Three U.S. Secret Service employees, including communications chief Anthony Guglielmi, have been placed on administrative leave and stripped of security access as the agency investigates potential misconduct, while separate reporting alleges the case may involve classified information leaked to the media.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Three employees in the U.S. Secret Service communications operation have been placed on administrative leave and had their security clearances suspended as investigators examine potential misconduct, amid separate allegations that the matter involves classified information provided to news organizations.
RealClearPolitics reporter Susan Crabtree first reported Tuesday that three Secret Service officials or agents had been escorted from their offices Monday and designated “do not admits” as part of what her sources described as a criminal leak investigation.
“Three Secret Service officials/agents were walked out of their offices on Monday and made ‘do not admits’ as part of a criminal investigation into leaked classified information to the media, according to two sources familiar with the matter,” Crabtree reported.
Her account, shared in an X post, said it remained unclear whether the alleged disclosures involved President Donald Trump’s highly sensitive evacuation from Turkey following intelligence about a possible Iranian surface-to-air missile threat against Air Force One.
“It’s unclear if the leaks to the media pertained to the controversy over President Trump’s secret evacuation from Turkey because of intelligence about a surface-to-air missile threat to Air Force One from Iran,” Crabtree reported.
She also said one source told RealClearPolitics that the FBI and CIA were participating in the investigation.
“The FBI and the CIA are involved in the investigation, one source told RCP,” Crabtree reported.
At the time of her initial report, attempts to obtain comment from the agency had not produced an immediate response.
“Calls to Secret Service Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi were not immediately returned. An email to the Secret Service press office also was not immediately returned,” Crabtree wrote.
The Secret Service later publicly confirmed that three employees had been removed from active duty pending an internal investigation, although the agency did not substantiate the broader allegations about classified leaks or FBI and CIA involvement.
“Three non-law enforcement personnel at the U.S. Secret Service have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into potential misconduct,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNN. “Per policy, this incident is being investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility. We are unable to comment further at this time.”
The Secret Service stressed the standards expected of employees carrying out its protective mission.
“The U.S. Secret Service is committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in fulfilling our zero-fail mission of protecting the President and other high-level government officials,” the statement continued. “Our critical work demands that our workforce maintain an unwavering commitment to duty, honesty, and courage in all aspects of their jobs. We will continue to pursue the level of excellence that is worthy of the mission which has been entrusted to us by the American people.”
CBS News subsequently identified one of the employees as Guglielmi, the agency’s chief of communications. The other two employees reportedly also worked in the communications office.
All three had their security clearances suspended and were denied access to their government-issued devices, according to the reports.
The Secret Service has not publicly said that the internal investigation concerns unauthorized disclosures of classified information. It has also not confirmed that either the FBI or CIA is formally involved.
The timing of the personnel actions has nevertheless drawn attention because of previously disclosed details surrounding Trump’s unusual departure from Turkey on July 8.
Trump was secretly moved from Air Force One to a smaller C-32A military aircraft before departing Ankara, according to the reports.
The president was reportedly transferred between the aircraft while concealed inside an airport catering truck. Air Force One then departed separately as a decoy with administration officials, Secret Service personnel, White House staff and members of the traveling press aboard.
The security measure was reportedly ordered after U.S. officials received intelligence concerning a possible Iranian plan to target the presidential aircraft with a surface-to-air missile.
Trump later acknowledged that the Secret Service and military had directed him to use a different aircraft.
“It’s only up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they’d like to do,” Trump told reporters. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane.”
Further details about the classified security operation surfaced in news reports several days later.
CBS News reported that the National Security Agency, CIA and Turkey’s MIT intelligence service had obtained intelligence about a possible Iranian effort to fire a missile at the president’s aircraft. The report also disclosed information about when the decision to transfer Trump to another aircraft was reportedly made.
Retired Lt. Col. Robert “Buzz” Patterson, a former senior military aide to President Bill Clinton who carried the nuclear football, said the limited number of people with access to such information made the possibility of an unauthorized disclosure particularly troubling.
“If somebody leaked it, it was somebody involved in the process, and that scares the hell out of me,” Patterson said.
The latest investigation follows another Secret Service personnel matter involving suspected disclosure of sensitive information.
An agent assigned to Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail previously was placed on leave amid an administrative investigation and possible criminal inquiry into allegations that sensitive operational and travel information had been leaked to the media.
The three communications employees are now off duty while the Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility examines the unspecified potential misconduct.
Whether their suspensions are connected to disclosures surrounding Trump’s July security operation in Turkey has not been established publicly.
The investigation could carry significant national security implications if investigators ultimately determine that classified information concerning presidential protective movements was intentionally provided to journalists. Such information can involve highly sensitive details about Secret Service procedures, intelligence collection and emergency military planning.
For now, the confirmed facts remain narrower: three non-law-enforcement Secret Service employees have been placed on administrative leave, their security access has been suspended, and the agency has opened a professional responsibility investigation. Reports that the case concerns classified leaks — including possible disclosures surrounding Trump’s evacuation from Turkey — remain allegations that federal officials have not publicly confirmed.
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