Several senior Trump administration officials have moved into military housing as threats against public figures rise and concerns grow over possible Iranian plots targeting Americans.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the latest to relocate. A person familiar with the situation said security concerns increased after an online photo published by The Wall Street Journal made it possible to identify the location of Bessent’s Georgetown home. The person said the secretary moved to a military base for his safety and argued that news organizations should take care when reporting on officials’ private residences.
A senior administration official said Tuesday that threats against Bessent had advanced beyond an early stage, amid reports of Iranian assassination threats. The official did not provide further details.
The concerns come against a backdrop of alleged Tehran-backed plots against senior U.S. officials. In 2022, the Justice Department charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting former national security adviser John Bolton. Prosecutors said in 2024 that another Iranian operative had been assigned to develop a plan to kill President Donald Trump.
Attorney General Todd Blanche also moved from his home into military housing around March, according to another person familiar with the arrangements.
Former Secret Service agent and former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said protection decisions typically depend on threat assessments that consider communications, social media activity and intelligence gathered by security personnel. Those evaluations help determine what level of protection an official needs.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran said last month that threats against people under the agency’s full-time protection had risen by more than 40% from the previous year. At the time, the agency had recorded about 10,000 threat cases in 2026.
Bongino said the volume of online activity has made threats easier to monitor, but also leaves investigators with more material to review as they try to distinguish credible dangers from other posts and messages. He said that, regrettably, many Cabinet-level and even lower-ranking officials with public profiles in the administration needed protective details.
He cited his own experience as FBI deputy director, saying his security assessment was comparable to those of the attorney general and FBI director and led to an expanded detail. He described the assessment as independent.
The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and multiple attempts on Trump’s life have added to concerns about political violence. Bongino said Bessent’s move showed the personal disruption that can come with security measures. Military housing may be comfortable, he noted, but it is not necessarily what an official is used to. “This is definitely serious stuff,” he said.
Former Secret Service agent Barry Donadio, who served during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, said Bessent’s relocation suggested that his protectors saw a high level of risk. He said it might mean they could not ensure Bessent’s safety as confidently at a private home as they could on a military base.
Donadio also speculated that authorities might have already disrupted an attack that had not been made public, prompting the move as an additional precaution. He clarified that he did not mean Bessent was being detained, but rather placed under heightened protection.
Other senior officials have also moved into military or protected government housing. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have reportedly taken up residence at Fort McNair in Washington, while White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and other officials have moved to military installations or secure government housing. The reasons differ: some relocations followed concerns about domestic political violence, while Bessent’s move comes amid reported threats connected to Iran.
Bongino said dangers can persist after officials leave government. He described an incident in which someone allegedly appeared at a California television studio with a manifesto threatening him and other officials. The threats, he said, are real and can follow people beyond their time in office. He said officials such as Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Hegseth understood they could remain targets after leaving the administration.
Fort McNair, a historic Army installation beside the Potomac River, dates to the late 18th century and is home to the National Defense University. It has traditionally provided housing for senior military leaders. A 2020 National Capital Planning Commission report describes two residential areas at the base, while a 2024 Army filing lists 27 historic homes built before 1919. The Army lists 88 historic homes across Fort McNair and nearby Fort Myer combined, without breaking down the number at each installation.
The use of military housing by civilian officials has prompted questions about who approves the arrangements, whether residents pay rent and whether the moves affect housing normally set aside for military personnel. Lawmakers have also raised concerns about security spending. In June, Rep. George Whitesides, a California Democrat, won committee approval for a proposal asking the Pentagon to report on political appointees living in military housing, including the threats behind their moves, the legal basis for the arrangements and their rental costs.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, has questioned whether a reported transfer of $415 million in Secret Service funding to White House construction projects could affect protective operations. She pointed to watchdog concerns about staffing and resource shortages.
