State and local agencies in the Midlands spent hundreds of thousands of dollars assisting the Secret Service when the president and vice president and former president visited the Midlands in the 13 months leading up to South Carolina’s early presidential primaries.
The Secret Service’s reliance on local agencies has come more into light as the agency, charged with protecting the president and top presidential candidates, has come under fire after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The Midlands is no stranger to hosting top presidential candidates with South Carolina holding early presidential primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties.
From January 2023 through February 2024, President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump collectively had 12 trips to the Midlands, which included arrivals at Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
Even though local agencies wouldn’t reveal specific tactical measures, visible measures include assisting with traffic control, leading the motorcade, perimeter security and even on-site security during an event.
“We may also provide civil emergency response teams, which can change based on the location and number of resources needed,” said Kyle McGahee, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.
Those Midlands visits included Trump’s appearances at the South Carolina State House , the S.C. GOP Silver Elephant Gala , the Clemson versus University of South Carolina football game in November and Trump’s trips to South Carolina for a Black conservatives event and primary night watch party on the same weekend.
The Department of Public Safety was on site with its Bureau of Protective Services for Trump’s visit to the state house with support from the executive protection detail charged with protecting Gov. Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.
Harris’ visits included her touting broadband investments during a trip to Benedict University in February 2023, delivering President Biden’s paperwork to appear on the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary ballot in November and remarks at the annual King Day at the Dome festivities in January.
Biden attended South Carolina Democratic Party Dinner a week before the Democratic primary at the state fairgrounds and a visit to Flex LTD in West Columbia to tout his economic initiatives in July of last year.
During Biden’s remarks at the S.C.D.P. dinner, he was interrupted several times by demonstrators who were forcibly removed for their interruptions.
Columbia police assisted in removing protesters disrupting the remarks.
Agencies don’t receive reimbursement for assisting Secret Service
According to records provided to The State newspaper, in visits to the Midlands, the Department of Public Safety spent more than $99,000 to secure events for the Bidens, Harris and Trump in the year 13 months leading up to South Carolina’s early presidential primaries.
The city of Columbia spent $270,000 assisting with security and logistics.
When Trump attended the University of South Carolina vs. Clemson football game, USC spent an additional $6,800 on security compared to another night football game last year.
“Any time a president, former president, or presidential candidate visits South Carolina, the U.S. Secret Service asks state and local law enforcement agencies for assistance, as this is a matter of national security,” McGahee said. “In response, we coordinate with our state and local law enforcement agencies to provide the services requested by the Secret Service.”
And despite the cost, the Department of Public Safety and Columbia Police aren’t reimbursed. State law also prevents the the Department of Public Safety from charging for assisting with a Secret Service event.
“These services are provided as a necessary component to ensuring public safety in South Carolina. Part of the agency’s mission is to provide protection and maintain safety for our citizens and visitors,” McGahee added.
“With any of these, or other events that request our assistance, the agency would not seek reimbursement,” McGahee said.
Secret Service coordinates with other agencies on the ground
Ahead of a these events, Secret Service along with local fire marshals, police departments and other state law enforcement agencies will walk through sites, determine who will be allowed where to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Security measures provided by local agencies include shutting down roads, for motorcades and even security at event sites. Even though Secret Service personnel provide security closest to the featured protected principal, local law enforcement agencies would be in the room around the crowd.
With multiple agencies working events, and agencies having different radio systems on different channels, but each event has a central location where representatives of different agencies are located.
“We ensure that we have counterparts in the security room and so the local law enforcement will place one of their personnel in the security room with our personnel so that we have interoperability of communications,” former Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle said during a contentious hearing the day before resigning from her job.
Ahead of Trump’s appearance at the USC vs. Clemson football game, the school and Secret Service agents spent a holiday week preparing for the visit, which included Trump sitting in a VIP box, walking through the concourse to hand out popcorn and briefly walking onto the field to the 25-yard line during halftime.
The visible measures included having metal barricades to line the path in the concourse where Trump handed out popcorn, additional police lining the barricades and SLED agents around the field.
The university would not disclose specific security tactics used during games, but said the relationship and measures used by both the Secret Service and university police are complementary. For example, metal detectors already are in place for football games at Williams Brice Stadium.
“The USC P.D. has had the opportunity to work with the U.S. Secret Service on several occasions over the years and have always found them to be very professional and dedicated to their mission,” university spokesman Jeff Stensland said in a statement. “Visiting agents supporting the visit by former President Trump spent long days and nights during the Thanksgiving holiday preparing for the trip and the local field office was exceptional to work with.”
Harris also was the keynote speaker at the King Day at the Dome festivities in January an event that took place on the State House grounds with the vice president speaking from the northern outdoor steps. She had a bullet proof glass in front of her lectern.
The Department of Public Safety spent $2,700 assisting with security at the King Day at the Dome event. Columbia Police spent nearly $43,000 on providing security for the event, which includes a march down Main Street to the State House.
“We are hesitant to say that all of the overtime accrued during these events was solely due to a visit by one of these dignitaries. Although we try to keep overtime to a minimum, there are cases where staff members work overtime throughout the year,” McGahee said.
Secret Service under the microscope
The Secret Service has been under increased scrutiny after a security lapse at the Trump rally when a potential assassin was able to climb on the roof of a building outside of the secured Secret Service perimeter with a clear line of sight on the former president from about 150 yards away with an AR-style rifle.
Questions remained over who was in charge of the building outside the secure perimeter where the shooter was able to fire eight shots into the Trump campaign rally and whether the building was swept by the Secret Service or if local agencies were assigned to it.
Sometimes requests for additional Secret Service help are denied because local agencies are available.
According to the Washington Post , Trump’s security detail asked for additional resources to for a rally in Pickens in July 2023, but the request was denied by Secret Service headquarters and additional countersniper teams were provided by local resources.
Cheatle said the Secret Service needs about 9,500 employees to carry out its mission, but only 8,000 people are employed by the agency .
“I don’t know if it’s a matter of funding or a matter of recruiting or a matter of morale,” said U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Isle of Palms. “We’ve all heard the stories for well over a decade now of some of the the issues of personnel and hiring within the Secret Service and some of their behavior I would say.”
“We’ve all read the stories about them relying more on local law enforcement,” Mace said.
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