EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is due to appear before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday. | Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images Pruitt sought 24-7 security from first day, EPA watchdog says

Scott Pruitt sought round-the-clock security from his first day in office at EPA, the agency's inspector general said on Monday, casting doubt on whether the EPA administrator had faced serious security threats before he received the expanded protection.

In letters sent to two Senate Democrats, EPA IG Arthur Elkins also said the watchdog never conducted assessment of the security threats against Pruitt, despite his contention last month that the IG had justified his spending.


Elkins told Sens. Tom Carper (Del.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) investigators do not proactively search for threats against Pruitt or other EPA officials, and his office “played no role” in the security team’s decision to provide Pruitt with unprecedented security.

A separate set of emails obtained by POLITICO shows a Trump EPA transition official, Don Benton, was first to request 24/7 security for Pruitt in early February 2017 due to what he anticipated would be significant controversy stemming from several early policy announcements.

"There will be several Executive Orders signed when he is sworn in that will likely stir the hornets [sic] nest and with the security issue in the Atlanta office last week as well as the lady who threatened former administrator [Gina] McCarthy not showing up for court and at large in DC it is best to be on the safe side,” he wrote in a Feb. 11 email.

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Pruitt formally took office Feb. 17.

Career security officials at the agency suggested in earlier messages they’d mulled a similar setup previously, though they warned it would be disruptive to implement and would require doubling the number of agents on Pruitt’s team to 16.

“Clearly we’ve thought about this before,” Eric Weese, the acting special agent in charge of Pruitt’s detail, wrote in an email. He added EPA implemented a similar 24/7 detail for former Administrator Christine Todd Whitman in 2001, likely referring to expanded security following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Pruitt has faced mounting scrutiny over his 24/7 security detail, which is far more extensive than previous administrators received. And he's drawn criticism over the construction of a secure phone booth in his office, first-class travel and complaints that staff who opposed his requests were sidelined.

Though some lawmakers have called for his resignation, most GOP lawmakers have backed him, and President Donald Trump said last week he continued to support his EPA chief.

Carper and Whitehouse said in a statement the new IG report “raises troubling questions” about Pruitt’s explanations for his security detail.

“A threat to a federal employee’s personal security is extremely serious, but so is using security as pretext for special treatment on the public dime,” the senators said in a statement. “Now more than ever, Mr. Pruitt should come clean about his spending of taxpayer dollars on all manner of extravagances, and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle should demand he do so.”

Elkins wrote that Pruitt's office had asked early this year for a "threat assessment," but the IG's office declined, since that was outside its scope of duties. The August document that Pruitt had showed to lawmakers during a hearing last month was the “first and only” one prepared for the administrator, Elkins wrote, adding that his office "is not a decision-maker for the EPA.”

EPA's Office of Criminal Enforcement made the decision to provide the round-the-clock security after it was told Pruitt had requested it once he was confirmed, Elkins wrote.

That August IG document listed 14 threats directed against Pruitt and one case that of potential threats against the EPA chief, many of which were found on social media.

Pruitt cited the IG document at a congressional hearing last month as he sought to defend himself from questions from lawmakers , mostly Democrats, about whether his security threats justified the steep hike in security spending.

Elkins clarified that day that he had not written the memo Pruitt cited. It was written by Patrick Sullivan, the assistant inspector general for investigations.

Carper and Whitehouse initially wrote to Elkins on May 2 asking for information on “how OIG has advised on security matters in the past.”

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement that “[a]s the report says, EPA’s Office of Inspector General does not determine security assessments. EPA’s Protective Service Detail handles security decisions and this particular decision was made before Administrator Pruitt arrived at EPA.”

Pruitt is due to appear before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday where he’ll likely face questions about his security spending