Three U.S. Secret Service officials, including the agency's top spokesman, lost their security clearances and were escorted from headquarters as federal investigators probe the exposure of classified details about President Trump's security.
The Secret Service placed the three non-law-enforcement personnel on administrative leave Tuesday, with the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility opening a misconduct investigation that officials described as "just beginning." Fox News Digital reported the suspensions came the same day the agency acknowledged awareness of an Iranian video offering $10 million for the location of Barron Trump, the president's youngest son.
All three officials worked in the communications office. The Washington Examiner reported that communications chief Anthony Guglielmi was among those suspended. The officials had their security clearances revoked and lost access to work devices, standard protocol when the Office of Professional Responsibility opens a formal review.
The investigation is not a routine personnel matter. The New York Post reported that both the FBI and CIA are engaged in the probe, which centers on the disclosure of sensitive presidential security information to the press. Among the details that surfaced publicly: Trump's covert departure from Turkey, where he secretly switched from Air Force One to another military aircraft by slipping out through a catering truck due to a credible Iranian surface-to-air missile threat. The new Air Force One's lack of advanced anti-missile systems was also exposed.
Those are not the kind of operational details that belong in a news cycle. They are the kind that get a president killed.
Just The News reported that the three officials were escorted from Secret Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Monday, with the formal administrative leave actions taking effect Tuesday, August 26, 2026. The outlet identified all three as members of the communications office and confirmed that top spokesman Anthony Gugliemi was among them.
An attorney for Guglielmi pushed back on the implication of wrongdoing. Gregg Bernstein, described as Guglielmi's spokesperson, told the New York Post:
"Anthony Guglielmi is a professional of deep integrity whose decades-long public record advocating for local, state and federal agencies speaks for itself."
The Secret Service offered little beyond a terse confirmation. A spokesman said:
"Three non-law enforcement personnel at the U.S. Secret Service have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into potential misconduct."
The spokesman added that the Office of Professional Responsibility was handling the matter and declined further comment.
The suspensions landed against a backdrop of escalating threats from Iran. The Secret Service confirmed Tuesday that it was aware of a video, aired through Iranian state media, that offered $10 million for Barron Trump's location. The video claimed an Iranian agent had infiltrated the younger Trump's inner circle.
Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring told Fox News Digital:
"The U.S. Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees."
Herring added: "Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence."
Barron Trump became a prominent public figure after his father's inauguration on January 20, 2025, going viral and drawing sustained public attention. That visibility now makes him a target, and the Iranian video made the targeting explicit.
Deputy Director Matt Quinn, speaking to reporters last month, was blunt about the broader threat environment facing the president.
"I don't think it's any secret, it's been in the media, that Iran has publicly said they want to kill President Trump."
The threat from Iran is not theoretical. President Trump has survived three separate assassination attempts, beginning with the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, that launched a series of congressional hearings with Secret Service leadership. Two additional attempts followed, though S1 does not specify their dates or circumstances.
In July, Trump secretly switched aircraft while departing Turkey. The Secret Service and military moved him from Air Force One to another plane, routing him through a catering truck to avoid detection. The reason: a credible Iranian surface-to-air missile threat. AP News reported that Trump himself confirmed the incident earlier this month, acknowledging the Secret Service and military "wanted him on a 'different plane' due to concerns that he was being targeted for assassination by Iran."
That confirmation raises a pointed question: if the president himself disclosed the Turkey incident publicly, was the leak investigation triggered by details beyond what Trump shared, such as the specific method of the switch or the vulnerabilities of the new Air Force One? The New York Post's reporting that the probe involves the exposure of the aircraft's lack of advanced anti-missile systems suggests the answer is yes.
The broader security environment includes an ongoing U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Trump administration threats against nations that fail to sever economic ties with Tehran. The assassination of Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described as coming at the start of the war between the United States and Iran, and the 2020 U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani form the backdrop of Iran's stated desire for retaliation.
The Secret Service was already facing questions about its operational competence before the leak probe surfaced. Newsmax reported that an armed man breached security at the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents' Dinner while Trump was in attendance, another failure that added to the pattern of scrutiny surrounding the agency.
A separate incident involved an alleged news leak from a Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President Vance's detail, further eroding confidence in the agency's internal discipline.
The administrative leave actions do not confirm wrongdoing by the three officials. But the involvement of the FBI and CIA signals that investigators view the potential exposure of presidential security details as something far more serious than a garden-variety personnel dispute. Leaking how a president evades assassination, the route, the method, the aircraft vulnerabilities, is not a communications problem. It is a national security problem.
The Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility said its review was "just beginning" on Tuesday. No details about the specific nature of the alleged misconduct have been disclosed. The three officials' names, beyond Guglielmi, have not been publicly confirmed.
When the people charged with keeping the president alive cannot keep their own house secure, every threat, from Tehran or anywhere else, gets a little more dangerous.
