Newly trained Secret Service agents will soon receive two taxpayer-funded tailored suits after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem expressed dissatisfaction with how a protective detail was dressed, according to a CNN report first published Friday.
The Secret Service will offer each agent who graduates from protective detail training two tailored suits, according to sources familiar with the matter and a public contract solicitation. The suits must be entirely made in the United States, and the solicitation - published last week by the Department of Homeland Security - covers a five-year ordering period. The total cost of the contract has not yet been determined.
Each new protective detail graduate will receive two navy blue suits with their name sewn inside the jacket.
Two sources told CNN that the initiative was directly triggered by Noem's displeasure with the appearance of a protective detail wearing suits the agents had personally purchased. DHS pushed back on that characterization. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN the suits "do not have to do with optics" and told The Hill the move is "about fixing an inequity where non-uniformed graduates must pay for their uniform while uniformed division is provided with their uniform."
Agents in the Secret Service's Uniformed Division - who wear protective vests and dark police-style clothing - have their attire supplied by the agency. Plainclothes agents assigned to protective details, however, have historically been required to purchase their own suits with no reimbursement.
A former senior law enforcement official called the move unprecedented, and some veteran agency employees said they were surprised by the change. Entry-level agents assigned to protective details typically earn between $70,000 and $90,000 annually, including benefits, and agency leadership has framed the suit benefit as a way to ease financial strain on new hires and aid recruitment.
The announcement comes at a complicated moment for the agency. Secret Service personnel have been working without pay during a partial federal government shutdown linked to a congressional standoff over DHS funding and immigration enforcement reforms. It remains unclear whether the shutdown will affect the suit solicitation, though a CNN source said the Secret Service identified funding within its existing budget.
Noem has faced scrutiny on multiple fronts since taking over DHS earlier this year. The suit program adds to a growing list of controversies surrounding the department's spending priorities at a time when federal budgets are under intense pressure.
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