As soon as Gov. Tim Walz was named as a vice presidential candidate, the U.S. Secret Service stepped in to provide security to him, the head of the local Secret Service office said Wednesday.
The Secret Service has agents from around the country who will serve as his protective detail — there are “a significant number of agents” with him, said Matt Cybert, Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis field office.
For people who encounter Walz when he’s out and about in St. Paul, or if he goes to the Minnesota State Fair, “you are absolutely going to see the Secret Service,” Cybert said. “We provide 360 degrees of protection, so you’ll see us all around him wherever he goes.”
The Minneapolis field office is in charge of setting up additional security at Walz’s residence in St. Paul.
“There is a lot that’s involved,” including armored vehicles, Cybert said. “We’ve got it covered.”
The Secret Service is required to provide protection for major presidential and vice presidential candidates. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that she’d selected Walz as her running mate.
The governor already had a security contingent: the Minnesota State Patrol. The State Patrol’s executive protection unit is made up of troopers responsible for protecting all sitting Minnesota governors and their staff. They also provide security at the Governor’s Residence.
Now, the State Patrol is working in conjunction with the Secret Service, according to State Patrol Lt. Michael Lee.
Increased scrutiny
After the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in July, which happened at a Pennsylvania rally as he runs for reelection, the State Patrol increased its security presence. That increased presence remains in place, Lee said Tuesday.
When it comes to Secret Service work, the number of agents assigned “depends on the level of how they assess the venue and how much protection they’ll put into those events,” said former Secret Service agent Anthony Cangelosi, who is now a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor.
There are also behind-the-scene aspects of Secret Service work that won’t be visible to the public, said retired Secret Service agent Joseph LaSorsa, who worked on presidential protection when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and now has a firm that provides personal protection, protection training and investigative services.
And with intense scrutiny on the Secret Service after the shooting in Pennsylvania, which killed a former fire chief attending the rally, “I’m sure they feel it at their top leadership down to the agents that do the job every day,” Cangelosi said.
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