The mission of the Secret Service is to ensure the security of the President, Vice President, and their families. One would assume that the agents offering protection would be unbiased and apolitical but there are worries and some signs over the last four years that show that may not be the case with some agents. The Washington Post reports, “The Secret Service is making some staff changes in the presidential detail that will guard President-elect Joe Biden, amid concerns from Biden allies that some current members were politically aligned with President Trump, according to two people familiar with the changes.”

For example, The service allowed a former agent on the Trump detail to leave his job and become a White House political adviser. The Post writes:

Anthony Ornato was hired as White House deputy chief of staff earlier this year. In that role, he helped coordinate a controversial June photo opportunity in which Trump strode defiantly across Lafayette Square to pose with a Bible after the park was forcibly cleared of peaceful protesters.

Ornato also helped coordinate numerous rallies across the country during the pandemic, per Trump’s wishes. The mass gatherings were blamed for increasing the spread of the coronavirus in some of the communities where they took place and left many in the ranks of the Secret Service infected or exposed.

The newspaper reports that the Secret Service plans to bring back a handful of senior agents whom Biden knows from his time as vice president. Reporter Carol Leonnig writes that “Some in the Secret Service also came under criticism during Trump’s tenure for appearing to embrace his political agenda.”

The report cites instances where some members of the president’s detail “urged other agents and Secret Service officers not to wear masks on presidential trips this year — against the administration’s own public health guidance — as the president felt wearing masks projected weakness.”

A spokesperson for the Secret Service declined to comment “but said the Secret Service remains true to its apolitical mission.”