(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Secret Service hasn’t been reimbursing the Homeland Security Investigations agents that have been assisting with protecting candidates during the 2024 election season, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
In a letter to top DHS officials last week, Grassley asked about the HSI’s “jump teams”, which hare used to provide the Secret Service with additional manpower for various protective missions. As was revealed in the wake of the July 13 Trump shooting in Butler, at least 16 HSI agents were there assisting the Secret Service.
According to Grassley, the Secret Service isn’t compensating those HSI agents for their help.
“[DHS] officials have told HSI agents not to submit travel authorizations and travel reimbursement vouchers for Jump Team deployments due to the Secret Service failing to transfer money. However, HSI agents are still required to travel for these Jump Teams to support the Secret Service’s protection mission,” Grassley said in his letter last Wednesday, citing whistleblower disclosures made to his office.
“According to these whistleblower disclosures, HSI agents are deployed, usually on very short notice, across the country on Jump Teams from as short as a few days for as long as multiple weeks, several times throughout the year,” he said.
Moreover, assisting the Secret Service is supposed to be a voluntary job within HSI, but agents there say they’re being “effectively required” to travel when their name is called to deploy, according to Grassley.
“The whistleblower disclosures further show that in some cases HSI agents have had to pay for their own travel expenses such as flights, food, rental cars, and hotels, and other incidentals, because HSI has delayed reimbursing agents for costs due to the Secret Service failing to transfer funds to HSI,” the senator said.
Grassley added that HSI agents have provided him with emails to support their allegations. In one email, for instance, DHS officials said that the account used to reimburse Jump Team travel expenses was down to “$33” and agents should “not submit or resubmit Jump Team authorizations.”
Grassley said in his letter that the Secret Service’s failures to reimburse HSI agents could violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from creating or authorizing payments in excess of available funds. The law also prohibits agencies from accepting voluntary services from federal employees.
Grassley asked the DHS and Secret Service officials to respond to the whistleblower disclosures by Oct. 23.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
