Pruitt Requests Around-The-Clock Security Detail As Deep Cuts Loom At EPA

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environ... Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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Though the Trump administration has requested deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, the department is looking for an increase in security for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the New York Times reported this week.

The EPA has asked to add 10 security agents to provide a 24/7 security detail for Pruitt, which would be the first time an EPA administrator has had around-the-clock security, according to the New York Times.

According to an E&E News report resurfaced on Wednesday by Quartz, the EPA’s criminal enforcement office had expected the request for additional security.

The EPA currently does not have enough agents to provide a 24/7 detail, and between 2008 and 2010, the administrator’s security staff ranged from six to eight employees, according to E&E News. Past administrators only had door-to-door security protections where agents would accompany them to and from work, and travel with them to events and trips, per the report.

Myron Ebell, who led President Donald Trump’s EPA transition team, told E&E News in February that the additional security agents could help protect Pruitt from protesters and his department’s own employees.

“I think it’s prudent given the continuing activities by the left to foment hatred, and the reported hostility within the agency from some unprofessional activists,” he said.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jens jens says:

    If you are in charge of protecting the things that allow us to survive, and you need 24 hour security, you are doing it wrong.

  2. George Hayduke is coming for you, Pruitt. And there shall be no redemption.

  3. Will his detail include a food taster?

  4. Being chickenshit is a mandatory part of all GOP job descriptions.

  5. That little weasel Myron Ebel thinks EPA employees are a threat to Pruitt, huh? He needs to show us his evidence for such a statement, or finally stop his lying. Funny how Ebel always comes out of the shadows when his hero Pruitt says something stupid. Ebel and his ilk at Competitive Enterprise Inst. have made it their life’s work to pollute, corrupt, and destroy the natural environment, fight science, and speak for the polluters, all in the name of profit for a few corrupt corporate douchebags. If anyone needs protection, we need it from these blowhards and their anti-American actions.

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