A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America

by Philip Rucker

she had received threats against her life, including on the day she resigned. Nielsen had a heavy security detail as secretary. Packages that were delivered to her home were first scanned and searched at a secure facility. But she was told that once she left the administration, she would be losing her protection. Some other high-profile national security officials maintained protective details for a period of time after leaving the government, but only if requested by the White House chief of staff and authorized by the president. No such accommodation had been prearranged for Nielsen. As she left government service, Nielsen’s security team was preparing to remove the alarms and cameras from her home. If she wanted protection, she would have to hire it herself, and unlike her über-wealthy colleagues in Trump’s cabinet she did not necessarily have those kinds of resources. When some of her international counterparts visited Washington, they offered to hire personal security for Nielsen to protect her, but she declined. “That would look horrible,” Nielsen told them. “Can you imagine the story? Foreign governments provide security because the U.S. won’t.”

“It’s very easy actually to work with me. You know why it’s easy? Because I make all the decisions,” Trump quipped on September 12, reflecting on John Bolton’s abrupt exit as national security adviser.