WASHINGTON– Commander Biden, President Joe Biden’s family dog, has bitten U.S. Secret Service personnel in at least 24 incidents at the White House and elsewhere, according to new internal USSS documents obtained by CNN.
Commander, President Joe Biden’s dog, walks south of the White House in Washington, DC, in August 2022.
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
This number does not include additional incidents previously reported by CNN involving executive residence staff and other White House employees. But the new documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal just how serious a workplace problem the situation had become for the hundreds of employees supporting White House operations, and how staff of the agency changed its habits to avoid being harmed by the virus. German shepherd.
“Recent dog bites have challenged us to adjust our operational tactics when the commander is present – please allow plenty of space,” wrote an anonymous Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the USSS Presidential Protective Division to his team in a June 2023 email, warning that agents “must be creative to ensure our own personal safety.”
This warning came months before the dog was removed from the White Housewith several biting incidents having taken place in the meantime.
CNN reviewed more than 400 pages of documents, many of which were heavily redacted to protect the anonymity of USSS personnel and operational details.
In October 2022, an anonymous Secret Service technician described an incident and said he was “worried about the pets’ behavior escalating and that… something worse was going to happen to the others.”
The documented incidents involved members of the Secret Service’s Uniformed Division, members of the President’s Protection Team, and other USSS officials. They took place inside and outside the White House residence, but also at the Biden family homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, at Camp David and in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where the first family spends Thanksgiving holiday.
A source close to the Biden family told CNN that the Biden family feels “horrible” and is “heartbroken” by the series of biting incidents.
“They were heartbroken over this. They apologized to those who were bitten, brought flowers to some. They feel very bad. The commander was too protective, and even though they tried and tried to work there, they had to let him go live with other members of their family,” the source said.
The family has repeatedly tried to bring the situation under control, which began in October 2022 with incidents that lasted for a full year. Commander Biden joined the family as a puppy in December 2021.
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“The President and First Lady care deeply about the safety of those who work at the White House and those who protect them every day. Despite additional dog training, leashing, working with veterinarians and consulting of animal behaviorists, the White House environment simply proved “It’s too much to Order. Since the fall, he has been living with other family members,” Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for first lady Jill Biden, said in a statement provided to CNN.
“The incidents involving Commander were treated as workplace accidents, with the events documented in accordance with Secret Service and U.S. Department of Homeland Security guidelines,” USSS spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told CNN on Wednesday.
“Although Secret Service personnel do not care for the First Family’s pets, we continually work with all relevant entities to minimize any negative impact due to pets,” he said .
The documents, independently obtained by CNN, were first published by John Greenewald.
“Something worse was going to happen.”
Guglielmi called on his media team to begin “developing potential public responses” to questions about the incidents starting in July 2023.
An email description of an incident that occurred on July 29, 2023 – one of the most serious details in the documents – reveals the seriousness of the problem.
An unnamed special agent with the Presidential Protective Division’s Counter-Surveillance Unit was providing security in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, according to the report. As the officer walked toward a security post in a backyard, he heard the commander begin to bark, according to the report, but he did not realize the commander was “released and off leash.”
“In the background SA (redacted) heard the voice of what believes to be Dr. Jill Biden from FLOTUS (redacted) screams (quote written). The commander ran towards the post (redacted) stand and bit SA (redacted) in the left forearm. Causing a serious, deep, open wound. Following the SA attack (redacted) started losing (sic) a significant amount of blood from (redacted) arm,” the report said.
The officer was treated on scene by the White House Medical Unit and received six stitches in his left forearm, according to the report, as well as antibiotics for the wound.
On October 2, 2022, an officer was bitten on the forearm while holding the door open in the area between the West Wing and the residence hall – a documented incident involving President Joe Biden.
“The Commander and POTUS were entering the Palm Room from the west colonnade. The Commander arrived first, circled back and grabbed my left arm. He then got up and came back down. He is literally at my height. POTUS entered shortly after as he followed behind him. POTUS entered the Palm Room and said (redacted)” the officer said in a description of the event, saying he was “in shock that this incident happened.”
This officer raised workplace safety concerns, saying they were subsequently “concerned about him leaving the residence or going off-leash for the safety of others and the mine.”
There was a near miss on October 26, 2022 on the White House grounds. The dog “lunged for a bite but missed before the First Lady regained control of the leash.”
In November 2022, a dog injury to the right arm and right quad of a uniformed division officer required treatment at a hospital.
An officer described a biting incident that occurred on December 23, 2022, at the White House in the presence of the first family.
“As the first family returned from the tennis pavilion, (redacted) having my hands full and no one else around, I tried to open the closed door… for her; At that moment, the first dog in the family walked past everyone towards the door of the deep room. The doors were not yet fully open, so he bit me on the left forearm,” the police officer said, stressing that the bite “did not leave any marks.”
RELATED: Biden’s German Shepherd, Major, Back in the Kennel for Another Biting Incident
There was a similar incident on June 11, 2023, where a special agent “attempted to help open the door to the Oval Dining Room for the First Lady, at which point the family pet jumped on SA “. (redacted) and bitten on the left chest, resulting in a torn shirt and two small lacerations.
There was a biting incident on January 28, 2023 with a Navy personnel member at Laurel Cabin at Camp David. A few weeks later, a member of the Presidential Protection Division sent a request for information to “anyone who had an incident with the commander.”
And an anonymous USSS employee filed a Notice of Traumatic Injury and Request for Continued Wage/Compensation with the U.S. Department of Labor for an incident that occurred on April 12, 2023.
The commander “lunged at me and bit me on the left arm. I sustained two (2) puncture marks and the skin was broken with blood present,” the notice states.
In May 2023, a special agent wrote that White House staff had been informed that “the animal should not go out alone.”
CNN previously reported that the situation concealed broader tensions between the Biden family and the US Secret Service.
Sources have suggested that the relationship between the first family and the US Secret Service was first strained when the family’s eldest dog, Major, injured an unnamed Secret Service agent in 2021 before ultimately being fired from more permanently in Delaware. Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said only at the time that Major had injured an unnamed person.
The documents described this incident in more detail. The agent wrote that Major came around the corner of the White House Diplomatic Reception Room and “attacked” him “without provocation.” Staff said in an email regarding their coat refund that the incident “occurred through no fault of my own and I was unable to avoid this unusual circumstance due to the nature and requirements of my job”.
The incident sparked a breach of trust, a source familiar with the matter said, which continued as the president’s top protectors worked to avoid a second dog.
The Bidens have long been dog owners, and just like any other family member, the subject of their dog’s behavior was a “sensitive topic” that staff had to raise, a source close to the family told CNN last year. The dynamic.
The Commander was still featured prominently in White House Christmas decorations in December, months after he left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The dog’s likenesses were among the festive displays in the East Colonnade and the Red Room, and the family’s official holiday card was signed by the president, the first lady, the cat (Willow), and the commander.
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