(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Secret Service Director Sean Curran launched an undercover operation involving agents posing as journalists in an attempt to catch agents leaking information, according to Real Clear Politics reporter Susan Crabtree.
Crabtree, who frequently breaks stories about the Secret Service, revealed the operation on Twitter/X on Tuesday—alleging that the operation targeted some of her own sources.
“In a plan authorized by Secret Service Director Sean Curran himself, I’m told agents posed as journalists fishing for derogatory information on the USSS to try to find out who is leaking to me,” she said.
“The effort failed and provided a lesson for most Secret Service sources inside and outside the agency. They know I would go to jail to protect them—and that I have not and would never give up their identities.”
🚨🚨 EXCLUSIVE: SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR SEAN CURRAN RECENTLY USED STING OPERATION TO TRY TO FIND MY SOURCES — NOW USSS LEADERS CRY FOUL WHEN JAMES O'KEEFE USES THE SAME 'TARGETED AND MANIPULATIVE' TACTIC AGAINST AN AGENT
The funniest thing about the Secret Service decrying… https://t.co/1yYkYHWn4T
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) January 13, 2026
The Secret Service did not respond to Headline USA’s request for comment on Crabtree’s allegations. Crabtree made them in response to the Secret Service complaining about an undercover journalist tricking an agent into leaking sensitive information about Vice President JD Vance’s travel plans.
Crabtree noted the irony that the Secret Service has agents posing as fake journalists at a time when other agents are leaking to legitimate ones.
“The funniest thing about the Secret Service decrying James O’Keefe’s honeypot sting tactics—as ‘targeted and manipulated’ is that sources tell me that Secret Service leaders recently launched their own attempted yet failed sting operation to try to uncover my sources within the agency,” she said.
Federal agents posing as journalists is something that is controversial—but not totally unheard of. One of the most infamous cases of this occurred in 2014, when the FBI created a fake documentary crew to trick Cliven Bundy’s family and their supporters into giving interviews during the first “Bundy standoff” at his Nevada ranch.
The operation didn’t gain any valuable evidence, and was widely criticized by the media.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
