Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Teases Big Change That Could Come For Secret Service

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent teased a big change that could come for the Secret Service under the Trump administration during an interview with Daily Caller Editorial Director Vince Coglianese.

During Trump’s first administration, the president had plans to move the Secret Service from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) back to the Treasury Department. It was a move officials believed could provide more support for the agency and strengthen investigations into financial crimes, according to The New York Times. Bessent told WMAL Radio host Coglianese that moving the Secret Service back under the Treasury is a part of his plan for the Trump administration the second time around. (RELATED: Trump Treasury Pick Turns Tables On Bernie Sanders After He Attempts To Corner Him)

“I think [the Secret Service] might like to come back. That’s a long arc project,” Bessent told Coglianese during a media row at the White House on Wednesday.

“Our number one goal this year is passing and making permanent the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act. I said that is pass-fail for us. And then we will move on to, I think at Treasury we can do one big thing a year and three to five important things in the same year. So getting the president’s economic agenda in shape with this tax cuts and jobs act, I think if we do that we set the sails for the next four years and then everything else flows from there, especially for working Americans,” he continued.

“So you do envision bringing the Secret Service back to Treasury?” Coglianese asked.

“Again, it is an aspirational third or fourth-year thing that we’d like to do,” Bessent responded.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, DHS began operations in 2003 and the Secret Service was moved over from the Treasury to help consolidate agencies. Trump’s first Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, sought to bring the Secret Service back under his department’s power, administration officials previously told the NYT. Making such a move requires Congress to act, the outlet reported, but Department of Homeland Security officials were opposed to the move at the time because they worried losing the Secret Service could cause them to lose cybersecurity and investigative components. But for Mnuchin, it was more beneficial to the nation’s national security if Secret Service was a part of treasury.

“The safety of the financial system is critical, so I worry about cybersecurity in that we need to have a safe and sound financial infrastructure,” Mnuchin told Axios during the first administration. “This is a real issue today.”

Similarly, Bessent told Coglianese that the Treasury Department’s authority extends into national security.

“Most people don’t understand, Treasury is economics but also we play a very big role in national security, whether it’s the sanctions against Iran, the Russia sanctions, keeping track of — now four Mexican cartels have been named international terrorist organizations,” Bessent explained. “So we are going to increase our scrutiny on those entities, maybe the assets that they have in the U.S. or outside of the U.S.”