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Barron Trump, Donald Trump’s youngest child, is embarking on one of the first great adventures of his adult life this fall: he is moving away to study there.
The 18-year-old, who just graduated from the prestigious Oxbridge Academy in Florida, will study in New York, his father announced this week. The exact university is still unknown, but NYU, Columbia and Cornell are all possible candidates.
Barron now joins a long line of young adults who go to school with the burden of their parents’ presidential legacy on their shoulders – and are watched by secret service agents at every step.
Paul Eckloff, a former secret agent who protected George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump and their families, explained the sensitive nature of reporting on teenagers to The Independent.
He said the goal of Secret Service agents is to “minimize disruption to the college experience while providing the greatest level of security possible.”
Eckloff is familiar with the ins and outs of presidential children, having worked with the Bush twins Sasha and Malia Obama, all of Trump’s children and many of Trump’s grandchildren. Every child and grandchild of a sitting president is under the protection of the Secret Service, Eckloff explained.
While children of former presidents are no longer guaranteed protection after their 16th birthday, Barron currently enjoys protection, the Secret Service confirmed in a statement to The Independent.
Eckloff tells The Independent that Barron will be entering college at a time when social media poses a greater threat than ever – both to his safety and his privacy.
How do agents protect young adults in the age of social media?
People taking video of a president’s child and then posting it on TikTok or Instagram for the whole world to see are part of the new security reality.
“The Secret Service has to monitor (social media),” Eckloff said. “Let’s say a president’s child is at a party and someone tweets a picture of him. Now his whereabouts are revealed on social media and he could become a target. That can put everyone at risk.”
This applies to children of current and former presidents alike. In 2017, students at Harvard University erupted in a social media frenzy when Malia Obama—Obama’s eldest daughter—arrived on campus.
Social media users quickly shared photos of the then 19-year-old’s arrival, telling the world her location and movements.
“The overall threat environment we face in the 21st century is greater than ever before,” Eckloff said. “People’s whereabouts and activities tend to be more publicly known, and social media is more responsive.”
This can not only put students at risk but also subject them to strict scrutiny.
In 2016, Malia Obama was all over the tabloids after she was photographed smoking at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. (At her next festival appearance, Malia wore a Harvard cap, the cap of her future university, and a T-shirt with the homemade slogan “Smoking Kills”).
Meanwhile, her younger sister Sasha Obama, then just 15 years old, was photographed at her summer job as a waitress in Martha’s Vineyard.
This problem has existed since before the advent of social media. When President Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea Clinton began studying at Stanford University in 1997, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton wrote a public address in Los Angeles Times and urged people to respect the 17-year-old’s privacy.
“I cannot imagine going through these private experiences, all part of my self-discovery, and being interrupted by the bright lights of cameras – not because of anything I was or did, but because of my parents’ occupations,” Clinton wrote.
Children of presidents tend to place a high value on their privacy while still in elementary school. That’s because many of them attend prestigious, expensive private schools — and are surrounded by others who understand the importance of privacy, especially online.
“They’re used to rich kids,” Eckloff explained. “So people’s anonymity is kept rather discreet.”
In the college world, there are thousands more students to accommodate and huge campuses to navigate. And when the university is in a metropolis like New York City, you simply have more access to the masses.
How do secret service agents navigate campus life?
The Secret Service’s protection of presidents’ children must be far more discreet than that of the commander in chief. Agents wear civilian clothes and rely on remote technology — such as cameras and alarms — to protect the students.
“Part of it is protective monitoring, which means being nearby, observing and waiting to respond,” Eckloff explained.
A college campus is an unpredictable environment—especially when it’s located in a busy urban area. Keeping students safe also becomes more complicated when they go out with friends or start dating someone.
That’s why intelligence agents have to be adaptable and “plan for failure,” Eckloff explained.
“The Secret Service wins when it plans to fail,” he said. “They have contingency plans in case something goes wrong.”
Dorm life is a prime example. Typically, agents are always in the dorm with the students. However, they cannot prepare for every possible scenario or fully secure the buildings that could be home to hundreds of students who are also studying, drinking alcohol as minors, and causing normal college chaos.
“You have to be innovative to ensure protection,” Eckloff said. “You can’t secure the entire dormitory, that’s just not realistic.”
Ultimately, Eckloff explained, Secret Service agents are concerned with protecting students while minimizing disruption to their private lives.
“Many children are experiencing independent living for the first time and the secret service can hinder that,” he continued. “They are sensitive to it, but they have a job and it is vitally important.”
“I think you’d rather have your college experience marred a little than be kidnapped.”
