Mayorkas: Congress Needs to Give Secret Service More Money or We’ll Have to Use People from Other Parts of DHS

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated that he will be requesting that Congress give the Secret Service more money and because the agency is “stretched in resources,” “we draw upon other capabilities in the department and across the federal government. And so, our Homeland Security Investigations personnel, our TSA law enforcement personnel are deployed to assist the Secret Service. Those are just some examples.”

Mayorkas said there was a “failure” but because there’s an ongoing investigation, he can’t speak to how the failure occurred and who is responsible.

Co-host Sacha Pfeiffer then asked, “At President Biden’s direction, the Secret Service will now provide protection to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate. We had a guest on the air this week who said Secret Service resources are stretched, and this, of course, would stretch them further. How equipped is the Secret Service to handle this extra work and do it well?”

Mayorkas answered, “What the Secret Service has historically done — because it has historically been stretched in resources, and we have called upon Congress to supplement those resources and we will, once again, renew our calls, what we do is we draw upon other capabilities in the department and across the federal government. And so, our Homeland Security Investigations personnel, our TSA law enforcement personnel are deployed to assist the Secret Service. Those are just some examples. And we work very closely with state and local law enforcement at events around the country, draw upon their capabilities to secure events and individuals.”

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