Trump's celebration of American greatness puts a spotlight on a little-known panel of experts

[January 27, 2025]  By THOMAS BEAUMONT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump should rethink his decision to remove security details from three former senior national security officials, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday.

That protection is not just for them, but also the public, said Sen. Tom Cotton, a Trump loyalist who nonetheless is pushing back against the president’s targeting of those he perceived as adversaries. Cotton said a president needs to keep qualified individuals interested in serving the White House and that may sometimes require enhanced security for officials.

The Arkansas senator said he would encourage Trump “to revisit the decision for those people” — former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook, a former senior policy adviser to Pompeo. All were involved in planning and discussions of the deadly drone strike on Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

“The threat to anyone involved in President Trump’s strike on Qasem Soleimani is persistent. It’s real,” Cotton said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” “Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people.”

Trump had revoked security protection for the three, effective last week, despite the fact that they faced threats from Iran for taking hardline stances against the Islamic Republic during Trump's administration.

Trump ended protective security details for his former national security adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his onetime deputy, Brian Hook. The security protections had been regularly extended by the Biden administration over credible threats to the men’s lives. Cotton said he had seen recent intelligence that suggests all three former Trump officials remained targets of Iran.

It’s another sign of steps Trump is taking just days into his return to the White House — to target those he perceives as adversaries.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., questions former Governor Doug Burgum, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the the Interior Department as Secretary of the Interior during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Bolton, who was fired during the president's first term in 2019, later wrote a book whose publication the Trump administration unsuccessfully sought to block on grounds that it disclosed national security information.

Trump had soured on Pompeo some months ago, saying publicly that he would play no role in his new administration. And last week, Trump fired Hook from his presidentially appointed position on the board of the Wilson Center, a national security think tank.

“It's better to be safe than sorry, because it's not just about these men who helped President Trump carry out his policy in his first term,” Cotton said. “It’s about their family and friends, innocent bystanders every time they’re in public.”

Cotton also suggested that Trump's decision to remove their security protection could have a chilling effect on the president's ability to hire the most qualified advisers in the future.

“It's also about the president being able to get good people and get good advice,” Cotton said. “They might hesitate to do so, or they might hesitate if they're in office to give him the advice he needs to carry out the policies that he decides upon.”

Asked last week about his decision, Trump told reporters, "Do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives? I mean, there’s risks to everything.”

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