the guys who are running the rallies, that’s been a little bit difficult because it’s so abnormal.”