President Donald Trump’s protective agency is confronting a suspected betrayal from within—just weeks after details of one of its most sensitive security operations spilled into public view.
Three senior Secret Service employees, including communications chief Anthony Guglielmi, were escorted from the agency’s Washington headquarters on Monday and placed on administrative leave, according to RealClearPolitics.
The officials reportedly had their security clearances suspended, lost access to their government devices and were designated “do not admit,” barring them from Secret Service facilities while investigators examine how classified or sensitive information may have reached the media.
All three worked in the agency’s communications office and were non-law-enforcement personnel—not field agents.
RealClearPolitics reported that the Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility is leading the investigation. One source told the outlet that the FBI and CIA are also participating, suggesting the case could extend far beyond a routine personnel dispute.
The Secret Service has confirmed the suspensions but has not disclosed what the employees are accused of doing.
“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 told CBS News.
The agency said its “zero-fail mission” requires employees to maintain an unwavering commitment to honesty, courage and professionalism.
Placing employees on leave and temporarily revoking their access is standard during an internal investigation and does not prove wrongdoing. The Secret Service has also not publicly connected the three officials to any particular disclosure.
However, the investigation comes as the Trump administration hunts for the source of leaks involving a clandestine maneuver used to protect the president from an alleged Iranian assassination plot.
After attending the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8, Trump publicly boarded an older Air Force One while reporters and numerous administration officials watched. Behind the aircraft, however, a catering truck was being used as part of an elaborate escape plan.
Trump was secretly moved off Air Force One and taken to a nearby Air Force C-32A. He then flew to the United Kingdom aboard the smaller aircraft while reporters and members of his staff continued on the original plane, believing the president was traveling with them.
The operation was reportedly ordered after U.S. intelligence detected a credible Iranian plot to fire a missile at Trump’s aircraft.
Trump later confirmed that the military and Secret Service “wanted me to go in a different flight.”
“Any consequential president has a lot of threats,” he told reporters.
Several Trump administration officials were reportedly furious when details of the operation became public, warning that exposing classified protective tactics could make it harder to safeguard presidents during future emergencies. FBI Director Kash Patel helped establish an earlier investigation into the disclosure, according to RealClearPolitics.
The agency is also investigating a separate suspected leak involving Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail.
In July, an agent was placed on leave after allegedly disclosing operational information about Vance’s travel, including a planned Marine Corps helicopter trip involving the vice president’s son.
At the time, it was Guglielmi who announced that investigation.
“Any conduct that potentially threatens the safety of a protectee will not be tolerated,” Guglielmi said in a Secret Service statement reported by CBS News.
Now Guglielmi—who has led the agency’s communications operation since 2022—is among those sidelined while investigators determine whether another internal line was crossed.
His attorney, Gregg Bernstein, pushed back against any implication of wrongdoing.
“Anthony Guglielmi is a professional of deep integrity whose decades-long public record advocating for local, state and federal agencies speaks for itself,” Bernstein told CBS News, adding that Guglielmi is cooperating fully.
The turmoil presents another major test for Secret Service Director Sean Curran, the longtime member of Trump’s detail who helped shield him during the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Curran was personally selected by Trump to rebuild an agency battered by security failures, communication breakdowns and internal distrust. Six agents were previously disciplined over the Butler debacle, while a government review released by Sen. Chuck Grassley found that senior officials failed to share critical threat intelligence with personnel responsible for securing the rally.
The current investigation strikes at an even more fundamental question: Can the president trust the people given access to his most sensitive security information?
There is currently no proof that Guglielmi or the other two employees leaked Trump’s movements. But the decision to pull their clearances, cut off their devices and bar them from Secret Service facilities shows how seriously the agency is treating the possibility that its latest threat came from inside its own walls.
